WANT TO KNOW
What’s growing here?
View 1 Plant Map (blue dots take you to more info)
View 2 Plant Map (blue dots take you to more info)
All plant photography by and © Michelle Davis
[Keep scrolling to get to the plants!]
Apps to identify plants on-the-go:
Seek: Great for ID’ing and has basic plant info, keeps a record of your observations too
iNaturalist: App and website / community. You can use iNaturalist to ID plants but is moreover a citizen science app where observations are uploaded to a global scientific database!
How I fell in love with prairies (and gardening with native plants)
Trio of Wandering Naturalist podcasts titled “Fire to Frost”
Where to get these plants in/near the Twin Cities (not from your typical garden store):
In-person shopping:
Prairie Restorations - 3 locations around the cities, nice in-person nursery and gift shop
Natural Shores - they have a retail store open a few days each month during the summer, and also by appointment
Online ordering only:
These are just a few! Longer list here at BlueThumb.org
aka “bee balm”, this is a huge bumblebee magnet, really fun to watch them!
This does spread easily, I always need to pull some and reign it in
In the mint family, flowers, leaves, and seed heads smell great!
more info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/wild-bergamot
Wild Bergamot | Monarda fistulosa
Peach-leaved Bellflower | Campanula persicifolia
Not native here in MN! (cultivar originating from Europe)
This one blooms early when not a lot else is
Might not do pollinators much good but it is pretty!
Why is it called ‘peach-leaved’????
more plant info: https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/159764-Campanula-persicifolia#articles-tab
Prairie Blazing Star | Liatris pycnostachya
Cool and alien looking
Often see tiger swallowtails on it
more plant info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/prairie-blazing-star
Northern Plains Blazing Star | Liatris Ligulistylis
This is THE monarch butterfly magnet in this garden!! Seven or eight have been spotted at a time.
The nectar must really help fuel them for their fall migration to Mexico.Goldfinches also love to eat the seeds in the fall!
Other names: Rocky Mountain Blazing Star, Meadow Blazing Star
Probably my favorite plant here.
more info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/rough-blazing-star
Big Bluestem | Andropogon gerardii
Super tall grass, one of the ‘big 3’ grasses in prairies (other 2 are little bluestem and Indian grass.)
Has cool teeny tiny flowers
Gets more colorful later in the season
more plant info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/grass-sedge-rush/big-bluestem
Little Bluestem | Schizachyrium scoparium
Develops a lovely rich color in fall
One of the big three most common prairie grasses (also big bluestem and Indian grass)
I often see damselflies around this
more plant info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/grass-sedge-rush/little-bluestem
A type of milkweed! Monarch caterpillars can ONLY eat milkweed leaves to survive. (Once they become butterflies they drink nectar from lots of different flowers).
Cheerful, short, ‘well-behaved’ in the garden
more plant info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/butterfly-weed
Butterfly-weed | Asclepias tuberosa
Red Cardinal flower & Blue lobelia |
Lobelia cardinalis, Lobelia siphilitica
The red ones attract hummingbirds!
These really thrive in a bit wetter conditions, so they are usually stunted for me. Not the best for a drought prone changing climate.
more plant info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/blue-lobelia
https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/cardinal-flower
I had always thought this was native and it is not! It is native to Europe. I welcome it though in this mostly native garden; pollinators like it, it blooms early and all season long. Doesn’t spread for me.
more info: https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/nepeta/
Catmint | Nepeta
One of the rare natives* you can find at a big box home / gardening store
*Technically native to south & and eastern US, not Minnesota, but it plays nice in gardens and great for wildlife
more info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/narrow-leaved-purple-coneflower
Eastern Purple Coneflower | Echinacea purpurea
Prairie Dropseed | Sporobolus heterolepis
This grass adds some fun non-flower texture, good cover for insects. Gets taller seed heads in August.
more info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/grass-sedge-rush/prairie-dropseed
Sweet Joe Pye Weed | Eutrochium purpureum
Big bumblebee magnet!
Blooms mid-July to mid-August
This gets suuuuper tall in full sun. I do the ‘chelsea chop’ technique to keep it shorter and prune as needed.
Great smell from cut stems
more plant info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/sweet-scented-joe-pye-weed
More of an annual than a perennial, but great at reseeding itself
Does well for me in sun and mostly shade
more info: https://www.minnesotawildflowers.info/flower/black-eyed-susan
Black-eyed Susan | Rudbeckia hirta
