Faulkner County Master Gardeners Gardening Reflections Growing Natives
We encourage the addition of Arkansas native plants to our home landscapes for 3 main reasons:
1) Add color and interest. There are many beautiful Arkansas native trees and shrubs and flowers that are not well known outside the woods and hills and fields where they occur naturally, but can be beautiful in our "civilized" gardens.
2) Encourage low water usage. Arkansas native plants survive in the extremes of our Arkansas climate. Once established at home in our backyards (in environments similar to their natural habitats, sun-loving plants in sunny areas for example), native plants thrive with minimal water and fertilizer requirements.
3) Restore and maintain the "web of life". Native plants help restore the natural balance in our environment that makes all life possible, providing shelter and food for native wildlife, helping to filter air and water, and using them in our gardens also helps curtail the unsustainable habitat islands created by urban development.
Planting natives in the cool days of fall and watering them well for the first year will help them to establish their roots.
Pine Ridge Gardens in London, Arkansas is a great source for natives. Your locally owned garden centers can also help you to find natives.
Native Plant Suggestions: Grasses, Perennials, Shrubs, Trees, Vines
Grasses
Bluestem or Turkeyfoot Andropogon gerardii Bluestem or Silver beard Andropogon saccharoides River Oats Chasmanthium latifolium Love Grass Purple Eragrostis spectabilis Muhly purple Muhlenbergia capillaris Bluestem little Schizachyrium scoparium
Perennials
Allium nodding wild onion or glade Allium cernuum or canadense onion Blue Star, Arkansas & Shining blue Amsonia hubrichtii, illustris star Milkweed: Purple, Sullivant's, Asclepias purpurascens, sullivantii, Horsetail verticillata * greenAsclepias syriaca, variegata, Milkweed: Common, White woods viridis Butterfly weed Asclepias tuberosa * Aster, fragrant, late, many-rayed, oblongifolius, patens, anomalus, prairieAster turbinellus False Indigo White & yellow Baptisia alba & sphaerocarpa False Indigo Cream Baptisia bracteata & nuttalliana Coreopsis, large flower, stiff Coreopsis grandiflora & palmata Coreopsis, lance-leaf, tall Coreopsis lanceolata & tripteris Shooting star Dodecatheon meadia Coneflower, purple, yellow Echinacea purpurea, paradoxa Ageratum Eupatorium incarnatum, coelestinum Blanketflower Gaillardia "Sunflower woodland, ashy Helianthus hirsutus, mollis Sunflower ox-eye Heliopsis helianthoide Blazing Star & Prairie blazing star Liatris aspera & pycnostachys Blazing Star, Ouachita Liatris compacta Bee Balm or Bergamot Monarda: bradburiana, fistulosa Bee Balm or Horsemint Monarda:punctata or rusellian Beardtongue Arkansas Penstemon arkansanus "Beardtongue foxglove, whitewand Penstemon digitalis, tubiflorus Phlox – Downy Phlox pilosa Mexican hat Ratibida columnifera Missouri black-eyed susan Rudbeckia missouriensis "Coneflower, large flower Rudbeckia grandiflora Brown-eyed susan Rudbeckia triloba Sage Flower Salvia azurea Rosinweed Silphium integrifolium Compass plant Silphium laciniatum Blue Eyed Grass Sisyrinchium angustifolium Ironweed: Curlytop, Missouri Vernonia arkansana, missurica Solidago: arguta, drummondi, Goldenrod: Cutleaf, Cliff, Broadleaf flexicaulis Goldenrod: Showy, Stiff, Earleaf, Old Solidago speciosa, rigida, auriculata, field nemoralis
Shrubs
Serviceberry Amelanchier arborea Lead Plant Amorpha canescensÿ Chokeberry: Red, Black Aronia: arbutifolia, melanocarpa ** Beautyberry purple or white Callicarpa americana New Jersey tea Ceanothus americanus Witch alder or Bottlebrush Fothergilla major Witchhazel, autumn Hamamelis virginiana Hydrangea, oakleaf or wild (not AR quercifolia, arborescens * native) Hydrangea Saint John's wort: Shrubby, St. Hypericum prolificum, hypericoides Andrews Cross Holly Possumhaw, yaupon Ilex decidua, vomitoria Wax myrtle Southern Myrica cerifera Sumac Fragrant or glabra Rhus aromatica or glabra Sumac, Winged Rhus copallina "Rose, prairie or pasture Rosa carolina, setigera Elderberry American Sambucus canadensis ** Steeplebush Spirea tomentosa ** American snowbell Styrax grandifolius Coralberry Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Farkleberry or Sparkleberry Vaccinium arboreum Blueberry, hillside Vaccinium pallidum
Trees
Maple Red Acer rubrumÿ "Buckeye Ohio, Red Aesculus glabra, A. pavia Pawpaw Asimina triloba ** Hornbeam or Ironwood Carpinus caroliniana ** Pecan Carya illinoensis ** Hickory, Black, Mockernut Carya texana & tomentosa Catalpa or Indian Bean Catalpa speciosa ** Hackberry Celtis occidentalis ** Redbud Cercis canadensis Fringe tree or Grancy greybeard Chionanthus virginicus Yellowwood Cladrastis kentuckea ** Dogwood, Flowering, rough Cornus florida Smoke tree Cotinus obovatus Hawthorne, Parsleyhaw & Crataegus, c. marshallii & Washington phaenopyron Persimmon Diospyros virginiana Ash white Fraxinus americana Kentucky Coffee tree Gymnocladus dioicus ** Holly, American, Carolina Ilex opaca, I. ambigua Butternut Juglans cinerea ** Walnut Black Juglans nigra Gum sweet Liquidamber styraciflua Tulip poplar Liriodendron tulipifera Mulberry, red Morus rubra,Tree Gum, Black or sour Nyssa sylvatica Hop Hornbeam Ostrya virginiana Bay Red Persea borbonia Pine shortleaf or yellow Pinus echinata Plum, Hog, Wild goose Prunus umbellata, munsoniana Cherry Black Prunus serotina Oak: Scarlet, Shumard, White, Pin, Quercus coccinea, shumardii, alba, Willow palustris, phellos Indian cherry Rhamnus caroliniana Sassafras Sassafras albidum
Vines
Crossvine Bignonia capreolata Trumpet vine Campsis radicans Bittersweet, American Celastrus scandens Carolina snailseed Cocculus carolinianus Jessamine, yellow Gelsemium sempervirens Honeysuckle: yellow or trumpet Lonicera: flava or sempervirens Partridgeberry Mitchella repens Virginia creeper Parthenocissus quinquefolia Passionflower vine Passiflora incarnata Grape: Summer, Gray bark, Frost, Vitis aestivalis, V. cinerea, V. vulpina, Sand V. rupestris "Grape: Muscadine, Catbird, Vitis rotundifolia, V. palmata, and V. Riverbank riparia
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