Buttonbush(Cephalanthus occidentalis)
How to Use: The best application for this plant is in some sort of wet site (i.e., areas of poor drainage). It’s a very adaptable plant that does well in both full shade and full sun. Course in texture, it has fragrant white flowers and typically grows 5 to 6 feet tall.
Why We dig It: It’s an easy-growing, hardy wetland shrub that provides food for waterfowl and hummingbirds.
Expert Advice: “The best place to use this plant is on the fringes of the landscape, where it transitions to a less manicured section,” says landscape architect Miles Barnard, owner of Chestertown-based South Fork Studio Landscape Architecture.
Looks Great with: Gray dogwood, winterberry, cardinal flower, Eastern red cedar
Blooms: July & August
Little Bluestem Grass(Schizachyrium scoparium)
How to Use: A 3-foot-tall grass, it works well in meadow settings. This plant loves full sun and needs no watering once established.
Why We dig It: Self-seeding but not invasive, it provides food for song and upland birds. Green in summer, it turns straw color with an orange cast in winter.
Expert Advice: “Situate little bluestem where the rays of the setting sun will shine from behind and make the fluffy seeds sparkle,” says Sara Tangren, president of Chesapeake Natives, a nursery for native plants in Takoma Park, Md.
Looks Great with: black-eyed Susan, obedient plant
Blooms: July-October
Trumpet Honeysuckle(Lonicera sempervirens)
How to Use: An excellent climber, its tendrils wind around trees, plants—even trellises—without smothering them. This large vine loves sunshine and moisture and, under the proper circumstances, can grow to 30 feet tall.
Why We dig It: Talk about color: This species of honeysuckle is known for its brilliant red tubular flower with a yellow mouth. And its nectar is a magnet for hummingbirds.
Expert Advice: “It’s fast-growing so it’s perfect for areas that need to be filled,” says Jay Graham of Graham Landscape Architecture. “But it requires great care to keep it from taking over.”
Looks Good With: Switchgrass
Blooms: June
Switchgrass(Panicum virgatum)
How to Use: This plant is likely best used in a perennial border for a textural effect. This is a sun-loving, hardy perennial bunch grass (grows in clumps) found in fields, dunes, and the upland edges of marshes. While it can grow to 6 feet tall, it generally reaches 3 to 4 feet tall.
Why We dig It: Like other grasses, it’s beautiful in the fall and winter thanks to its height and straw-like color. Its seeds attract a multitude of birds and waterfowl.
Expert Advice: “I love this plant,” says Barnard. “The best thing about it is that it’s adaptable to poor drainage and wet conditions, and it can take a little bit of shade, which most ornamental grasses can’t do. It’s a great substitute for maiden grass, which can be invasive. And we can make ethanol from it to power our cars.”
Looks Good With: Little bluestem, orange coneflower, ink berry holly, bay berry
Blooms: July-September
River Oats(Chasmanthium latifolium)
How to Use: Also known as wood oats, Northern sea oats, and spangle grass, it adds interest to fall and winter borders, as well as indoor floral arrangements. It’s a clumping grass that can grow to 2.5 feet tall in partial shade.
Why We dig It: Since it’s a grass that doesn’t require full sun, it looks good in a shady location, like under an oak tree. It’s also a nice foil for heavier textured shade-
loving plants, such as wild ginger and tiarella.
Expert Advice: “It’s a great plant with one caveat: It has a tendency to seed itself madly when planted in full sun and moist, rich soil,” says landscape designer Jan Kirsh, owner of Jan Kirsh Landscapes Ltd. in St. Michaels, Md.
Looks Great with: Black-eyed Susan, woodland sunflowers
Blooms: July-September
Coastal Joe Pye Weed(Eupatorium dubium)
How to Use: Since this plant grows up to 5 feet tall, its height generally keeps it relegated to the back of a border. It produces a pink, dome-shaped flower head, prefers average to wet moisture, and thrives in full sun.
Why We dig It: It has a bold texture, and, like other Joe Pye weed varieties, it’s tremendously attractive to butterflies.
Expert Advice: “I recommend that my landscapers cut it back in late May or early June,” says Kirsh, “which makes the plant a little shorter, bushier, and has less of a tendency to fall over at maturity.”
Looks Great With: New York iron weed, switchgrass, goldenrod
Blooms: July-September
Bottlebrush Grass(Elymus hystrix)
How To Use: A nice ornamental grass to use anywhere, it’s one of the few grasses that does well in full or part shade and likes dry to moist soil. Its blades remain green throughout the winter.
Why We dig It: It’s very easy to plant from seeds. It grows to about 3 feet tall and is an important host for the wood nymph butterfly.
Expert Advice: “Most people forget when planting butterfly gardens to include grasses,” says Tangren. “This rectifies that problem.”
Looks Good With: Orange coneflowers and cardinal flowers
When it Blooms: June-September
Orange Coneflower (Rudbeckia fulgida)
How to Use: The orange coneflower is similar to the black-eyed Susan but has more numerous blooms on its stems. They grow best in partial shade and enjoy average rain conditions. “You want to use a lot of these, big sweeps of them rather than spotty use,” says landscape architect Gay Crowther, owner of Annapolis-based Crowther
& Associates.
Why We dig It: In addition to the benefits of low maintenance, it has a long-lasting blooming period that begins in early July and lasts well into November. Once its petals have fallen, the black seed head is exposed, which is particularly attractive to finches.
Expert Advice: “They look great with contemporary architecture or in a naturalist landscape that is less formal,” recommends Crowther.
Looks Good With: Christmas ferns or shade-loving grasses, like bottlebrush
Blooms: July-first frost
Butterfly Milkwee (Asclepias tuberosa)
How to Use: This flower is best used in a perennial flower garden or, if you want to get rid of a little bit of lawn, in a meadow. A fairly short plant (typically 2 feet tall), it does well in light shade to full sun and is an excellent choice for those drought-filled days of summer.
Why We dig It: It boasts a vivid spray of clusters of orange flowers, an unusual color for native blooms. Monarch butterflies love milkweed nectar and lay their eggs on the flowers.
Expert Advice: “This plant is a critical component of a butterfly garden,” says Tangren. “I planted butterfly milkweed in our garden in Takoma Park, and now we have Monarch butterflies most of the summer.”
Looks Good With: Narrow leaf mountain mint, sweet goldenrods, whorled coreopsis
Blooms: May-September
Mistflower(Eupatorium coelestinum)
How to Use: Rain gardens and ditches are perfect homes for this aggressive plant that’s in the daisy family. Ranging in size from 1 to 3 feet tall, it grows well in average soil.
Sun intensifies the beauty of the bloom.
Why We dig It: It’s a butterfly magnet.
Expert Advice: “You want to use this where you want a mass because it will spread,” says Tangren. “Its blooms are a beautiful carpet of pastel cobalt blue.”
Looks Good With: Cardinal flowers in a meadow setting
When It Blooms: July-September
Black-Eyed Susan(Rudbeckia hirta)
How to Use: This plant works well in part shade to sunny conditions, in an average to dry garden. It looks great in either a formal garden or a wild meadow.
Why We dig It: The Maryland state flower, it’s very easy to grow and very drought tolerant. While the cultivars are short lived, the wild black-eyed Susan are perennials and come back for at least three years. They attract pollenators and seed-eating birds.
Expert Advice: “I haven’t found this plant to be weedy or aggressive,” says Tangren. “I recommend that you harvest some of the seeds and sprinkle them on the surface of the soil where you want them to grow the following year.”
Looks Good With: Butterfly milkweed
When It Blooms: June-August
Gray Goldenrod(Solidago nemoralis)
How to Use: Standing at only 2 feet tall, this smaller version of its taller cousin, goldenrod, is best used in the foreground of planting beds or shrub borders.
Why We dig It: It grows easily because it tolerates summer heat. The small yellow flowers perched at the end of the stems add color anywhere it’s planted.
Expert Advice: “I keep this plant in mind when landscaping the riverside of a home so the water view won’t be blocked,” says Kirsh.
Looks Great With: Late-blooming asters, gayfeather, little bluestem
Blooms: August-October
Where to Buy:
For a complete list of native plant retailers and regional native plant sales, contact the Maryland Native Plant Society, 410-286-2928, http://www.mdflora.org.
Masthead Photo by