If you’re looking to help support your local honeybees and pollinators, using native plants in your own garden is one of the easiest and most direct ways. Pollinators depend on naturally occurring plants for their health and survival. In fact, non-native plants will not always be able to provide enough nectar or pollen for local populations to survive.

Native plantings also generally boast longer blooming periods, and require less maintenance and fewer protective measures than other selections. And while we’re busy making our landscapes beautiful, pollinators will be thanking us in so many ways!

By incorporating just a few native plants, you can make a big difference! Plus, there are tons of native plants to choose from, here are some of our favorites…

Native Perennial Flowers

Aquilegia ‘Little Lanterns’ (columbine)

Aruncus dioicus (goat’s beard)

Asarum canadense (wild ginger)

Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed)

Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed)

Aster azureus (sky blue aster)

Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)

Baptisia Australus (blue false indigo)

Chelone Glabra (turtlehead)

Cimicifuga racemosa (bugbane)

Coreopsis verticillata (tickseed)

Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower)

Eupatorium  (Joe Pye weed)

Geranium maculatum (wild spotted geranium)

Geum triflorum (prairie smoke)

Heliopsis Helianthoides ‘Summer Nights’ (oxeye daisy)

Heuchera americana (coral bells)

Hibiscus moscheutos (rose mallow)

Iris versicolor (blue flag)

Liatris spicata (blazing star)

Lobelia siphilitica (blue cardinal flower)

Lupinus perennis (sundial wild lupine)

Matteuccia struthiopteris (ostrich fern)

Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells)

Monarda didyma ‘Blue Stocking’ ‘Jacob Kline’ (bee balm)

Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)

Oenothera fruticosa ‘Fireworks’ (evening primrose)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

Penstemon digitalis ‘Husker Red’

Phlox divaricata ‘Blue Moon’ ‘London Grove Blue’ (phlox)

Phlox paniculata ‘Blue Paradise’ (garden phlox)

Phlox subulata ‘Emerald Pink’ (moss phlox)

Polemonium reptans (Jacob’s ladder)

Polygonatum biflorum (Solomon’s seal)

Rudbeckia fulgida ‘var. fulgida’ (orange coneflower or black-eyed Susan)

Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan)

Silphium laciniatum (compass plant)

Sisyrinchium angustifolium ‘Lucerne’ (blue-eyed grass)

Tiarella cordifolia ‘Running Tapestry’ (foamflower)

Tradescantia ohiensis (spiderwort)

Trollius laxus (American globe flower)

Verbena stricta

Hoary Verbena

Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver’s root)

 

Native Grasses

Carex laxiculmis ‘Hobb’ (sedge)

Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind’ and ‘Shenandoah’ (switchgrass)

Schizachyrium scoparium ‘Standing Ovation’ and ‘The Blues (little bluestem)

 

Native Shrubs & Vines

Aristolochia macrophylla (dutchman’s pipe)

Campsis Radicans (trumpet vine)

Clethra Alnifolia (summersweet)

Cornus canadensis (bunchberry)

Cornus sericea ‘Cardinal’ (red-osier dogwood)

Hamamelis virginiana (American witchhazel)

Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’ (Annabelle hydrangea)

Ilex glabra ‘Densa’ (inkberry)

Juniperus horizontalis ‘Blue Rug’ (blue rug juniper)

Juniperus virginiana ‘Blue Mountain’ (blue mountain juniper)

Juniperus virginiana ‘Burkii’ (burkii red cedar)

Kalmia latifolia ‘Pink Charm’ (mountain laurel)

Lonicera sempervirens ‘Major Wheeler’ (trumpet Honeysuckle)

Fothergilla (mountain witch alder)

Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)

Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Centerglow’ (common ninebark)

Potentilla fruticosa ‘Coronation Triumph’ (shrubby cinquefoil / Syn. Dasyphora floribunda)

Rhododendron canadense (rhodora)

Rhododendron maximum ‘Independence’ (rosebay rhododendron) (pictured above)

Rhododendron periclymenoides (pinxterbloom azalea)

Rhus aromatica (fragrant Sumac)

Rosa virginiana (Virginia rose)

Salix discolor (pussy willow)

Sambucus canadensis (American elderberry)

Sambucus racemosa (red elderberry)

Symphoricarpos albus (common snowberry)

Vaccinium Angustifolium (highbush blueberry)

Viburnum acerifolium (mapleleaf viburnum)

Viburnum dentatum (Southern arrowwood)

Viburnum dentatum ‘Blue Blaze’ (arrowwood)

Viburnum nudum ‘Winterthur’ (witherod)

Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

Viburnum trilobum (American cranberry viburnum)

Wisteria frutescens ‘Amethyst Falls’ (American wisteria)

Yucca filamentosa (Adam’s needle)

Viburnum lentago (nannyberry)

 

Native Trees

Acer rubrum (red maple)

Acer (silver maple)

Amelanchier Canadensis (shadblow)

Aronia Arbutifolia (red chokeberry)

Betula Nigra (river birch)

Cornus alternifolia (pagoda dogwood)

Cornus florida ‘Cloud 9’ (flowering dogwood)

Cercis Canadensis (Eastern redbud)

Chionanthus virginicus (fringe tree)

Magnolia virginiana ‘Moon Glow’ (sweetbay magnolia)

Nyssa sylvatica (black gum)

Nyssa sylvatica ‘Wildfire’ (black gum tree)

Pinus strobus (Eastern white pine)

Prunus maritima (beach plum)