Drought-Defiant

Seduction Yarrow offers generous production of long-lasting flowers in vivid hues, dense, sturdy, columnar habit, and stellar garden performance even in hot, humid conditions. 'Strawberry Seduction' offers true red florets; 'Saucy' is rosy-pink and '...

Gold Plate Yarrow is a single clump-forming plant can produce a show all by itself. Fragrant, grayish green leaves on strong flower stems bear large golden, flat-topped flower clusters that attract butterflies. Excellent with dark ...

Paprika Yarrow is renowned for its large clusters of bright red flowers. Each individual flower in the cluster also has a distinctive yellow eye. As is the case with all Yarrows, the flowers fade as they age; Paprika Yarrow fades from red to pink. Pl...

Red Beauty Yarrow is renowned for its large clusters of bright red flowers. Each individual flower in the cluster also has a distinctive yellow eye. As is the case with all Yarrows, the flowers fade as they age; Red Beauty Yarrow fades from red to so...

Purple Haze Agastache offers elegant, upright spikes over aromatic foliage and continue to look good until frost. The prolific lavender-blue flowers emerge from contrasting deep rose-pink calyces....

Creates mass of soft powder-blue flower spikes from July onwards, making it a magnet for butterflies and admiring visitors alike. Robust addition for sunny, dry borders....

Bright yellow flowers tinted with orange mid-summer to frost. Silvery-leaved, southwestern perennial native is intensely aromatic. Needs well-drained site....

Low tufted foliage and globe-shaped flowers of Sea Thrift make it perfect for container plantings, the rock garden, border, or as a ground cover....

Soft, feathery foliage of Silver Mound Artemisia forms a compact, silky, cushion-like mound. It has many applications in the landscape including edging, rock gardens or a filler plant for hot, dry areas. It has long been one of the most popular silve...

Butterfly Milkweed has flat-topped umbrels of nectar-rich red-orange flowers atop fleshy stems....

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...

Aromatic Aster has abundant blooms in late fall. Shear back through July for dense habit....

Upright spikes of creamy white pealike flowers bloom on White Wild Indigo in late spring. Blue-gray foliage and black pods offer three-season interest....

Blue WIld Indigo has deep-blue flower spikes that bloom in spring. Stunning with Coreopsis!...

Starlite Prairieblues Wild Indigo has soft blue, pea-shaped flowers that glow white at the base for a sparkling overall appearance. A good strong grower with long spikes of flowers in early summer....

Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass is a stately, upright ornamental grass that makes a great addition to any landscape. Can be used informally with naturalized landscapes or in formal mass plantings....

Sunshine Blue Caryopteris has rich golden foliage, amethyst-blue blooms in tall spikes, and bushy, well-branched habit make Sunshine Blue® the best way to brighten the sunny garden in late summer and fall. This shrub leafs out bright gold in sprin...

Jethro Tull Coreopsis is an exceptional Coreopsis cultivar with that large, golden-orange flowers from early to mid-summer. The unique flowers have fluted petals that surround a darker button-like center. It has a wonderful compact habit and is extre...

Lanceleaf Coreopsis has showy, deep-yellow flowers on tough, drought-tolerant plants. Great for naturalizing. Establishes easily from seed. Good in wildflower seed mixes...

Zagreb Threadleaf Coreopsis is a sun-loving plant with fernlike foliage and loads of bright yellow blooms that brighten any border. Wonderful compact form, ideal for bed edges....

Sun-loving plant with fernlike foliage and loads of creamy yellow blooms....

Purple Prairie Clover has tiny, purple flowers on compact, cone-shaped heads. Nitrogen-fixing plant that is an important component of Midwestern prairie restorations....

Maximum color impact from Firewitch Dianthus, a German cultivar. Firewitch Dianthus offers one of the bluest-foliaged, most heat-tolerant and most tolerant of varying soil conditions of the many types of Dianthus. Prolific blooms extend throughout th...

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....

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...

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....

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....

Compact and free flowering defines Double Delight Coneflower. Flowers are consistently double upon blooming. The stems are sturdy and numerous for a full appearance in containers and in the landscape....

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...

Tough plant with big flowers, crammed with bright pink petals and set atop sturdy stems! Like all Echinacea, Razzmatazz is durable, disease-resistant, drought-tolerant, heat- and humidity-loving, and untroubled by pests and diseases. A cultivar of ou...

This robust variety has petals of a cooling light green surrounding dark green cones -- the ideal complement to hotter colors of high summer. Flowering begins in July and continues into autumn. Plants thrive in average soils or hot, dry conditions an...

Coconut Lime Coneflower is a white double selection with pale green at the center of the cone. Tolerates moist sites equally well....

Canada Wild Rye is a fast-growing prairie grass is not only attractive, it also serves as an excellent native nurse crop for prairie seedings. The beautiful curving seedheads on five foot tall stalks resemble cultivated rye. Grows on an incredible ra...

Purple Love Grass has mounds of fine-textured, green foliage with clouds of finely-branched, reddish-purple panicles in late summer. Short lived but self-sows freely to maintain stands. Plant in full sun with average, well-drained soil....

Elijah Blue Fescue is a clumping ornamental grass with outstanding icy-blue leaf color. Heat tolerance, evergreen quality and unique foliage color makes it perfect for edging borders or mass planting as a ground cover. Buff colored flowers rise above...

Oranges and Lemons Gaillardia offers a new color form of tough Gaillardia that is spectacularly prolific. Oranges and Lemons Gaillardia is ideal for poor soil in plenty of sun. It can also take summer humidity and winter cold....

Gaillardia is a North American genus of showy native annuals and perennials grown for their profuse and long-running bloom and their utter indifference to heat and drought. One of many new cultivar varieties especially suited to native beds is 'Fanfa...

Showy Sunflower is one of the largest and showiest of all the native sunflowers. The high contrast between the bright yellow petals and dark black centers give this sunflower a distinctive appearance....

Table Mountain Sunflower is a remarkable short form of our native Willow-Leaved Sunflower. The plants are self supporting and feature a plateau of brilliant, dark-eyed yellow daisies from summer right through fall....

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...

Happy Returns Daylily is a hybrid of Stella de Oro, so you expect bloom strength, but it's got something more -- the ability to rebloom from early June right up to frost! Large, 4" flowers bloom from early summer until hard frost. Excellent in massed...

Chicago Apache Daylily is a perennial award winner, and for good reason. Plants offer abundance of large, five-inch diameter blossoms, vibrant deep red color and hardiness in a variety of climates and soils. Low-maintenance and easy-to-grow, pest res...

Double Orange Daylily offers brilliant orange, double flowers! Large, 4" flowers bloom from early summer until hard frost. Excellent in massed plantings or naturalized....

Stella d'Oro Daylily is a great choice for a variety of well-drained soils in full sun to part shade. Dwarf, everblooming variety with multitudes of dainty, canary-yellow flowers. By far one of the best daylilies available. The Stella D'Oro daylily h...

Rosy Returns Daylily is a hybrid of Stella de Oro, so you expect bloom strength, but it's got something more -- the ability to rebloom from early June right up to frost! Large, 4" flowers bloom from early summer until hard frost. Excellent in massed ...

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Knautia is one of the finest perennials for the border. It has a very long season of flowering lasting well into the autumn and early winter. The dense, double, pincushion scabiosa-like flowers are a brilliantly strong cherry red, a rare color in bor...

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....

Morning Light Miscanthus is easily grown in average, medium, well-drained soil in full sun to part shade. Tolerant of a wide range of soils from well-drained sandy soils to the heavy clays present in Midwest. Reddish-brown plumes in late fall add int...

Green blades of Variegated Miscanthus have added highlights of creamy-white margins and mid-veins creating a shimmering silvery appearance. Variegated Miscanthus' appearance is fine-textured and it has a compact growth habit. Reddish-brown plumes add...

Fine hair-like blades of Mexican Feather Grass arch outward like a fountain head from a dense central crown. Produces feather-like airy flower heads in late spring that mature over summer. Mature clumps of Mexican Feather Grass are highly animated by...

Walker's Low Catmint has finely-cut gray-green aromatic foliage with large lavender-blue heavy blossoms from late spring through midsummer. Prune back for a second heavy bloom in fall and cut it back several times during its first bloom season for a ...

Missouri Primrose is a showy, trailing plant with large, yellow, fragrant flowers up to 4" across. Plants bloom for a long period from spring through summer and make an excellent front of border or rock garden plant. Foliage stays green much of the y...

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...

Prairie Fire Switch Grass is a cultivar boasting blue-green stems with wine-red leaves. Spring foliage is blue-green, but begins turning to a stunning red color by early summer. In late summer, a bouquet of rosy panicles is displayed just above the c...

Northwind Switch Grass is a medium grower which prefers full sun and good drainage. Northwind Switch Grass plants are erect and rather stiff and can tolerate some snow load before breaking down. The yellow flowers are golden during autumn. Small seed...

'Prince' is a breakthrough in ornamental grasses. The purple foliage becomes even more purple as the summer gets hotter, quite a change to most plants that fade in summer heat. The habit is much fuller than other purple grasses and the growth is far...

Pennisetum 'Princess' is an exotic grass from South America. It is hardy to zone 8 but looks spectacular when planted as an accent or container plant in Northern gardens. The saber-shaped leaves emerge narrow, dappled green and purple and become prog...

Foxtrot Fountain Grass forms large, upright clumps topped in midsummer with 60-inch tall tan plumes. P. 'Foxtrot' has proven to be an outstanding, non-spreading, long-lived and reliable performer with much more vigor than typical P. alopecuroides....

In late summer, buff-colored flower heads of Dwarf Fountain Grass pop up in profusion on 12" spikes. The graceful fountain-like plumes slowly change color from buff to soft pinks and light-colored maroons. One to three plants are effective in small g...

Purple Beardtongue presents show-stopping spikes of loosely spaced flowers. The large violet to deep purple tubular flowers grace erect stems. Purple Beardtongue flowers bloom in late spring and are larger than other penstemon flowers. Grows easily i...

Filigran Russian Sage is the sturdiest and most upright of the Perovskia cultivars. Feathery, finely-cut foliage glistens a rich silvery-green in the landscape. Filigran Russian Sage blooms are airy and steel-blue, surrounding thin stems. Habit is ro...

London Planetree is a large cultivar between American Sycamore and Oriental Plane Tree. Like Sycamore, London Planetree becomes more spreading than pyramidal as it ages. It tolerates dry soil and is resistant to the anthracnose that afflicts native S...

Clssic Black-eyed Susan is an asy-to-grow, highly adaptable annual or biannual native wildflower. Does best with regular moisture as do its cultivars such as 'Prairie Sun' or 'Indian Summer.'...

Purple Sage has a compact bushy habit with dark purple leaves. Ornamental culinary sage....

Rigid spikes of Mainacht Blue Salvia's dark blue flowers appear over aromatic blue-gray leaves in May and June. Superb color accent for any border....

Little Bluestem is one of the best small, non-spreading, clump-forming native grasses. Little Bluestem's blue-green leaves turn reddish orange in the fall. Fluffy silver seed heads are ornamental through winter. Easy to establish and perfect in short...

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...

Rosy Glow Sedum is a perfect choice for the front of a sunny border or for edging pathways. It forms a low mound of fleshy blue-grey rounded leaves, and bears clusters of deep pink to reddish flowers from late summer into autumn....

Black Jack Sedum is another sturdy sedum for the late summer and early fall border. Black Jack Sedum has robust clumps of deep purple stems with black-purple foliage contrast well with large pink flower heads....

Autumn Joy Sedum is one of the best-known and well-used sedums. Super tough for borders of late summer. Flower clusters begin a soft rose and mature to a deep brick red. Autumn Joy Sedum harmonizes well with the late summer colors of ornamental grass...

Squawweed has loose umbels of bright yellow flowers that bloom atop 12" stems. Foliage basal rosettes are semi-evergreen, with rounded and serrated leaves. Grows well in dry shade and spreads by underground stems....

Showy Goldenrod is a midwest native that is found on dry sites. Showy Goldenrod features tiny, bright late summer yellow flowers borne in dense, erect clusters atop stiff reddish stems. Flowers bloom mid to late summer. Showy Goldenrod is one of the ...

Prairie Dropseed is one of the most beautiful native grasses. Very thin, emerald green leaves form a dense arching tuft. Seed heads form in August and give off a distinct aroma. The graceful clumps of Prairie Dropseed turn yellow or deep orange in fa...

Lambs' Ears describes a large and diverse genus in the Mint family that includes a number of valuable landscape plants. Lambs' Ears' bold leaves are so densely felted with white hairs that they appear gray or silver. This species does flower, throwin...

Giant Feather Grass is a show-stopping native of Spain, with jointed stalks that resemble lean bamboo. Airy ten-inch panicles of oatlike flowers begin as purple and ripen to pale, metallic gold. The graceful gray-green foliage of Giant Feather Grass ...

DeGroot's Spire Arborvitae is an elegant, narrow and columnar form of American Arborvitae. DeGroot's Spire is unique both for its form and refined texture, which boasts deep emerald green, fanned leaves. A traditional plant, 'Degroot's Spire' is text...

The lacy, deep green foliage of 'Techny Gold' is tipped in gold and holds its winter color better than any other golden cedar, with no winter cold damage. Techny Gold is a cultivar of Golden Eastern Arborvitae and will mature into well formed, dense ...

Woodwardii, a cultivar of Globe Eastern Arborvitae, is a wonderful low maintenance plant. It has dense, lacy and deep evergreen foliage that creates a plant habit that is a perfect globe....

The soft, dark green foliage of 'Hetz Midget' grows in layered sprays that creates a round, dwarf and compact form. Use as low hedge, or as evergreen accent in rock gardens and small spaces...

Dark Green Arborvitae is a tall, compact, cone-shaped evergreen with deep green foliage and good winter color. It is considered one of the best of its genus! Used primarily for hedges and screens....

Rheingold Arborvitae, a cultivar of Eastern Arborvitae, adds a little color and a softly rounded shape into the landscape. This unique plant that features orange-yellow foliage that turns a deep copper-orange hue in winter....

Accolade and Triumph Elm are two notably drought-tolerant cultivars that grow vigorously in almost all soils except those that are excessively wet. Accolade or Triumph Elm are both resistant to Dutch elm disease as well as elm yellows and the elm lea...

Barren Strawberry is a good, general-purpose groundcover for full sun to partial shade. Barren Strawberry is a native that forms a slow spreading mat with small, yellow early spring flowers. Foliage is evergreen, but tends to turn bronze cold winter ...

Soapweed or Yucca offers a bright stalk of creamy white flowers that protrude from a center stalk within the plant's cluster of blue-green, blade-shaped leaves....

'Zahara' Zinnia produces big flowers in a bright, bold color on a disease-resistant, heat-loving plant....

The "Profusion Series" comes in a variety of colors. All have vigorous habit and strong basal branching making them an excellent landscape choice. Blooms from early spring to fall and requires no deadheading to maintain blooming. Resists powdery mild...

Nothing ignites a bed or mixed border like a mass planting of Zowie! Zowie Zinnia has brilliant, yellow-tipped petals that start off magenta-pink then turn to scarlet-rose around a dramatic red-and-yellow cone. The three-inch blooms continue from Jun...