The Midwestern Native Garden. Charlotte Adelman
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silvery with drops of water, possess an exquisite beauty.”22 It blooms into June, bearing flowers some people perceive as being white and yellow. Cultivation: Light shade. Medium moist to well-drained average garden soil. Nature Note: Attractive to bees, butterflies, and birds. Chiefly pollinated by wind.
Early meadow-rue (Thalictrum dioicum)
Baneberry (Actaea pachypoda)
Red baneberry (Actaea rubra)
More Native Buttercup Family Alternatives:
AMERICAN COLUMBINE, p. 22; BANEBERRY, WHITE BANEBERRY, DOLL’S EYES. Family: Buttercup (Ranunculaceae). Genus: Actaea (A. pachypoda). Height: 1–3 feet. Ornamental Attributes: Pretty feathery fragrant white flowers in May, June and striking white late summer or early fall berries that “resemble the eyes of old-fashioned china dolls, hence the common name.”23 Airy columbine-like foliage, thick red stalks. Cultivation: Shade. Average garden soil; RED BANEBERRY (A. rubra). Red berries. Cultivation: Shade. Wet to average garden soil. Note: Threatened or rare in parts of the Midwest. Nature Note: Baneberry flowers lack nectar but they do provide pollen to visiting insects, mainly halictid bees. The common name “baneberry” refers to the fruit’s toxicity to humans, but it is relished by birds like the yellow-bellied sapsucker and the American robin, which help distribute the seeds to new areas. Mammalian herbivores avoid the foliage. Nonnative Note: Do not confuse native baneberry species with European baneberries.
Yellowbellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius)
More Native Alternatives:
BLUE COHOSH. Family: Barberry (Berberidaceae). Genus: Caulophyllum (C. thalictroides). Height: Usually less than 2 feet. Ornamental Attributes: Airy lobed leaves resemble columbine and meadow-rue. The foliage fills empty spaces left by ephemerals. Bears clusters of attractive yellow-green flowers April to June. Metallic blue berries late summer and fall. Cultivation: Shade. Medium moist or average garden soil. Nature Note: Bees and other beneficial insects seek the nectar. Birds seek the fruit.
Blue cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides)
Grass Family Native Alternatives:
PRAIRIE JUNEGRASS. Family: Grass (Gramineae, Poaceae). Genus: Koeleria (K. macrantha, K. cristata, K. pyramidata). Height: 1–3 feet. Ornamental Attributes: Eye-catching clumps of graceful fine-leaved grass. Fuzzy silvery white spikes of flowers May to July but always in June followed by lustrous silver-green seed heads. Cultivation: Sun/shade. Well-drained medium dry to dry soil. Note: Endangered in parts of the Midwest.
Prairie Junegrass (Koeleria macrantha)
NORTHERN SWEETGRASS. Genus: Hierochloe (H. hirta). Origin: Circumpolar: North America and Europe. Height: 1–2 feet. Ornamental Attributes: Glossy, vanilla-scented green leaves and white spring flowers. Cultivation: Sun, light shade. Wet, moist to average garden soil. Spreads slowly. Nonnative Note: Do not confuse the native grass with nonnative sweet vernal grass (Anthoxanthum odoratum). Native American Note: Used ceremonially and as incense.
TUFTED HAIRGRASS. Genus: Deschampsia (D. caespitosa or cespitosa). Origin: Circumpolar: United States, Europe, Asia. Height: 1–4 feet. Ornamental Attributes: Airy, spring and midsummer flowers in shades of pale green or yellow change to dark purplish, then silvery and obscure the clumps of wiry dark green foliage. Foliage and seeds provide winter interest. Cultivation: Sun/part shade. Medium, moist or wet soil. Salt tolerant. Note: Rare in parts of the Midwest. Nature Note: Native grasses provide a large group of skippers and moth species with opportunities for reproduction.24 Birds eat the seeds and seek shelter in native grasses; grassland birds prefer native grasses for nesting.
Northern sweetgrass (Hierochloe hirta)
Tufted hairgrass (Deschampsia caespitosa)
Nonnative:
COMFREY. Family: Forget-me-not, Borage (Boraginaceae). Genus: Symphytum (S. officinale). There are other species and cultivars. Origin: Europe, Asia. Height: 3–4 feet. Ornamental Attributes: Curled cluster of yellow, whitish, or pinkish flowers fading to blue. Cultivation: Sun/light shade. Moist soil. Invasiveness Note: Naturalized or invasive throughout the Midwest.
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale)
Native Alternatives:
WILD COMFREY. Family: Forget-me-not, Borage (Boraginaceae). Genus: Cynoglossum (C. virginianum). Height: 1–2 feet. Ornamental Attributes: Numerous pale blue, violet, or white May and June flowers similar to a forget-me-not. Large hairy leaves clasp hairy stems. Cultivation: Sun/light shade. Moist, medium soil and tolerates dry shade. Note: Extirpated in parts of the Midwest. Nature Note: Hosts the gray hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus). Attracts adult butterflies of several species.
Wild comfrey (Cynoglossum virginianum var. boreale)
Gray hairstreak butterfly (Strymon melinus)
More Native Alternatives:
GREEK VALERIAN, p. 10; HOARY PUCCOON, p. 36; NORTHERN BEDSTRAW, p. 20; ROCKCRESS, p. 20; VIRGINIA BLUEBELLS, p. 18; VIRGINIA WATERLEAF, p. 48; WILD BLUE PHLOX, p. 38; WILD GERANIUM, p. 47.
Nonnative:
CROCUS. Family: Iris (Iridaceae). Genus: Crocus (C. luteus). Origin: