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Pycnanthemum muticum

Clustered Mountainmint is a wildlife-friendly perennial, which features tubular pink flower clusters blooming July-September. It tolerates bright shade, but produces more flowers in full sun. It grows in densely-leaved clumps that may spread vigorously. Clustered Mountainmint is a valued nectar source for butterflies and bees. It attracts beneficial predatory insects that prey on garden pests. Clustered Mountainmint is most attractive when massed, and can be used in your herb garden, butterfly garden, or in mixed borders around your yard.

Prunus x yedoensis

Yoshino Cherry is a small to medium, deciduous, flowering tree. It features fragrant, pink or white flowers, which bloom March-April. The nectar provides a food source for butterflies and bees. Yoshino Cherry has a weeping form. It tolerates heat and humidity, but not drought. Fall foliage is yellow and bronze. Use Yoshino Cherry as a specimen plant in your yard or around your patio.

Portulaca grandiflora

Portulaca is a long-blooming, succulent annual with a low, spreading form. It comes in a variety of colors (including red, orange, yellow, and white) and blooms from June to frost. Portulaca tolerates heat, humidity, and poor, dry soil, making it an excellent plant for seaside gardens and New Jersey yards. Use Portulaca as an edging plant, in rock gardens, containers, hanging baskets, or as a groundcover in your yard.

Physocarpus opulifolius

Common Ninebark is a wildlife-friendly, spreading, deciduous shrub, featuring clusters of pinkish-white flowers which bloom May-June. Flowers provide an excellent nectar source for native bees. Drooping clusters of red fruit offer food for birds in the summer. Common Ninebark is valued for its exfoliating (peeling) bark, which reveals layers of reddish-brown inner bark, offering winter interest. This plant tolerates poor soil conditions. Use Common Ninebark in your shrub border, or as a hedge or screen in your yard.

Phlox drummondii

Phlox features fragrant, pink flowers May-July; the flowers decline in the summer heat. It prefers consistently moist soil, but can tolerate short periods of dryness. Many cultivars offer a variety of colors to choose from. Phlox will re-seed itself and spread. It offers a valued nectar source for butterflies. Use Phlox as edging for your borders and beds, in your rock garden, and in containers. Plant in masses to offer maximum appeal in your yard.

Petunia x hybrida

Petunia is a flowering plant grown as an annual in New Jersey. Its green, thick leaves are slightly sticky. Its large, fragrant, funnel-shaped or ruffled flowers come in a variety of sizes and colors. This plant flowers non-stop from spring to frost. Removing the spent flowers encourages more blooms. Petunias are adaptable to many different soil types and conditions. Use Petunias in cascading beds, containers, hanging baskets, and in annual or mixed borders around your yard for a burst of long-lasting color.

Pelargonium x hortorum

Zonal Geranium is grown as an annual in New Jersey. The distinctive foliage of this plant has a zone of darker green circling the leaf centers. Clusters of colorful flowers on long stalks bloom throughout the summer and early fall; varieties are available in shades of pink, red, purple, orange, and white. Deadhead the spent flowers to promote new blooms. This plant prefers well-drained soil and good air circulation. Use Zonal Geranium in hanging baskets, window boxes, and in borders around your yard.

Panicum virgatum

Switchgrass is a clumping ornamental grass, which may naturalize by rhizomes and through self-seeding. Pink-tinged flowers display from July through February, turning beige in mid- to late summer. The seeds are a good food source for birds. Switchgrass is a host plant for butterfly and moth larvae (caterpillars), including Delaware Skipper (Anatrytone logan) and Dotted Skipper (Hesperia attalus), as well as most banded skippers and satyrs. Cut it back to the ground in late winter-early spring. Plant Switchgrass in masses to use as a screen or in naturalized areas of your yard. Use cut stems and seed heads as an accent in fresh or dried flower arrangements.

Muhlenbergia capillaris

Hairawn Muhly is a clump-forming, warm-season grass. Pink to purple to red flowers bloom above the foliage September-November, offering attractive fall color. It tolerates heat, humidity, drought, and poor, dry, sandy soils, as well as flooding — perfect for Jersey-Friendly Yards! Plant Hairawn Muhly in groups along your borders and foundations and in naturalized areas of your yard.

Mirabilis jalapa

Four o’clocks are tuberous perennials grown as annuals in New Jersey. Their fragrant, tubular-shaped flowers bloom June to frost. The flower buds open from late afternoon (four o’clock — as per their common name) until the next morning, then close during the day. Colors vary, including red, yellow, and pink, and the nectar is attractive to hummingbirds and moths. This plant adds nighttime color to gardens around outdoor living spaces. Use Four o’clocks in mixed borders, as an annual hedge, or in your patio containers.