Monarch Butterfly

Also known as Spider Milkweed, this perennial is clump-forming with stems that are densely covered with minute hairs. As the green seed pods grow, they curve to resemble antelope horns. It has pale, greenish-yellow flowers, tinged maroon that bloom March to October.

Growing Conditions: Needs sunlight, dry or moist soil, medium water use

Plant Size: 1-2 ft (30-60 cm) tall

Monarch caterpillar host plant.

This perennial has large, oval, blue-green leaves and spherical clusters of rose-colored flowers. The flowers occur at the top of the stem and on stalks from leaf axils and bloom May to September.

Growing Conditions: Shade intolerant, needs sunlight, medium water use, moist soil

Plant Size: Generally 1 ½ – 3 ft (46 – 91 cm) but can reach 6 ft (183 cm) under favorable conditions

This species is closely related to the Common milkweed, A. syriaca, with which it sometimes hybridizes at the eastern limits of its distribution. These species are similar in appearance and growth form (tall and robust), but can be distinguished by the layer of fine white hairs on A. speciosa and flowers that look like small crowns. Unlike A. syriaca, A. speciosa does not form large clones.

Monarch caterpillar host plant.

Also known as Pink Milkweed, this perennial has large blossoms composed of small, rose-purple flowers. The deep pink flowers are clustered at the top of a tall, branching stem and bloom June to October.

Growing Conditions: Needs lots of water, shade tolerant, moist to wet soil

Plant Size: 2-5 ft (60-152 cm)

The juice of this wetland milkweed is less milky than that of other species. The genus was named in honor of Aesculapius, Greek god of medicine, undoubtedly because some species have long been used to treat a variety of ailments. The Latin species name means flesh-colored.

Drought tolerant once established. Excellent nectar plant for butterflies.

Great blanket-flower is an erect, 2-4 ft. plant, with clasping, dandelion-like leaves. The inch-long petals have yellow, 3-toothed tips and dark red bases. These surround disk flowers which are the same color as the base of the petals. Tufts of hairs project from the seed-like fruits and the entire plant is covered with fuzzy hairs.

Drought tolerant once established.

Tall, leafy, finely hairy stem has tiny yellow flower heads on arching branches in a long or flat-topped cluster at top.

This handsome species produces showy displays, usually late in the summer. Although it and other Goldenrods are commonly blamed for hay fever, this discomfort is usually caused by pollen from Ragweed (Ambrosia spp.), which are less conspicuous plants with greenish flowers that bloom at the same time. Missouri Goldenrod (Solidago missouriensis) is similar but usually smaller, with smooth stems.

Annual. A favorite of many native bees, including bumble bees and longhorn bees. Easy to establish and tolerant of clay soils.

Common sunflower is a widely branching, stout annual, 1 1/2-8 ft. tall, with coarsely hairy leaves and stems. The terminal flowers heads are large and showy, up to 5 in. across. A tall, coarse leafy plant with a hairy stem commonly branched in the upper half and bearing several or many flower heads, the central maroon disk surrounded by many bright yellow rays. Yellow ray flowers surround brown disk flowers.

The state flower of Kansas. Contrary to common myth, the heads of sunflowers do not follow the sun each day. However, developing flower buds and leaves do exhibit some phototropism. The plant has been cultivated in Central North America since pre-Columbian times; yellow dye obtained from the flowers, and a black or dull blue dye from the seeds, were once important in Native American basketry and weaving. Native Americans also ground the seeds for flour and used its oil for cooking and dressing hair. It was believed, in the 19th century, that plants growing near a home would protect from malaria. Seeds from cultivated strains are now used for cooking oil and livestock feed in the United States and Eurasia. Many variants have been developed, some with one huge head topping a stalk 9-16 ft (3-5 m) tall, others with maroon rays. Prairie Sunflower (H. petiolaris), found throughout the Great Plains and similar to the wild forms of Common Sunflower, has scales on the disk in the center of the head tipped by white hairs, easily visible when the central flowers are spread apart. Developed in a single large head variety by Russians.

Very drought tolerant once established.

The erect, unbranched stems of this perennial may be solitary but are usually in clusters, 1-2 ft. tall.Several stems bear narrow, crowded heads with rose-lavender flowers arranged in slender wands. Numerous narrow leaves are crowded along the stem as they intermingle with the tufted flowers. Disk flowers crowd together to form a lavender spike encompassing the top third or half of the stem.

Rayless heads of purple flowers and slender, often plume-like bristles on the fruits generally identify this complex genus of the East that barely extends into the West.

Important nectar source for native bees.

Can be aggressive in the garden if no competition is present.

A large, robust yellow sunflower with broad, thick leaves and rough, hairy stems. Stout, rough, branching stems bear large golden-yellow flower heads. Flower heads with yellow rays and disks are numerous in the upper portions of the 6-10 ft. perennial.

This large, coarse sunflower was cultivated by Native Americans of the Great Plains and has spread eastward. The edible tuber is highly nutritious and, unlike potatoes, contains no starch, but rather carbohydrate in a form that is metabolized into natural sugar. In 1805 Lewis and Clark dined on the tubers, prepared by a native woman, in what is now North Dakota. Today they are sold in produce markets stores and, when boiled or roasted like potatoes, are delicious. Raw, they have a sweet, nut-like taste. The common name is a corruption of the Italian girasole, meaning turning to the sun.

Drought tolerant once established.

Drought tolerant once established.

Smooth, reddish stems, 1-2 ft. tall, occur singly or in clusters. Small, yellow flowers are arranged along the upper side of branches, usually forming a plume-shaped, nodding inflorescence. The earliest of the goldenrods to bloom.

This is a low-growing goldenrod that usually forms loose colonies in dry soils. It attracts butterflies.

Establishes better from transplant than seed. Tolerates clay soil and wet conditions.

Numerous leafy, 4-sided stems with opposite leaves and, near top, pale pink to lavender, bilaterally symmetrical flowers in dense circles crowded into tight spikes.

Agastache, from the Greek agan (much) and stachys (ear of grain), refers to the flower clusters. The spikes, short corolla lobes, and protruding stamens are distinctive.

Annual plant but will re-seed. Attracts bees. Seeds are important for birds.

Annual with erect stem is leafy and branching above. Leaflets occur in threes. Branched stems have palmately compound leaves and, in racemes at ends of branches, pink or reddish-purple flowers (sometimes white). Showy clusters of pink flowers continue to elongate during the season, so that the slender seed capsules may be present even while the upper portion of the inflorescence in still flowering. Six conspicuous stamens protrude beyond the pink petals. Rocky Mountain beeplant may attain 4-5 ft.

Flowers produce copious nectar and attract bees, hence the common name. Indians boiled the strong leaves for food and as a stomachache remedy. In times of drought early Spanish-Americans made tortillas from the barely palatable but nourishing seeds.

An incredible monarch nectar plant. Birds eat the seeds.

Very drought tolerant.

A shrub with erect, slender, flexible branches covered with dense, felt-like, matted hairs (often overlooked until one scrapes the surface lightly), very narrow leaves, and small yellow heads in dense clusters at ends of stems.

Gray Rabbitbrush is a common and variable species in a genus found mainly in western North America. Some plants are light green, others have silvery hairs. Navajo people obtained a yellow dye from the flower heads.

Prefers moist soils. Attracts numerous butterflies and bees, including the very rare rusty patched bumble bee.

3-6 feet tall unbranched native perennial plant bearing branched flower stalks at the top. Main stem is purple or purple-spotted, stout and round, often covered with fine white hairs. Whorls of 4 or 5 yellowish green leaves occur along the central stem Leaves up to 8 long and 2½ across, ovate to narrowly ovate with serrated margins and conspicuous veins. Pink or purple flowers occur in flat-headed clusters several inches across containing 8-20 disk florets and no ray florets. Fruit an achene with hair-like bristles dispersed by the wind.

The Joe-Pye Weeds have been assigned to the genus Eupatoriadelphus to separate them from the Bonesets (Eupatorium). Some sources still refer to this species as Eupatorium. The genus Eupatoriadelphus differs from the genus Eupatorium by whorled leaves, while Eupatorium has opposite leaves.

Drought tolerant once established.

This is an exceedingly variable species with many different varieties & subspecies. Plant height varies from 3 in. to 3 ft., but all plants make loose mats of leaves, often green above and gray-woolly beneath. Leaves at base, and on long, erect stalks bloom tiny, yellow or cream flowers in balls at ends of branches of an umbel-like cluster. Flower clusters occur on 6-9 in. stems. The cream to sulfur-yellow, tubular flowers fade to orange or red.

Sulphur Buckwheat is highly variable, and this adds to the difficulties of identification in a complex group of similar western species.

Biennial plant. Attracts butterflies and is a host for the common buckeye.

Simpler’s-joy or blue verbena is a 2-5 ft., stout-stemmed perennial with numerous, pencil-like flower spikes branched upwards like the arms of a candelabra. Each flower spike has a ring of blue-purple flowers; the flowers at the bottom of the spike bloom first, and the ring of flowers appears to advance upward to the tips of the spike. Stiff, pencil-like spikes of numerous small, tubular, blue-violet flowers are at the top of a square, grooved stem and its branches. An attractive perennial, it has flowers on showy candelabra-like spikes. Bumblebees are among the important pollinators. In ancient times the plant was thought to be a cure-all among medicinal plants and the genus name is Latin for sacred plant. Hoary Vervain (V. stricta), to 10 feet (3 m) tall and with flowers 1/2-inch (1.3 cm) long, is most abundant in the Midwest and occurs sporadically eastward. Narrow-leaved Vervain (V. simplex), has narrow leaves and lavender flowers 1/3 of an inch (8 mm) long; it is a southwestern and midwestern species.

This species is a member of the verbena family (family Verbenaceae), which includes about 75 genera and 3,000 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees, mostly of tropical and warm temperate regions. Among them, teak is a highly prized furniture wood, and Vervain, Lantana, Lippia or Frog Fruit, and Chase Tree or Vitex are grown as ornamentals.

Prefers moist soils, including stream banks and wet meadows.

Several 1-3 ft. stems emerge in a clump from the woody root of tall fringe bluebells or mountain bluebells. Smooth, succulent leaves are crowded along these stems. A plant with clumps of leafy stems and loose clusters of narrowly bell-shaped, blue flowers turning pink with age. Pendent clusters of clear blue, tubular flowers exude a mild fragrance. Root crowns and rhizomes spread over time, forming extensive patches.

Mertensias are also called Lungworts, after a European species with spotted leaves which was believed to be a remedy for lung disease. Similar species differ in the proportions of the corolla.

Good bee plant.

Wetland-riparian.

Prefers water but drought tolerant.

Arizona wild rose is a small, prickly shrub, 1-3 ft. tall, bearing very showy, small, pink flowers. The rose hip is smooth, red, and round. Deciduous leaves are pinnately compound.

Host plant for the northern checkerspot. Nectar plant for many butterfly species.