Rain Gardens and Bioswales
These moisture-loving, deep-rooted natives and native cultivars help infiltrate stormwater into the ground and offer extravagant flowers with lush growth.
Annuals (8)
Butterfly Attracting (81)
Creative Containers (52)
Drought-Defiant (87)
Midwest Native (84)
Salt-Tolerant Plants (26)
Shade-tolerant (54)
Trees & Shrubs (74)
Aconitum cammarum ''Stainless Steel''
Common Name: Monkshood
Stainless Steel Monkshood plants have slender stems with glossy green foliage require no staking except after high winds. Pale blue flowers bloom in late summer and give the plant its common name....
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Aconitum fischeri
Common Name: Monkshood
Thick leathery stems with lavender blue flowers and glossy dark green foliage. Blooms in late summer. No staking....
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Aconitum henryi ''Sparks Variety''
Common Name: Monkshood
Sparks Variety Monkshood plants have thick leathery stems with glossy dark green foliage require no staking except after high winds. Lavender blue flowers bloom in late summer....
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Acorus gramineus ''Golden Pheasant''
Common Name: Golden Pheasant Sweet Flag
Golden Pheasant Sweet Flag has narrow, strap-like leaves make a stunning appearance with their brilliant gold coloring that remains all season long. The new foliage is chartreuse and will attain the best gold coloring in full sun.
This cultivar is...
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Acorus gramineus ''Ogon''
Common Name: Golden Variegated Sweet Flag
Golden Variegated Sweet Flag is a semi-evergreen to evergreen, bright yellow leaves with some green striping; flowers are insignificant. Prefers light shade and evenly moist soil....
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Amsonia illustris
Common Name: Shining Blue Star
Shining Blue Star offers rounded spikes of starry, sky blue flowers emerge in spring and last for several weeks. Deep green willow-like leaves turn bright gold in the fall. The plant takes on a substantial rounded form in the garden. Swallowtail butt...
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Amsonia tabernaemontana X ''Blue Ice''
Common Name: Blue Ice Blue Star
Blue Ice Blue Star is a compact, erect, clump-forming plant which features terminal, pyramidal clusters of blue, 3/4", star-like flowers in late spring atop erect, leafy stems. This long-blooming, compact Amsonia selection blooms longer and stronger ...
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Asclepias incarnata
Common Name: Marsh Milkweed
Marsh, or Swamp, Milkweed offers sweetly scented clusters of rose-pink flowers bloom in summer. All kinds of pollinators find the nectar irresistible and monarch larvae feed on the foliage. Grows naturally in swamps, along streams and ponds and in we...
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Aster laevis
Common Name: Smooth Aster
Smooth Aster is an attractive and long-lived native with attractive, smooth blue-green foliage. Abundant flowers appear late in the fall, when few other plants dare risk the danger of frost. Tolerates a broad variety of soil types and moisture levels...
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Aster novae-angliae
Common Name: New England Aster
New England Aster is a dependable perennial which grows up to six feet tall and produces hundreds of large, bright purple flowers with yellow centers in September and October. The flowers are a favorite nectar source for migrating monarch butterflies...
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Aster novae-angliae ''Purple Dome''
Common Name: Purple Dome Aster
Hordes of purple, starry flowers with yellow centers completely cover Purple Dome Aster's lance-shaped green foliage in fall. Purple Dome Aster plants form naturally neat, compact mounds with no cutting back needed. This classic aster is famous for i...
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Astilbe X arendsii ''Flamingo', 'Pink Lightening', 'Sprite' and more'
Common Name: Astilbe
Rugged and beautiful, Astilbe cultivar varieties are perfect for shady gardens. Long and colorful spikes are held above divided foliage in summer, when color in the shade garden is hard to come by. Use them in groups in the woodland border, or mass t...
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Betula nigra ''Cully''
Common Name: Dura Heat River Birch
Dura Heat River Birch offers beautiful creamy, white exfoliating bark at an early age. Fast-growing, nicely forked, and wind and ice resistant. 'Dura Heat' has a denser canopy of foliage than native River Birch along with leaf spot resistance. The tr...
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Carex comans ''Bronze''
Common Name: Bronze New Zealand Hair Sedge
Dense, swirling clumps of hairlike, copper-bronze foliage are characteristic of Bronze New Zealand Hair Sedge. Prefers full sun in moist, well-drained soil....
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Carex elata 'Aurea'
Common Name: Bowles Golden Sedge
Bowles' Golden Sedge has vivid foliage that adds bright color to the sunny or part shade garden. The yellow seems to glow in partial shade. Use this dramatic clump of foliage near water or in shallow water, or in another moist location....
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Carex flagellifera
Common Name: Toffee Twist Sedge
The slender, iridescent leaves of Toffee Twist Sedge offer an elegant sweeping, trailing habit. This cool season grass is a perfect complement plant that adds movement and texture to any container....
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Carex morrowii 'Ice Dance'
Common Name:
Ice Dance' has strap-like leaves striped with a clean white edge. 'Ice Dance' is evergreen and adds a sense of permanence to the winter shade garden....
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Carex stricta
Common Name: Tussock Sedge
It's hard to beat Tussock Sedge for its rich green, fine-bladed foliage. The leaves of Tussock Sedge form dense mounds or "tussocks." Useful for water gardens, swales, around the edge of ponds or streams or in moist soil as a ground cover....
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Carpinus caroliniana
Common Name: American Hornbeam
American Hornbeam is a handsome, small- to medium-sized tree with multiple stems that forms wide, horizontal canopy. Dark green leaves can be yellow, orange, red or purple in fall. Beautiful thin, blue-gray bark....
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Cephalanthus occidentalis
Common Name: Buttonbush
Hundreds of ball-shaped, creamy white flowers dangle from Buttonbush in August. Butterflies and insects find the nectar irresistable....
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Chelone glabra
Common Name: Turtlehead
Turtlehead has erect, leafy stems with clusters of white snapdragon-like blossoms. Naturally occurs along streambanks, swampy areas and moist woods....
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Chelone obliqua
Common Name: Rose Turtlehead
Dense spikes of rose-red flowers bloom on Rose Turtlehead in late summer and early fall. Butterflies and other pollinators are attracted to the nectar. The deep green, glossy foliage is handsome all season long. Rose Turtlehead grows best in full sun...
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Cornus sericea ''Farrow''
Common Name: Arctic Fire Red Twig Dogwood
Arctic Fire Red Twig Dogwood is a dwarf cultivar of the native that is grown for its bright red winter stems. Arctic Fire Red Twig Dogwood is particularly showy against a snowy backdrop. Lacks the height and spreading habit of the native species. Tin...
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Echinacea purpurea
Common Name: Purple Coneflower
Purple Coneflower is a perennial favorite with robust, drought tolerant perennial, native to the midwestern and southeastern United States. Prefers full sun to partial shade in fertile, well-drained soils. Easy to naturalize....
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Echinacea purpurea ''After Midnight''
Common Name: After Midnight Coneflower
Echinacea 'After Midnight' is short, upright, and bushy--ideal for containers or the front of a border, where its coloring will create impact. Dramatic, almost black stems hold flower heads of rich fuschia-purple petals surrounding a dark red cone....
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Echinacea purpurea ''Summer Sky''
Common Name: Summer Sky Coneflower
Summer Sky Coneflower is a pastel two-tone coneflower--the first of its kind! Pale coral-orange petal tips fade to reddish pink at their bases, and are centered around an orange cone. Large flowered, prolific and very fragrant from late June until fr...
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Echinacea purpurea ''Fragrant Angel''
Common Name: Fragrant Angel Coneflower
Fragrant Angel Coneflower has large, fragrant, white flowers. The double rows of petals are held horizontally, making the show even better. Tall, vigorous plants have strong branches and flower profusely all summer long. 'Fragrant Angel' makes a grea...
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Echinacea purpurea ''Kim's Knee High''
Common Name: Kim's Knee High Purple Coneflower
Kim's Knee High Coneflower has big, bright flowers that first appear in late June and keep coming into September. Plants thrive in average soils or hot, dry conditions; shrug off cold; and are equally at home in full sun or partial shade....
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Equisetum hyemale
Common Name: Horsetail
Horsetail offers vigorously spreading clumps of cylindrical, gray-green to bright green stems with cream-colored bands accented by black fringe. Stems turn bronze in winter; flowers are cone-like spikes at the stem tips. Adapts to full sun or part s...
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Eupatorium dubium
Common Name: Little Joe Pye Weed
Little Joe Pye Weed is a dwarf species of Joe Pye, native in moist soils from Maine south to South Carolina. In appearance, E. dubium is similar to E. purpureum, but more tolerant of light shade....
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Helenium X Helbro ''Mardi Gras''
Common Name: Mardi Gras Sneezeweed
Mardi Gras Sneezeweed provides numerous multicolored blooms for six to eight weeks in summer, from late June to early August. Yellow petals, lavishly splashed with orange red, form wildly patterned stiff skirts around deep brown, mounded center cones...
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Helictotrichon sempervirens
Common Name: Blue Oat Grass
Blue Oat Grass is tougher and more enduring than blue fescues, cool season Blue Oat Grass is the best choice for accents. Tolerates full sun or light shade. Prefers fertile, moist soil but will grow in a wide range of soil; good drainage is essential...
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Hibiscus lasiocarpus
Common Name: Rose Mallow
Rose Mallow plants take shrub-like form and offer showy blooms in mid-summer for many weeks. The white or pink flowers have red centers and are four to five inches across....
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Hibiscus moscheutos
Common Name: Crimson-eyed Rose Mallow
Crimson-eyed Rose Mallow is multi-stemmed, shrub-like herbaceous perennial which dies back in winter and re-sprouts in spring. The leaves are velvety beneath and smooth on top. The flowers are about six inches across, with white or pink petals and cr...
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Ilex glabra ''Compacta''
Common Name: Compacta Inkberry
Compacta Inkberry is an evergreen cultivar. It is a stoloniferous, slow-growing, compact shrub with a tight, oval to rounded habit. Thick, spineless, dark green leaves fade to olive green in winter. Inconspicuous white spring flowers appear followed ...
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Ilex verticillata ''Winter Red''
Common Name: Winter Red Winterberry Holly
Winterberry is a slow-growing, deciduous, suckering shrub with an upright rounded habit. Among winterberry cultivars, both 'Winter Red' and 'Berry Nice' are noted for heavy fruiting, bright red fruit color, clean mildew resistant foliage and good ret...
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Imperata cylindrica var. koenigii ''Red Baron''
Common Name: Japanese Blood Grass
Japanese Blood Grass is a slow-spreading clump grass. Tall upright leaves emerge green with red tips in spring, turn completely red by late summer and fall, then copper in winter. Plant in full sun for best color with evenly moist, well-drained soil....
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Iris sibirica 'Caesar's Brother'
Common Name: Siberian Iris
'Caesar's Brother' Siberian Iris produces deep purple flowers in late spring on rigid stems. Clump forming. After bloom, the vase-shaped foliage retains its green color into fall. ...
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Iris virginica shrevii
Common Name: Southern Blue Flag
Southern Blue Flag has narrow, bright green leaves and fragrant, blue violet flowers with falls crested in yellow and white. A perfect choice for rain gardens and along pond edges....
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Itea virginica ''Henry's Garnet''
Common Name: Henry's Garnet Sweetspire
Henry's Garnet Sweetspire is an erect, rounded, deciduous shrub with fragrant drooping clusters of white flowers. Oval, dark green leaves turn garnet red in fall. Flowers and fall color of this cultivar are superior to that of the species....
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Juncus effusus
Common Name: Soft Rush
Soft Rush is a common wetland species with unique, side stem inflorescence. Soft Rush will bloom from May through September. The plants will naturalize forming large clumps when left undisturbed....
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Liatris pycnostachya
Common Name: Prairie Blazing Star
In July and August, the unbranched stalks of Prairie Blazing Star bear dense spikes of fuschia flowers on strong stems creating dramatic landscape statement. Prairie Blazing Star's nectar-rich flowers attract butterflies and hummingbirds....
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Liatris spicata ''Kobold''
Common Name: Kobold Blazing Star
Kobold Blazing Star is a compact selection of the prairie native is a welcome addition to the mid-summer landscape. 'Kobold' almost qualifies as a dwarf, and definitely belongs near the front of the border....
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Ligularia dentata 'Britt-Marie Crawford'
Common Name: Britt-Marie Crawford Elephant Ears
This selection of Ligularia, or Elephant Ears, is a bold specimen perennial that needs a moist location. It forms a clump of large, rounded maroon-black leaves. Taller stems appear in midsummer, bearing clusters of bright golden orange daisy flowers....
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Lobelia cardinalis
Common Name: Cardinal Flower
Dozens of brilliant red flowers on Cardinal Flower's strong, upright stems in late summer. Hummingbirds enjoy Cardinal Flower's nectar....
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Lobelia siphilitica
Common Name: Blue Lobelia
Blue Lobelia has stout spikes of two-lipped flowers bloom in fall. In optimum growing conditions, Blue Lobelia may self-seed forming attractive colonies....
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Monarda didyma ''Grand Parade''
Common Name: Grand Parade Bee Balm
Grand Parade Bee Balm is easily the most mildew-resistant Bee Balm of all, Grand Parade is also among the best for garden beauty, flowering over a longer season and more abundantly than other varieties. Quite compact and handsome even out of bloom wi...
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Nepeta subsessilis ''Candy Cat''
Common Name: Candy Cat Catmint
Candy Cat Catmint offers sizeable, dense clusters of large, fragrant, pale lavender pink flowers. Unlike other Nepetas, Candy Cat Catmint prefers moist soil....
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Panicum virgatum ''Heavy Metal''
Common Name: Heavy Metal Switch Grass
Native Switch Grass and taller Switch Grass cultivars can become floppy, but 'Heavy Metal' is shorter and the steely blue-green foliage is very upright. Next to the cultivar, 'Dallas Blues,' 'Heavy Metal' looks petite. It is well-suited to the border...
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Phlox paniculata
Common Name: Garden Phlox
Garden Phlox offers large, fragrant magenta flower clusters that attract butterflies and hummingbirds....
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Phlox paniculata ''David''
Common Name: David Garden Phlox
David Garden Phlox is the most mildew-resistant phlox to date. The wonderfully fragrant giant flower heads adorn the top of the plant during the late spring and summer....
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Physocarpus opulifolia ''Mindia''
Common Name: Coppertina Ninebark
Coppertina Ninebark is a great new addition to the Ninebark family of native shrubs. Coppertina is a new cross between the golden ninebark 'Darks Gold' and the purple leafed ninebark Diabolo ('Monlo'). Plants have orange-copper foliage in the spring ...
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Rhus aromatica ''Gro-Low''
Common Name: Gro-Low Sumac
Gro-Low Sumac is the dense, low-growing version of the native Aromatic Sumac. Gro-Low Sumac is a rambling shrub which spreads by roots. Trifoliate, medium green fragrant leaves turn attractive shades of orange and red in autumn. Leaves and twigs are ...
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Rudbeckia fulgida ''Goldsturm''
Common Name: Goldsturm Black-eyed Susan
Goldsturm Black-eyed Susan is among the best border perennials available. Goldsturm Black-eyed Susan is a selection of one of our native North American wildflowers. Plants make a bushy, upright clump with a profuse display of brown-eyed, yellow-orang...
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Rudbeckia subtomentosa
Common Name: Sweet Coneflower
Sweet Coneflower is a native superstar! In late summer, Sweet Coneflower puts on a dazzling display of typical golden yellow flowers with dark brown dome-shaped centers. The foliage of this long-lived resilient plant is medium green and forms a tidy ...
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Schizachyrum scoparium ''The Blues''
Common Name: The Blues Little Bluestem
The Blues Little Bluestem is one of several outstanding new selections of Little Bluestem grass, each with more intense grayish-blue summer foliage and deeper bronzy-red fall foliage. Sturdy, upright growth habit. The Blues Little Bluestem is nice co...
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Scutellaria incana
Common Name: Downy Skullcap
Downy Skullcap has deep blue summer flowers that are held above large square-stemmed stalks, typical of mint family plants. The six inch leaves are toothed and covered with fine hairs....
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Sorghastrum nutans ''Sioux Blue''
Common Name: Sioux Blue Indian Grass
Sioux Blue Indian Grass has upright clumps of distinctly blue-green leaves that turn yellow in fall and tan in winter. Prefers full sun but tolerates light shade. Sioux Blue Indian Grass is most vigorous in moist soil, but drought-tolerant when estab...
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Taxodium distichum ''Cascade Falls' or 'Shawnee Brave''
Common Name: Cascade Falls or Shawnee Brave Bald Cypress
Cascade Falls or Shawnee Brave Bald Cypress are two excellent cultivars of the native tree. Each cultivar is more pyramidal in habit than the native tree with very delicate, feathery foliage. These hybrid varieties have denser foliage and a narrower ...
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Viburnum trilobum
Common Name: Highbush Cranberry
Large attractive native shrub that is often found in the wild in bogs. They are showy in spring for their large clusters of small white flowers. In late summer, the fruit turn bright red and remain on throughout the winter or until harvested by birds...
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