Colorful Native Plants for the Midwestern Garden

Columbine

An adaptable plant that does well in sun or shade, native columbine offers dainty red and yellow-spurred flowers loved by butterflies and hummingbirds alike.

Name: Aquilegia canadensis

Growing Conditions: Sun or shade and well-drained soil

Size: To two feet tall

Zones: 3–8

• Learn more about Columbine in our Plant Encyclopedia.

Jack-in-the-Pulpit

Try this enchanting plant in your shade garden. Hooded green flowers reveal little Jack poking up into rusty red markings on the inside of the "pulpit." If you're lucky, the flowers will set bright red clusters of berries in the fall, for an extra season of interest.

Name: Arisaema triphyllum

Growing Conditions: Shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: To two feet tall

Zones: 4–9

Blue Sage

In early fall, sections of the prairies become sky blue, thanks to the lovely flowers of blue sage. Add this easy perennial to your garden and enjoy its glorious color.

Name: Salvia pitcheri

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To four feet tall

Zones: 4–9

Spiderwort

Spiderworts are charming, versatile spring-blooming perennials with grassy foliage and three-petaled flowers. One of our favorites is 'Sweet Kate,' which pairs cobalt blue flowers with neon chartreuse foliage.

Name: Tradescantia sp.

Growing Conditions: Sun or shade and moist, well-drained soil

Size: To three feet tall

Zones: 4–9

Butterfly Weed

There's a lot to love about this prairie plant. It's resistant to pests, diseases, and drought, and it attracts scores of butterflies (including monarchs, whose caterpillars will happily eat the leaves). Its electric-orange flowers sing in the summer garden.

Name: Asclepias tuberosa

Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

Size: To four feet tall

Zones: 4–10

• Learn more about Butterfly Weed in our Plant Encyclopedia.

Goldenrod

A spectacular charmer in the fall garden, goldenrod bears fluffy clusters of golden-yellow blooms. One of our favorite selections is 'Fireworks' (named because of the shape of the bloom clusters).

Name: Solidago sp.

Growing Conditions: Full sun and well-drained soil

Size: To four feet tall, depending on variety

Zones: 4–8

• Learn more about Goldenrod in our Plant Encyclopedia.

Swamp Milkweed

Milkweeds are butterfly favorites and this one is no exception. Despite its common name, swamp milkweed doesn't mind average garden conditions. Showy pink flowers appear in mid-summer and attract monarch butterflies.

Name: Asclepias incarnata

Growing Conditions: Full sun, moist to average soils

Size: To five feet tall

Zones: 3–6

Penstemon

A topnotch perennial, this penstemon offers gorgeous burgundy-tinged foliage and in early summer, clusters of white flowers.

Name: Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red'

Growing Conditions: Full sun and moist, well-drained soil

Size: To two feet tall

Zones: 3–8

Compass Plant

Try a compass plant for a dramatic presence in your summer garden. Yellow, sunflower-shaped blooms sit atop towering, nine-foot stems. This incredibly drought-tolerant plant has earned its moniker because it aligns itself north to south to conserve water on hot summer days.

Name: Silphium laciniatum

Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

Size: To nine feet tall

Zones: 3–8

Little Bluestem

One of our all-time favorite grasses, little bluestem sends up bronze-kissed, blue-gray foliage through spring and summer. Then, in fall, the blades turn a gorgeous shade of purple-bronze and continue to look good all winter.

Name: Schizachyrium scoparium

Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

Size: To three feet tall

Zones: 3–9

Wild Anemone

This easy-to-grow plant is easy to love. It thrives in moist soils rich in organic matter. Its large white flowers are a highlight of the spring border. A vigorous groundcover, it can happily fill in a large space within a growing season.

Name: Anemone canadensis

Growing Conditions: Part sun to shade, well-drained soil

Size: To two feet tall

Zones: 3–9

Pale Purple Coneflower

There are numerous coneflower varieties on the market, but a great, under-used variety is pale purple coneflower. This top-notch plant bears pink flowers in mid-summer. The bloom color is enhanced by the dark, raspberry-red cones at the center of each bloom. Note: Like many coneflowers, it will self-seed and produce a nice colony in your landscape.

Name: Echinacea pallida

Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

Size: To 40 inches tall

Zones: 3–10

Poppy Mallow

This incredible groundcover bears bright wine-red flowers all summer long. Poppy mallow is long-lived and drought-tolerant, as well as pest-free. It's perfect for the front of a border, or scrambling over a rock wall.

Name: Callirhoe involucrata

Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained to dry soil

Size: To eight inches tall

Zones: 4–8

Culver's Root

This native perennial loves water. Good companion plants for this tall, white-flowered plant include cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) and great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica). Tolerant of light shade, Culver's root will attract butterflies to your garden.

Name: Veronicastrum virginicum

Growing Conditions: Full sun to part shade, moist soils

Size: To six feet tall

Zones: 4–7

Bloodroot

A quaint ephemeral, bloodroot blooms in early spring, producing white, daisy-shaped flowers. The pretty foliage looks like bigfoot's paw print, but it goes dormant by summer, so plant it with Jack-in-the-pulpit so you don't have a bare spot in the garden.

Name: Sanguinaria canadensis

Growing Conditions: Shade and well-drained soil

Size: To one foot tall

Zones: 3–10