Creeping Wintergreen features dainty nodding shell pink bell-shaped flowers at the ends of the branches from mid spring to mid summer. It has dark green evergreen foliage. The fragrant oval leaves turn burgundy in the fall, which persists throughout the winter. It produces red berries from early to late fall.

For the shaded garden, few perennials bring the quiet drama of Black Cohosh. Tall, slender wands of fragrant, creamy-white flowers rise like candles above a mound of deeply cut, dark green leaves through summer, illuminating dim corners and woodland edges. Reaching three to five feet, it makes a graceful vertical exclamation point at the back of a border or naturalized beneath a canopy of trees. A woodland native of eastern North America, it feels right at home in our Midwestern shade and mingles beautifully with hostas, ferns, and astilbe. Give it steady, moderate moisture in part to full shade and it settles in with very little fuss — and as a bonus, browsing deer and rabbits show no interest. It’s a memorable way to layer height, fragrance, and a touch of the wild into shady spaces.

Very similar in look to Asclepias syriaca (Common Milkweed) but with the added bonus of much deeper pink blooms. The slightly longer stems are stiff, less likely to flop than other milkweeds.

The Crimson Comet Buttonbush is a fantastic addition to any garden or landscape. With its vibrant red foliage and unique spherical flowers, this plant is sure to stand out. Its beauty is not the only benefit, as it is also a great option for attracting beneficial insects and pollinators. The compact size of the Crimson Comet Buttonbush also makes it a great choice for small gardens and containers.

Bergeson Compact Dogwood features showy clusters of white star-shaped flowers at the ends of the branches from mid to late spring. It has dark green deciduous foliage which emerges chartreuse in spring. The pointy leaves turn an outstanding burgundy in the fall. It produces white berries with powder blue overtones from mid to late summer. The scarlet branches are extremely showy and add significant winter interest.

Pussywillow is a beloved harbinger of spring, producing the iconic soft, silver-gray catkins that appear on bare branches before the leaves emerge and signal winter’s end like nothing else in the garden. Growing 9–15 feet with graceful, weeping branches, it makes a beautiful focal point near water features, rain gardens, or naturalized areas in full sun. Fresh green foliage follows the catkins and holds through summer, turning warm gold and copper-bronze in fall. The cut branches are prized for spring arrangements — snip a few before the catkins fully open and bring them indoors. A native-region plant that supports birds and wildlife, it tolerates wet soils, erosion-prone sites, and Black Walnut with ease. A truly special shrub that connects us to the season’s first stirrings of life.

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.

Mature spikelets turn chocolate-colored early.

Generally, you would need both a male and female bittersweet plant to get the much loved orange berries, but you’ll only need one with Autumn Revolution^™ Bittersweet. This beloved native vine is covered in green leaves in the summer and joined by gorgeous orange berries that form in the late summer and get their color in early fall. The berries on Autumn Revolution^™ are twice the size of other bittersweet varieties and are great for cut arrangements and other DIY crafts. The berries that aren’t used for crafts in the fall provide wonderful winter interest.

Buttonbush is covered in stunning clusters of creamy white button flowers with buttery yellow overtones at the ends of the branches from late winter to early summer. The flowers are excellent for cutting. The white fruits are held in abundance in spectacular clusters from late summer to late winter. It has light green evergreen foliage. The tiny narrow leaves remain light green throughout the winter.

Common Persimmon is a beautiful native tree that doubles as an edible landscape specimen, offering ornamental merit across all four seasons alongside a generous harvest of sweet, richly flavored orange fruit in fall. Growing to an impressive 30–40 feet with an upright habit in full sun, it makes a striking specimen in a larger yard or naturalized setting. The fruit is best after a frost has softened the flesh and converted the starches to sugar — the result is a deeply sweet, honey-like flavor that’s exceptional fresh or dried. Vivid orange and gold fall foliage is among the most brilliant of any native tree. Fully resistant to deer, rabbits, insects, and disease, it supports birds and wildlife generously and tolerates Black Walnut. A durable, deeply rewarding tree for any landscape that has room for its full, impressive presence.

Switch Grass is a prairie native from the Great Lakes region that brings easy, four-season beauty to the sunny garden—and genuine ecological value along with it. From summer into fall, its upright clumps of dark green blades support airy clouds of fine-textured flower panicles that catch the light and move beautifully in a breeze. Come autumn, the foliage transitions through warm shades of yellow-gold and copper-bronze before settling into tawny buff tones that persist through winter. Birds flock to the seed heads for reliable late-season forage, giving this grass genuine wildlife value beyond its good looks. It forms a tidy, non-spreading clump reaching three to five feet tall and handles challenging conditions with remarkable equanimity—drought, black walnut, deer, and erosion-prone slopes are no match for it. Mass plant it in a meadow-style border or naturalized area for maximum impact with minimum effort.

Swamp White Oak has dark green deciduous foliage which emerges grayish green in spring on a tree with a round habit of growth. The glossy lobed leaves turn coppery-bronze in fall.

River Birch features subtle chartreuse catkins in early spring. It has dark green deciduous foliage. The pointy leaves turn an outstanding yellow in the fall. The peeling brown bark is extremely showy and adds significant winter interest.

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.

Smooth Aster has masses of beautiful lavender daisy flowers with yellow eyes at the ends of the stems from late summer to late fall, which are most effective when planted in groupings. The flowers are excellent for cutting. Its narrow leaves remain dark green in color throughout the season.

Pagoda Dogwood has clusters of fragrant creamy white flowers held atop the branches in late spring. It has emerald green deciduous foliage. The pointy leaves turn an outstanding burgundy in the fall. It produces navy blue berries in mid summer.

Leaflets velvety on the lower surface, margins frequently almost parallel are often abruptly rounded at both ends and with a notch at the tip. Flowers small, purple to dark blue with yellow stamens extending beyond the single petal, crowded in narrow, 3-6 in., spike-like clusters at or near the ends of the branchlets, appearing from April to June.

American Spikenard features airy racemes of chartreuse star-shaped flowers with white overtones at the ends of the stems from mid to late spring. Its large serrated pointy bipinnately compound leaves are dark green in color. The foliage often turns yellow in fall. It produces red berries from early to late fall.