photo: Ray Kammer

Landscaping with Native Plants

Almost all plants provide shelter or food in some way for wildlife. However, planting native Illinois plants in your backyard habitat will deliver more benefits to you and to wildlife year after year. Native plants naturally adapt, providing shelter and food to native wildlife more consistently, even during drought or freezing conditions. You'll find that planting native flowering species will provide an abundance of nectar, whereas non-native, novelty counterparts do not. Native plants are beautiful, hardy, easier to maintain, and are beneficial to the environment. Once you have established your native habitat you will save time and money, and you'll reduce air pollution by eliminating or significantly reducing the need for fertilizers, pesticides, water and lawn maintenance equipment.

Native Plant List

Following is a variety of native plants and shrubs suitable for almost any backyard. Not only will you discover what types of native plants you can add to your yard, you'll also learn what conditions are most suitable for each plant and whether your yard can provide for such conditions. Each plant draws in a number of wildlife, from butterflies and songbirds, to chipmunks, deer and beneficial insects.

Plants for Full Sun

These plants thrive in a full day of sunshine. They'll fill your garden with color. Be sure to note each plant's requirements, as many can adapt to various soil and lighting conditions. Now sit back, relax, and watch your garden come to life

Leadplant (Amorpha canescens)
Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardi)
Little Bluestem (Andropogon scoparius)
Marsh Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Smooth Blue Aster (Aster laevis)
New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae)
Side-Oats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)
New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus)
Prairie Coreopsis (Coreopsis palmata)
Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida)
Purple Lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis)
Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium)
Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum)
Path Rush (Juncus tenuis)
Prairie Blazing Star (Liatris pycnostachya)
Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Switch Grass (Panicum virgatum)
Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium)
Purple Prairie Clover (Petalostemum (Dalea) purpureum)
Prairie Phlox (Phlox pilosa)
False Dragonhead/Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)
Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa)
Yellow (Gray-headed) Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata)
Compass Plant (Silphium laciniatum)
Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa)
Indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans)
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
Spiderwort (Tradescantia ohiensis)
Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculata)
Culver's Root (Veronicastrum virginicum)

Plants for Partial Shade

Lovers of woodland edges, these plants will adapt to practically any partially-sunny or dappled shade area. Whether you choose to place these plants in the openings between trees or as a border, your garden will display a touch of grace and elegance no matter where you look.

Nodding Wild Onion (Allium cernuum)
Wild Columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis)
Short's Aster (Aster shortii)
Tall Bellflower (Campanula americana)
Purple-Sheathed Graceful Sedge (Carex gracillima)
(Midland) Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia)
Sweet Joe Pyeweed (Eupatorium purpureum)
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Alumroot (Heuchera richardsonii)
Sweet (Vanilla) Grass (Hierochloe odorata)
Kalm's St. Johns Wort (Hypericum Kalmianum)
Bottlebrush Grass (Hystrix patula (Elymus hystrix))
Blue Flag Iris (Iris shrevei)
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)
Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
Heartleaf Golden Alexander (Zizia aptera)

Plants for Shady Areas

These natural woodland residents are going to love your garden's shady areas. Most are early bloomers. They pack in as much light of springtime as possible before tree leaves fully open and canopies block out the rays of the sun.

Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum pedatum)
Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum)
Side-Flowering Aster (Aster lateriflourus)
Lady Fern (Athyrium filix-femina)
Black Cohosh (Cimicifuga racemosa)
Virgin's Bower (Clematis virginiana)
Marginal Shield Fern (Leatherwood) (Dryopteris marginalis)
Virginia Waterleaf (Hydrophyllum virginica)
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea)
Blue Phlox (Phlox divaricata)
May Apple (Podophyllum peltatum)
Blood Root (Sanguinaria canadensis)
False Solomons Seal (Smilacina racemosa)
Elm-leaved Goldenrod (Solidago ulmifolia)
Great White Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)
Prairie Trillium (Trillium recuvratum)

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