FIREWHEEL V COMMON YARROW V pulchella L L A Achillea millefolium A W W M M • Also known as Indian Height: 1-2’ O • A great garden Height: 1-3’ O Blanket. Spacing: 3’ that grows easy but Spacing: 3’ • Tolerates heat and Soil type: Sand/loam spreads quickly. Soil type: Loam dryness. Sun/shade: Full sun • A plant native Sun/shade: Sun, part shade Inundation: Inundation: • Roots can be made 1/5 to Europe, but 3/5 into a tea to treat naturalized to North stomach flu. America (not invasive). • Powderizing and • look like ferns chewing the roots can and have a pleasant help skin disorders. smell when crushed. • The Kiowa people • Has been used to consider it a plant of increase sweat and good luck. break a fever. • Flowers attract • A plant with many butterflies medicinal uses, • Most common in the including soothing Southwest: Favors bug bites, and treating rashes and dry plains, open Flowers: Flowers: areas, and sandy soil. June-Aug scars. June-Oct

BUTTERFLY MILKWEED V NEW ENGLAND ASTER V tuberosa L Aster novae-angliae L A A W W Height: 3-5’ M Height: M • While Asclepias means O • Aster means “star” 3-6’ O “medicine” in greek, the Spacing: 2’ in Greek and Latin, Spacing: 4’ roots and sap are toxic if Soil type: Wet/dry referring to it’s radiating Soil type: Moist/loam eaten in large volumes. Sun/shade: Full sun ray flowers. Sun/shade: Sun/part shade • Asclepias are Inundation: 2/5 • Also known as Frost Inundation: 3/5 the only food source for Flower, because of its monarch caterpillars. fall bloom that lasts until • First Nations peoples the frost. discovered that chewing • A host for checkerspot the root cures lung butterfly larva. ailments such as • Lives in moist, open, or bronchitis. wooded areas such as • Its strong fibers have wet prairies and stream been used to make rope. banks. There are many • A tea from the roots can types of aster. help treat diarrhea. • Has been used to treat • A common plant in earaches, headaches, Roots! gardens because of its mental illness, revive 6’ bright flower that unconcious people, and attracts hummingbirds Flowers: help babies with gas Flowers: and butterflies. June-Aug pain. Aug-Oct V PURPLE CONEFLOWER V RATTLESNAKE MASTER L Echinacea augustifolia L Eryngium yuccifolium A A W W • Seeds are a favorite Height: 1-3’ M Height: 3-6’ M O • The Mesquakies O meal for American Spacing: 3’ discovered that the Spacing: 2’ Goldfinches. Soil type: Dry/loam root could aid bladder Soil type: Dry, sandy • Has strong roots Sun/shade: Sun/part shade troubles and as an Sun/shade: Full sun that are good for Inundation: 3/5 antidote to poisons Inundation: 1/5 stabilizing soil. other than rattlesnake bite. The name is • Echinacea is Greek for associated with hedge hog, referring to Mesquakie song and its spikey flower head. dance about the plant. Purple coneflower has also been called comb • Has also been used to flower and scurvy root. treat fever, cough, and kidney troubles. • Coneflower is the prairie plant most used for • Rattlesnake Master’s medicine. It has been rough, spiny leaves used for pain killer, eye make it difficult to walk through patches. This wash, cough medicine, Roots! tooth ache, snake bite, 5’ is a great strategy for arthritis, measels, conserving water in harsh, hot, and dry and as a stimulant Flowers: Flowers: environments. to stay up all night. July-Sept July-Sept

BEEBALM V COMPASS PLANT Monarda fistulosa L A Silphium lacinatium W Height: 3-6’ M • Compass plant has a Height: 3-6’ • Is a member of the mint O family with fragrant Spacing: 4’ large, woody taproot Spacing: 3’ leaves. Fistulosa means Soil type: Dry, moist that can reach up to Soil type: Dry 15’ below ground. It is a tubular, referring to its Sun/shade: Sun/part shade Sun/shade: Full sun slow-growing, long-lived tube-like flowers. Inundation: 3/5 Inundation: 1/5 plant. • Has been used in making perfume. • Its large seeds are favored by birds and • The Winnebagos small mammals. discovered that boiled leaves applied to the • The strange “cut” skin cures pimples. shape of its leaves helps maximize • A tea from the leaves photosynthesis while is known to cure staying cool on hot days. nausea, flatulence, and insomnia. • Early settlers used the leaves for direction on • Is a common tea to cloudy days, as they this day, often labeled tend to be aligned to as “bergamont”. Early the North and South. American settlers Studies have shown commonly drank this Flowers: this to be somewhat Flowers: tea. July-Aug accurate. July-Aug CULVER’S ROOT V LEAD PLANT V Veronicastrum virginicum L Amorpha canescens L A A W W Height: 2-6’ M • A common shrub of upland Height: 3-6’ M • Naturally grows in O O wet forests and along Spacing: 2-3’ prairies, also known as Spacing: 2’ Prairie Shoestring. streambanks, so it does Soil type: Moist, rich Soil type: Dry/sandy well in raingardens. Sun/shade: Part shade • Amorpha is Greek for Sun/shade: Sun/part shade “formless”, referring to its Inundation: 4/5 Inundation: 1/5 • A valuable plant for flower with only a single attracting bees and petal. butterflies. • Insects are attracted to its • The scientific name nectar, and mammals to means “from ”, its fruit. while the common • Is a member of the pea name refers to Dr. family, which fixes nitrogen Culver, who prescrived into the soil. This makes the plant as a laxative. it a great plant for prairie restorations. The Menomonis of the Great Lakes region • Early settlers disliked its deep, woody roots because discovered this use. it made a field very hard • The root is known to to plow. Roots! 14’ help make people • The Souix discovered that cry when working pounding and moisening through hard times and Flowers: the roots attracts bison. Flowers: emotions. July-Aug June-July

BIG BLUESTEM V LITTLE BLUESTEM V L L Andropogon gerardii A Schizachyrium scoparium A W W Height: M • Although it has a similar M • Big Bluestem is the most 6-12’ O Height: 2-4’ O common native grass of Spacing: 4’ name as Big Bluestem, Spacing: 2’ the two are not directly the tallgrass prairie. For Soil type: Loam/moist Soil type: Dry hundreds of years this related. To help identify, Sun/shade: Sun/part shade Sun/shade: Full sun grass helped create the Little Bluestem’s stem topsoil we use for farming Inundation: 3/5 and leaves become flat Inundation: 1/5 today. when squeezed. • Its distinct seedhead is • Has a wide range of known as the “turkey foot”. appearances. Is blue- • A nest site for sparrows, green in summer, to red wrens, and meadowlarks. and gold in the fall and • Can withstand flooding. winter. Its cotten-tufted • The Omahas and Poncas of seedheads make it a the Great Plains used this popular planting in parks grass to construct lodges. and raingardens, adding • A bath can be made texture to the winter with this grass to cure landscape. fevers. As a tea, it can be • Is a popular for grazers used for stomachache Roots! Roots! 9’ such as cattle or bison. 6’ or indigestion. The • Its clump-like growth is Comanches discovered great for wildlife nesting. that its ashes cured sores. Seeds: • Is relatively resistant to Seeds: • Turns red in the fall. Aug-Sept fire. July-Oct WILD COLUMBINE V SWITCH GRASS V L L Aquilegia canadensis A Panicum virgatum A W W M M • Has rounded leaves Height: 1-2’ O • A warm season grass Height: 2-5’ O that are divided into Spacing: 2’ (late summer) native Spacing: 4’ threes. This is known Soil type: Dry/moist to prairies, oak and Soil type: Wet, dry as compound leaves. Sun/shade: Part shade/shade pine woodlands, and Sun/shade: Sun, part sun • The backward- Inundation: 2/5 marshes. Inundation: 4/5 pointing tubes on • Is being studied the flower contain as a source of fuel nectar. This attracts because it can hummingbirds and produce lots of long-tounged insects biomass in harsh such as hawk moths conditions. that are adapted to • Makes quality hay reach the nectar. for livestock. • Helps treat rashes • Provides cover for such as poison ivy. wildlife such as • A single plant is pheasants and Roots! 11’ known to live for many rabits by providing years. shelter and creating • Can survive fire. Flowers: windbreaks. Flowers: May July-Aug

SWAMP MILKWEED V SENSITIVE FERN V Asclepias incarnata L Onoclea sensibilis L A A W W • Asclepias is the only food Height: 3-5’ M Height: 3 in.- 3’ M O • Prefers the late summer O of monarch butterfly Spacing: 3’ Spacing: 2’ warmth, but is very larva. Soil type: Wet/dry sensitive to frost, quickly Soil type: Moist/loam • Has a fragrant flower. Sun/shade: Full sun turning black, which is Sun/shade: Shade/part shade • Seeds have a fluffy Inundation: 5/5 how it gets its name. Inundation: 4/5 parachute for wind • Also known as bead fern dispersal. These seeds because of its decorative were used in WWII for “beady” shape. stuffing pillows and lifejackets. • Is an important shelter • Grows and spreads with for salamanders and rhizomes: roots that frogs. • Instead of a flower, stretch out underground to form a network. sensitive fern reproduces by spores: Tiny cells that • While the plant is toxic are sent into the air. in large volume, young shoots of the plant are • Forms colonies in forests, edible to humans if and has shallow but boiled. strong roots. • Has been used to expel • Was around when dinosaurs roamed the parasitic worms. Flowers: Blooms: planet • Has a milky sap when cut July-Aug Jun-Aug Anise Hyssop V HAREBELLS V Agastache foeniculum L Campanula rotundifolia L A A W W Height: 2-4’ M • A delicate plant of well- Height: 1’ M • A robust plant found O O in upland woods and Spacing: 3’ drained soils that can Spacing: 1’ prairies. Soil type: Sandy, rich grow in harsh soils or rock Soil type: Dry/sandy gardens. • Prefers well-drained Sun/shade: Sun, part shade Sun/shade: Sun, shade • Hummingbirds are Inundation: 1/5 Inundation: 1/5 soils. adapted to its deep flower • As a member of the shape. mint family, it has many • Attracts bees and other uses for fragrances and pollinators, but Harebells perfumes. can also self-fertilize. • Is studied and used • The flowers are sometimes for its flavonoid referred to as “thimbles”, compounts: which are and droop down to protect pollen from the rain. found in dietary health supplements. • Harebell is found around the world. In Europe it • Studies show its great would be commonly eaten for attracting pollinators. raw in salads, while the • The Cheyenne Scottish used it for blue discovered that a tea dye. from the leaves can • It was believed that it grew help a cough or a weak Flowers: in places where hares Flowers: were common. heart. July-Aug June-Sept

TICKSEED V BEARDTONGUE V L L lanceolata A Penstemon cobaea A W W Height: M • A small perennial with M • A small, drought-tolerant 1’ O Height: 1-2’ O perennial attracts a Spacing: 1’ tubular flowers that attract Spacing: 2’ pollinators with long number of pollinators. Soil type: Dry tongues and browsers such Soil type: Dry • Commonly used in flower Sun/shade: Sun, shade as deer. Sun/shade: Sun, part shade arrangements. Inundation: 1/5 • Also known as Foxglove. Inundation: 2/5 • The seeds have two horn- The similar digitalis variety like extensions on them, is extremely poisonous. which was thought to Because of this, any resemble bedbugs or ticks. Foxglove is commonly This is how it gets its name. avoided for edible and Coreopsis comes from the medicinal purposes. Greek koris, which hmeans • Is called Beardtongue “bedbug”, and opsis, which because the flower has means “similar to.” a small tuft of hairs, • Early American settlers resembling a beard. put Tickseed in their • Sometimes goes dormant mattresses to repel fleas in the summer to cope with and bedbugs. dryness. • If the flower is “dead- • In the 1800’s, seeds were headed” (dead flowers brought to Europe for sale. are removed), Tickseed From this, hundreds of will continue to flower Flowers: hybrids have been made in Flowers: throughout the summer. June-Oct Europe. May-June