Some of my favorite native plants
What's more organic than the plants which are native to your area? Here's a little personal account of my favorites (I live in the Northeast US). It's more focused on the fun facts I know and what they mean to me personally than the biological or growing characteristics. However if you're curious to learn more I'd recommend the NCEG Plant Toolbox, The Plant Native, or just looking things up on Wikipedia.
Milkweed - Asclepias
Best known for being the host plant of the Monarch butterfly! They can only lay their eggs on species in the milkweed genus. The caterpillars are adapted to eat the poisonous milkweed, and become poisonous themselves from eating it, which is a great defense mechanism.
Even in the mid-aughts, my hippie kindergarden was on the monarch conservation train, and we raised some monarchs in cages to observe and release. Turns out indoor rearing might not be so good for Monarchs, but we didn't know that at the time. As with most endangered insects, the best way to conserve them seems to be simply providing them with the native plants they need to survive.
Beware the tropical milkweed, which is pretty and easy to find at big-box stores but does more harm than good when planted in the northeast. It helps parasites spread which can harm developing Monarchs.
Swamp Milkweed - Asclepias incarnata
Has an incredibly unflattering common name but one of the coolest scientific names out there. Pretty hardy! I had some issues getting mine to grow this year but they still did decently.
Poke Milkweed - Asclepias exaltata
Another great scientific name! Mine didn't grow well this year but supposedly can tolerate shade. The flowers look like little alien mouths!
Goldenrod - Solidago
If you care most about ecological benefit, you should grow goldenrod - it's a powerhouse pollinator plant and it will be swarming with native bugs in the fall.
Best friends with Aster. They grow well together and there's some evidence they do a better job of attracting pollinators when grown side-by-side.
Zigzag Goldenrod - Solidago flexicaulis
I planted this on my shady balcony this year - it struggled to grow, but so does everything I put out there. I was surprised to see it put out some flowers in the last few weeks!
Aster - Symphyotrichum & Eurybia
Aster is a little tricky because there are two different genuses that make up northeastern "asters", and then plenty of other genuses called "aster" in other parts of the world.
Like most members of the daisy (Asteraceae) family, they are ray flowers, which means the things you'd call the "flowers" are actually collections of smaller flowers (inflorescences) - each petal is its own flower, and the little bits in the center are their own little flowers too.
Best friends with Goldenrod. They grow well together and there's some evidence they do a better job of attracting pollinators when grown side-by-side.
White Wood Aster - Eurybia divaricata
Incredibly hardy in shade! I have paid so little attention to mine and they just keep growing like crazy year after year. Plus they're always covered in native pollinators.
Sundial Lupine - Lupinus perennis
I haven't grown this one yet, but I do think it's pretty neat. In the same way that milkweed species are the only host plants for the Monarch butterfly, Sundial Lupine is the only host species of the endangered Karner Blue butterfly.
Dutchman's Breeches - Dicentra cucullaria
Probably will never be able to grow this as it's quite sensitive and adapted to very specific moist forest floor conditions. However, it deserves a shoutout because:
- It's a spring ephemeral, which means it provides pollen in the early spring when insects are just waking up and food is scarce.
- The flowers look like pants. The flowers look like pants!! I can't stress enough that the flowers look like pants.