Wrinkleleaf Goldenrod features yellow flowers, which bloom September-October. The nectar provides a food source for native bees and honeybees. The dried seeds provide a food source for birds in fall and winter. Use Wrinkleleaf Goldenrod in borders, butterfly gardens, and naturalized areas in your yard.
Gray Goldenrod features showy, yellow flower clusters, which bloom on one side of hairy, leaved stalks, July-October. The nectar provides a food source for native bees, honeybees, and butterflies. Gray Goldenrod is a host plant for beneficial predatory insects, which prey on garden pest insects in your yard. The dried seeds provide a food source for birds in fall and winter. Use Gray Goldenrod in butterfly gardens and naturalized areas of your yard.
Canada Goldenrod features yellow flowers, which bloom July-October, providing nectar to native bees, honeybees, and butterflies.
Wreath Goldenrod features small yellow flowers, which bloom August-September.
Japanese Skimmia is an evergreen shrub with mildly fragrant, white, showy flowers, which bloom in April. It is dioecious; male and female flowers appear on separate plants. Both male and female plants are needed to produce fruit. Berries ripen in October and persist through winter. Japanese Skimmia tolerates heavy shade and needs moist, organically-rich soil. Use Japanese Skimmia in shade gardens, along foundations, as an understory shrub, or massed in shrub borders or hedges.
Blue-eyed Grass has petite blue flowers with yellow centers, which bloom on stalks above grass-like leaves, May-June.
Woolgrass needs wet, partly shady conditions. This wildlife-friendly plant has seeds and roots that are eaten by waterfowl. It also provides waterfowl with cover and nesting sites. It is a host plant for butterfly and moth larvae (caterpillars), including the Dion Skipper (Euphyes dion). Use Woolgrass in rain gardens, moist low areas, and along edges of ponds or streams, where it can provide erosion control.
Little Bluestem is an ornamental grass with small, delicate, purplish-blue-bronze flowers, which appear in August. Leaf blades are blue at the base, turning green at the tip. Dried seed heads are silvery-white and offer winter interest. Use Little Bluestem in massed plantings in borders, native gardens, and meadows, or simply as an accent plant in your yard.
Sassafras is a slender, flowering tree. Yellow flowers blooming April-May provide a nectar source for bees. Fruits ripen in September and are attractive to birds. It is dioecious; both male and female plants are needed to produce fruit. This tree has stunning fall foliage in shades of yellow, orange, scarlet, and purple. Sassafras is an important host plant for butterfly and moth larvae (caterpillars), including Spicebush Swallowtail (Papilio troilus), Promethea Silkmoth (Callosamia promethea), and Pale Swallowtail (Papilio eurymedon). The best results for fruit and foliage color are achieved if planted in groups. Use Sassafras in naturalized areas or as a specimen tree.