Rough-Leaf Dogwood, or Drummond’s Dogwood, is a small, perennial tree or shrub that can grow to be 16 feet tall. Its branches can be reddish brown or gray, and the upper surfaces of its leaves are covered with the rough hairs for which it is named. The off-white flowers are replaced by white berries in the fall, during which its foliage turns shades of red. This plant is adaptable but grows best in moist soils and partial to full shade.
Also known as Pagoda Dogwood, this small, perennial, deciduous tree or large multi-stemmed shrub typically grows 15 to 25 feet tall with distinctive layered horizontal branching. Its flowers give way to bluish-black fruits on red stalks that mature during late summer. This plant grows in partial shade, and in cool, moist, acidic, well-drained soils, though it can tolerate poor soils and clay.
Also known as Sand Coreopsis, this evergreen, perennial wildflower typically grows up to 2 feet tall. It produces solitary, yellow, daisy-like flowers atop slender, erect stems from spring to early summer that attract butterflies. This plant grows in full sun to shade, and in a variety of dry soils, including sandy, gravelly, loam, and clay soils.
This perennial, sometimes annual, plant grows to about 2 feet tall, unbranched and hairless. It produces yellow flowers during early to mid-summer, the blooming period lasting about a month. Large-Flower Tickseed grows in partial shade and sandy soils, self-sowing regularly, and often becoming weedy.
This perennial climbing vine, also known as Goat’s Beard, produces attractive white flower clusters that lack petals, and seed clusters with silky, feathery plumes. It grows in full sun and partial shade, and in dry soils, reaching 3 to 6 feet covering fences and shrubs. This plant is cold and heat tolerant, and often attracts butterflies.
Also known as Flowering Willow, Willowleaf Catalpa, and Mimbre, this attractive willow-like tree produces funnel-shaped, white, pink, or purple blossoms that bloom throughout the spring and summer. It can reach 15 to 40 feet in height, requiring full sun and dry to moist soils, and preferring well-drained limestone soils. The flowers on this perennial greatly attract hummingbirds.
Also called River, Flathead, Upland, and Inland Sea Oats, this is an attractive, highly shade-tolerant grass that grows 2 to 4 feet tall and forms drooping oat clusters during the summer. Its foliage and seeds ripen from green to golden-brown in the fall, the seeds persisting into winter. Naturally occurring in stream beds and edges, it tolerates drought and periodic inundation, but grows best in partial shade and moist sands, loams, and clays.
Also known as Willow Herb or simply as Fireweed, this showy, perennial wildflower has willow-like leaves and red stems like other plants in its genus, but its magenta blossoms make it unique. Its seeds are spread by rhizomes, and its flowers bloom from June to September, attracting hummingbirds as well as bees and moths. This plant grows in full sun to partial shade, and tolerates shallow, rocky soil.
Redbud, or Eastern Redbud, is an understory shrub or small tree that grows up to 30 feet tall. It often has a short, crooked gray-barked trunk and a wide-spreading, irregular crown of heart-shaped and smooth leaves. The flowers are bright pink while buds become light pink as they bloom in their clusters, transforming during the summer into flattened, brown seedpods. The seedpods can stay on the tree through fall and sometimes into winter. This tree does best in partial shade, and in moist, well-drained, fertile soils.
This plant is also known as Button Willow. It is a perennial, deciduous shrub that usually grows 6 to 12 feet tall and has a twisting trunk and crooked branches. Small, white flowers grow to form a distinctive, dense, spherical cluster with protruding pistils, and the fruits are brown and button-like in appearance. This shrub grows in partial to full shade, and in a variety of moist to wet soils including loam, clay, limestone, and sandy soils. The flowers and fruits attract many pollinators and birds.
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