If you are new to native plants and working to convert your garden areas to natives, learning to be able to identify emerging plants is important. Here we have photos of common native plants as they emerge in Spring. This list will be continually updated as we have time.
If you are seeing a plant in your flowerbeds that you don’t recognize, perhaps take a quick look at our guide for emerging invasive plants and weeds. We have lots of pictures there too.
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For more detail on individual native plants, refer to our NATIVE PLANT PROFILES.
- CLICK IMAGES FOR LARGER VIEW.
- CLICK COMMON NAME FOR A DETAILED PLANT PROFILE ON EACH PLANT.
COMMON NAME | SCIENTIFIC NAME | SEEDLING IMAGE | EMERGING PLANT IMAGE | MATURE PLANT |
---|---|---|---|---|
Anise Hyssop | Agastache foeniculum | |||
Aromatic Aster | Aster oblongifolius | |||
Bald Cypress | Taxodium distichum | N/A | ||
Bee Balm | Monarda didyma | |||
Big Bluestem | Andropogon gerardii | |||
Black Cherry | Prunus serotina | N/A | ||
Black Eyed Susan | Rudbeckia hirta | |||
Blanket Flower | Gaillardia grandiflora | |||
Blazing Star | Liatris spicata | |||
Blue False Indigo | Baptisia australis | |||
Blue Lobelia | Lobelia siphilitica | |||
Blue Vervain | Verbena hastata | |||
Boneset, Common | Eupatorium perfoliatum | |||
Boneset, Late | Eupatorium serotinum | |||
Bradbury’s Beebalm | Monarda bradburiana | |||
Brown-Eyed Susan | Rudbeckia triloba | |||
Butterfly Weed | Asclepias tuberosa | |||
Cardinal Flower | Lobelia cardinalis | |||
Culver’s Root | Veronicastrum virginicum | |||
Eastern Red Columbine | Aquilegia canadensis | |||
Compass Plant | Silphium laciniatum | |||
(Coreopsis) Large Flowered Tickseed | Coreopsis grandiflora | |||
Tall Coreopsis | Coreopsis tripteris | |||
Cup Plant | Silphium perfoliatum | |||
Dotted Blazing Star | Liatris punctata | |||
Eastern Purple Coneflower | Echinacea purpurea | |||
Pale Purple Coneflower | Echinacea pallida | |||
Echinacea paradoxa | ||||
Tennessee Coneflower | Echinacea tennesseenis | |||
False Sunflower | Heliopsis helianthoides | |||
Fire Pink | Silene virginica | |||
Fleabane Daisy (Showy) | ||||
Goldenrod, Canadian | Solidago canadensis | |||
Goldenrod, Showy | Solidago speciosa | |||
Goldenrod, Sweet | Solidago odora | |||
Royal Catchfly | Silene regia | |||
Foxglove Beardtongue | Penstemon digitalis | |||
Garden Phlox | Phlox paniculata | |||
Giant St. John’s Wort | Hypericum ascyron & Hypericum pyramidatum | |||
Giant Sunflower | Helianthus giganteus | |||
Golden Alexander | Zizia aurea | |||
Grayhead Coneflower | Ratibida pinnata | |||
Hairy Beardtongue | Penstemon hirsutus | |||
Hairy Wood Mint | Blephilia hirsuta | |||
Halberd-Leaf Rose Mallow | Hibiscus laevis | |||
Heart Leaf Aster | Symphyotrichum cordifolium | |||
Hoary Vervain | Verbena stricta | |||
Indian Blanket | Gaillardia pulchella | |||
Indian Tobacco | Lobelia inflata | |||
Ironweed | Vernonia baldwinii, Vernonia fafsciculata, Vernonia gigantea, vernonia glauca, Vernonia missurica, Vernonia noveboracensis | |||
Jack in the Pulpit | Arisaema triphyllum | |||
Jacob’s Ladder | Polemonium reptans | |||
Joe Pye Weed | Eutrochium pupurea, Eutrochium maculatum, Eutrochium fistulosum | |||
Rough Blazing Star | Liatris aspera | |||
Prairie Blazing Star | Liatris pycnostachya | |||
Northern Liatris | Liatris scariosa | |||
Tall Larkspur | Delphinium Exaltatum | |||
Lanceleaf Coreopsis | Coreopsis lanceolata | |||
Little Bluestem | Schizachyrium scoparium | |||
Maximilian Sunflower | Helianthus maximilian | |||
Mexican Hat Flower | Ratibida columnifera | |||
Common Milkweed | Asclepias syrica | |||
Mountain Laurel | Kalmia latifolia | N/A | ||
Blunt Mountainmint | Pycnanthemum muticum | |||
Hairy Mountain Mint | Pycnanthemum pilosum | |||
Virginia Mountain Mint | Pycnanthemum virginianum | |||
New England Aster | Symphyotrichum novae-angliae | |||
New York Ironweed | Vernonia noveboracensis | |||
Ninebark, Prairie | Physocarpus opulifolius | |||
Obedient Plant | Physostegia virginiana | |||
Orange Coneflower/ Perennial Black-Eyed Susan | Rudbeckia fulgida | |||
Orange Jewelweed | Impatiens capensis | |||
Partridge Pea | Chamaecrista fasciculata | |||
Pennsylvania Sedge | Carex pensylvanica | |||
Persimmon | Diospyros virginiana L. | |||
Pink Muhly Grass | Muhlenbergia capillaris | |||
Plains Coreopsis | Coreopsis tinctoria | |||
Prairie Dropseed | Sporobolus heterolepis | |||
Prairie Phlox | Phlox pilosa | |||
Prairie Smoke | Geum triflorum | |||
Pokeweed | Phytolacca americana | |||
Purple Giant Hyssop | Agastache scrophulariifolia | |||
Purple Prairie Clover | Dalea purpurea | |||
Purple Top Grass | Tridens flavus | |||
Sawtooth Sunflower | Helianthus grosseserratus | |||
Self-Heal | Prunella vulgaris | |||
Short’s Aster | Symphyotrichum shortii | |||
Showy Tick Trefoil | Desmodium canadense | |||
Sideoats Grama | Bouteloua curtipendula | |||
Smooth Blue Aster | Symphyotrichum laeve | |||
Sneezeweed | Helenium Autumnale | |||
Spicebush | Lindera benzoin | |||
Spotted Bee Balm | Monarda punctata | |||
Spring Beauty | Claytonia virginica | |||
Swamp Milkweed | Asclepias incarnata | |||
Turtlehead Flower | Chelone glabra | |||
Virginia Bluebells | Mertensia virginica | |||
White Snakeroot | Ageratina altissima or Eupatorium rugosum | |||
Whorled Milkweed | Asclepias verticillata | |||
Wild Bergamot | Monarda fistulosa | |||
Wild Cucumber | Echinocystis lobata | |||
Hairy Wild Petunia | Ruellia humilis | |||
White Snakeroot | Ageratina altissima | |||
Wild Strawberry | Fragaria Virginiana | |||
Wild Sunflower | Helianthus annus | |||
Wild Violet | Viola soroia | |||
Winecup Flower/ Purple Poppy Mallow | Callirhoe involucrata | |||
Winterberry Holly | Ilex verticillata | |||
Yarrow | Achillea millefolium | |||
Yellow Jewelweed | Impatiens pallida |
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