Central Plains Gardening 157 Stories

Underused lead plant loves heat, laughs at drought and is truly gorgeous

Gardening Guides Great Design Plant: Lobelia Siphilitica Keeps Its Cool

Great blue lobelia, a flowering native that prefers moist soil, adds a calming blue hue to the late-summer garden

Gardening Guides Great Design Plant: Ratibida Pinnata Flutters in the Breeze

This bright coneflower brings splashes of yellow to eastern U.S. prairie gardens and perennial borders

Gardening Guides Great Design Plant: Staphylea Trifolia Shines in the Shade

Plant American bladdernut for 3 seasons of interest: spring flowers and striped brown branches and bladder-like seedpods in fall and winter

Fall Gardening Great Design Plant: Symphyotrichum Novae-Angliae Ushers in Fall

With bold purple flowers easily accessible to pollinators, New England aster offers loads of interest in the autumn garden

Fall Gardening Great Design Plant: Oligoneuron Rigidum Brightens Fall Gardens

Create a pollinator feeding ground with this cheery, fuss-free goldenrod, formerly known as Solidago rigida, native to much of the U.S.

Gardening Guides Great Design Plant: Northern Maidenhair Fern Softens Shade Gardens

By Jay Sifford

Stir up some romance in dark corners with the billowy fronds of native Adiantum pedatum

Gardening Guides Great Design Plant: Sensitive Fern Shows Its Strengths

By Jay Sifford

Wondering what will thrive in your wet, shady garden? It’s Onoclea sensibilis to the rescue

Native Plants Great Design Plant: Wild Bergamot, Friend of Foragers

Nourish butterflies and other winged creatures with the tubular flowers of Monarda fistulosa, a pretty pink native

Flowers 6 Overlooked Asters for Tough Spots

Whether your garden has baking sun or dry dense shade, boggy soil or sandy gravel, there's an aster for that

Gardening Guides Great Design Plant: Pale Indian Plantain Stands Tall and Proud

Height and generous flower heads earn Arnoglossum atriplicifolium the attention of both human and insect visitors