Floristan Violet Blazing Star delivers vertical drama to the sunny border with dense, upright spikes of vivid violet-purple flowers that open from the tip downward through mid to late summer. As a Great Lakes native, it draws an impressive parade of butterflies, hummingbirds, and birds throughout its bloom season—a living magnet for pollinators that also happens to be one of the finest cut flowers the perennial garden produces. Growing 24 to 36 inches tall with a narrow, tidy footprint of 12 to 18 inches, it fits neatly into the middle of a border where its strong vertical lines contrast beautifully with mounding or spreading companions. Deer, rabbits, insects, and disease all leave it alone, and it grows happily in the challenging root zone of black walnut trees, making it one of the most versatile natives for difficult planting conditions. The seed heads that follow the blooms extend the ornamental season into fall and provide important food for overwintering birds. Mass plant it for a prairie-inspired sweep, or repeat it through the border as a unifying accent that brings structure, color, and wildlife value in one plant.

Techny Arborvitae is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape for its distinctively pyramidal habit of growth. It has dark green evergreen foliage. The scale-like sprays of foliage remain dark green throughout the winter.

Icee Blue Juniper is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the garden for its broadly spreading habit of growth. It has attractive silvery blue evergreen foliage. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain silvery blue throughout the winter.

Daub's Frosted Juniper is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the garden for its broadly spreading habit of growth. It has attractive yellow-tipped bluish-green foliage which emerges chartreuse in spring. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain bluish-green throughout the winter.

Blue Rug Juniper is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the garden for its broadly spreading habit of growth. It has attractive silvery blue evergreen foliage. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and turn plum purple in the fall, which persists throughout the winter. It produces blue berries from late spring to late winter.

Steeplebush has spires of showy pink flowers and beautiful foliage that turns bright gold and auburn in fall. This native forms a colony of upright, slender, wand-like plants. Plant it three feet on center to create a low hedge. Requires a moist setting and is well suited for planting along around ponds, in rain gardens, in naturalized swale or detention areas, or included in a water garden/feature.

It prefers full sun, but light shade is ok. Faded flower clusters can be removed to encourage additional bloom. It flowers on new wood, so prune in late winter to early spring if needed.

Wild Indigo Bush has spikes of indigo pea-like flowers with gold anthers rising above the foliage in mid summer, which are interesting on close inspection. It has grayish green deciduous foliage. The small fuzzy narrow pinnately compound leaves do not develop any appreciable fall color.

This extremely hardy male holly is the ideal pollenizer for Berry Poppinsâ„¢, Berry Heavy ®, and Berry Nice ®. Plant one male for every five female plants. Densely branched growth makes an ideal background shrub. hedge or border planting. Produces no berries. Deciduous.

A compact and showy fall shrub known for its brilliant scarlet-red fruit; sheds leaves early in fall to reveal berries; spreads to form colonies; Mr. Poppins is recommended as pollinator; great in masses and particularly wet sites, needs acidic soil

Moonglow Juniper is a dwarf conifer which is primarily valued in the landscape for its rigidly columnar form. It has attractive grayish green evergreen foliage. The scale-like sprays of foliage are highly ornamental and remain grayish green throughout the winter. It produces silvery blue berries from late spring to late winter.

Hetz Wintergreen Arborvitae is primarily valued in the landscape for its rigidly columnar form. It has dark green evergreen foliage. The scale-like sprays of foliage remain dark green throughout the winter.

Dark cool-green and purple leaves with lovely wavy edges grow upright, displaying striking wine-red undersides. This short, compact herbaceous perennial is ideal for containers or the front of perennial beds, adding year-round color and texture to any garden space.

Bracken Fern is primarily valued in the landscape or garden for its cascading habit of growth. Its ferny compound leaves remain green in color throughout the season.

Peaches & Cream Honeysuckle is a graceful twining vine that earns its romantic name with clusters of soft peachy-pink and creamy-white tubular flowers that perfume the summer garden and draw hummingbirds, butterflies, and birds in abundance. Reaching 9–15 feet with training, it’s an ideal choice for covering arbors, trellises, fences, or pergolas in full sun. Fresh green foliage holds beautifully through the season, turning soft yellow-gold in fall before dropping. Highly resistant to deer, rabbits, insects, and disease, it’s a carefree performer that looks anything but effortless. Tolerates Black Walnut and cold conditions, making it a reliable and flexible garden choice. A beautiful vine that brings fragrance, color, and wildlife activity together in one elegant package.

Profuse, large, overlapping, blush pink, flower-like bracts cover this small but vigorous tree in early spring. The fully branched habit provides layers of lush green foliage from bottom to top. A magnificent landscape specimen for small gardens or woodland settings. A sterile cultivar that produces no fruit. Deciduous.

Selected for its stunning foliage, Fireside^® Ninebark displays reddish new growth that matures to deep red-purple. Its foliage holds its color reliably all summer, including in warmer climates. Add to that, Fireside^™ doesn’t show signs of powdery mildew in the landscape and you’ve got a real winner. Pinkish-white flowers bloom in spring, and foliage turns deep purple in fall. The plant habit is tidier than many other ninebark with a rounded, upright shape.

Northern Bayberry is a rugged native shrub prized for the clusters of waxy, aromatic gray-blue berries that cling to branches all winter and have been used for centuries to make fragrant candles. Exceptionally adaptable, it thrives in poor, sandy, and salty soils where most shrubs struggle, making it a go-to for coastal plantings, windswept slopes, and erosion control. The aromatic semi-evergreen foliage holds late into fall before giving way to persistent berry clusters that cedar waxwings, yellow-rumped warblers, and other birds rely on for cold-season fuel. Deer, rabbit, pest, and disease resistant — tolerant of salt, Black Walnut root competition, and difficult ground — it spreads into effective colonies and earns its keep in hedges, mass plantings, and naturalized areas.

Sgt. Pepper™ Dogwood is one of the most dramatic four-season shrubs in the garden, earning admiration in every month — from the stunning cream-and-green variegated foliage with rosy-pink margins in spring and summer, to a spectacular fall transformation of burgundy and hot pink, and finally brilliant red stems that command attention all winter long. Growing 3–5 feet tall and spreading 8–11 feet wide with a broad mounding form, it makes an outstanding anchor, hedge, or specimen planting in full sun. Spring brings clusters of white flowers that attract birds and butterflies. Resistant to deer, rabbits, insects, and disease, native to the Great Lakes region, and tolerant of Black Walnut and erosion — it’s as tough as it is beautiful. Few shrubs offer this much year-round drama in such a manageable size.

The 1” single round flowers are a lovely shade of orange with just a hint of red. Beautifully compact, it forms a rounded shrub reaching only 2-3’ in height and spread, making it perfect for the foundation. Deer resistant.

A highly regarded groundcover evergreen for home landscape use; very attractive and soft light green foliage, low growing and wide spreading with gently arching branches; excellent in massing and groupings or as a groundcover

Calgary Carpet Juniper has lime green foliage. The scale-like leaves remain lime green throughout the winter. The flowers are not ornamentally significant. It produces blue berries from late spring to late winter.

Calgary Carpet Juniper is a dense multi-stemmed evergreen shrub with a ground-hugging habit of growth. It lends an extremely fine and delicate texture to the landscape composition which should be used to full effect.

This is a relatively low maintenance shrub, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Calgary Carpet Juniper is recommended for the following landscape applications;

Zigzag Goldenrod is smothered in stunning clusters of gold star-shaped flowers with yellow overtones at the ends of the stems from early summer to early fall. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its large oval leaves remain green in color throughout the season.

Blue Flag Iris rewards the water’s edge with elegant, true-blue blooms veined in violet and gold, unfurling atop sword-like foliage from late spring into summer. Native to eastern North America, it’s perfectly at home in the damp ground along a pond, stream, or rain garden where many perennials struggle. Reaching two to three feet tall in tidy upright clumps, it brings vertical structure to a sunny border and its blooms are lovely cut for the vase. Butterflies work the flowers, while its spreading roots make it a natural choice for stabilizing soil along banks and slopes. It asks for steady moisture and full sun, and is seldom browsed by deer or rabbits and untroubled by pests or disease. Plant it in a bold drift at the pond’s margin for a sweep of early-summer blue.

A male deciduous holly with an upright and dense growth habit, ideal for pollinating female fruit-bearing varieties; suckers into colonies; prefers moist to wet highly acidic soils, good for problem areas; excellent when massed

Jim Dandy Winterberry has dark green foliage throughout the season. The pointy leaves do not develop any appreciable fall color. Neither the flowers nor the fruit are ornamentally significant.

Jim Dandy Winterberry is a dense multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a shapely oval form. Its average texture blends into the landscape, but can be balanced by one or two finer or coarser trees or shrubs for an effective composition.

This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and is best pruned in late winter once the threat of extreme cold has passed. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Jim Dandy Winterberry is recommended for the following landscape applications;