Sorghastrum nutans
Indiangrass is a beautiful native grass with blue-green blades and tall golden to purplish-brown flowering plumes.
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Solidago rugosa
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.
Solidago canadensis
Canada Goldenrod features yellow flowers, which bloom July-October, providing nectar to native bees, honeybees, and butterflies.
Solidago caesia
Wreath Goldenrod features small yellow flowers, which bloom August-September.
Sisyrinchium angustifolium
Blue-eyed Grass has petite blue flowers with yellow centers, which bloom on stalks above grass-like leaves, May-June.
Scirpus cyperinus
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.
Schizachyrium scoparium
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.
Santolina chamaecyparissus
Lavender Cotton is a mounding perennial, which is also sometimes used as an annual. It has silvery-blue evergreen leaves and features button-like, bright yellow flowers, which bloom on rising stalks, July-August. The aromatic foliage has been used in sachets and as a moth repellant. This plant requires good drainage. Use Lavender Cotton in borders, or as a groundcover or edging plant.
Sambucus racemosa
Red Elderberry’s clusters of creamy-white flowers bloom May-June, and provide nectar to native bees and butterflies. The berries are reputedly poisonous and are inedible to humans, but are an attractive food source for birds. Hollow stems offer nest sites and nest materials to native bees. Red Elderberry attracts beneficial predatory insects, which prey on garden insect pests. Use Common Elderberry as a small specimen tree or large shrub in borders around your yard.
Salvia splendens
Scarlet Sage is a tender perennial, grown as an annual. Its showy, red flowers blooming June to frost provide a nectar source to a host of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Use it in mixed borders and containers, or plant it around your yard for a burst of summer-long color.