Native Plants For The Northeast | NatureHills.com

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Here’s the scoop, more than one kind of plant can do well in an area but natives always do the best. Adding them to your garden is always a good idea because they’re built to handle the exact conditions your region offers and benefit the other plants, wildlife, and pollinators.

So what is a native? A native is a plant that naturally occurs in a region and is connected to its ecosystem. While cultivars and hybrids are great for different foliage, longer flowering, or smaller size plants, the native species are the ones attracting the beneficial insects.

Sometimes, a native plant that is grown where it is not native but still does well is considered an introduced plant. These ‘naturalized’ trees, shrubs, and perennials can sometimes become invasive in areas where there is no competition. Luckily, when you are shopping with us, Nature Hills relies on regulations and compliance software, Plant Sentry, to ensure you’re only able to ship plants that meet federal, state, and local regulations.

5. Black Chokeberry
The Native Black Chokeberry is not only a unique source of fruit, it’s also one of the best shrubs at thriving through bitter northeast winters! It’s one of those options that really has it all for your landscape and ecosystem. White spring flowers, green round form, healthy fruit that you can either use in your baking or let the local birds snatch, and showy fall color! These shrubs thrive in dry conditions and drought as well as damp areas or rain gardens and grow 3-6 feet tall so plant them as hedges and front and backyard accents. #5 Black Chokeberry - Growing zones 3-8, pretty ornamental white flowers, delicious superfruits, and cold-hardy.

4. Water Iris Versicolor
The Water Iris Versicolor is a great wetland native that has a flower as pretty as some of the most engineered cultivars! The purple and yellow flowers with white and blue touches, can be seen waving high over strong upright green stems and foliage. These perennial plants are spread by rhizomes in the garden bed and border or in a rain garden. At 2-3 feet tall versicolor packs a colorful punch well above its weight class! #4 Water Iris Versicolor - growing zones 3 to 9, vibrant native perennial, and a fantastic pop of color for smaller gardens!

3. Bee Balm
Bee Balm, sometimes called Wild Bergamot, has fanciful flowers like crowns that bees, butterflies and hummingbirds love. The scented leaves and tall stems are spread by rhizomes so they’ll show up as small clusters in your garden. Use them to complete a cottage garden, as a native addition to your cut flower varieties, or as an addition under the window so you can enjoy the butterflies and bees that stop by for a snack. If you’re feeling crafty, try making tea! #3 Bee Balm - Growing zones 3-9, delightfully fragrant, and a versatile addition to your garden.

2. Cardinal Flower
Tall red flowers on slender stems, the Cardinal Flower is a hummingbird magnet that also feeds the bees. Each flower lasts a long time as it blooms from the bottom to the top. Personally, I think this is one of the showiest perennials as the vibrant red can be paired with other colors to create a collage of colors. Cardinal flowers get 2-3 feet tall but just under 2 feet wide. They’d be as welcome in the butterfly garden as they’d be in a rain garden or native wetlands! #2 Cardinal Flower - growing zones 3-9, brilliant red blooms, and makes a great back-of-the-border wildflower!

1 Common Witch-Hazel
And coming in at #1 is the common witch-hazel, which in my opinion is anything but common. Depending on how it’s pruned, witch-hazels can be both a tree or shrub and has unique leaves and impressively late-blooming flowers that look like yellow pom poms during the fall and winter months. Yes, these bloom in October and continue to be showy well into winter. Growing 15 to 20 feet tall and wide, witch-hazel shrubs grow in full sun to partial shade and tolerate just about any soil condition! Long before any of us were filling out our gardens, native americans would use the forked branches to find water. These days we plant them to give shelter to the local wildlife and marvel at the strange yellow flowers. #1 Common witch-hazel - Growing zones 4-8, fascinating yellow pompom flowers in the late fall, and a great privacy screen.

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