Living in the Midwest want to start a native plant garden? Here is the garden inspiration you were looking for. These native flowers, shrubs, and trees are easy to find, easy to plant, and will look stunning in your garden. Scroll on to find plant ideas, alongside list of Midwestern nurseries and online plant sellers.
Before we introduce dozens of native plants, let’s start with a basic question.
What is a native plant?
A native plant is a plant that has grown in a region for thousands of years. They have lived through every drought, storm, blizzard, and heat wave. These plants’ DNA includes all the tricks and tips needed to thrive in Midwestern yards with minimal care.
Why plant native in the Midwest?
There are three big reasons to plant native:
- Wildlife support. Native plants give bugs, birds, and butterflies the needed food and homes.
- Enjoy beauty with lazy gardening. Once established, most rarely require water besides normal rainfall.
- Native plants are gorgeous, and some last for generations. Your neighborhood or yard will look incredible with minimal work.
There are thousands of plants native to the Midwest. If you’re looking for a huge encyclopedia of native plants, we highly recommend visiting other sites, like BONAP and the USDA Plant Database, or exploring plants by pollinator profiles at Xerces Society.
Sometimes, these huge sites can feel overwhelming, especially on a tiny phone screen or if you’re beginning your native garden. That’s why we made this website.
We’re here to get you started
The Plant Native’s mission is to help beginner gardeners find their way. So we’ve kept this list short and stuck to Midwestern native selections that are widely known and found.
We’ve organized it by flowers, grasses, vines, shrubs, and trees. Remember to bookmark this page to find your favorites, whether at a native nursery or exploring a friend’s garden.
Native flowers for Midwestern gardens
Plant any (or all!) of these native flowers to give food to butterflies, hummingbirds, and pollinators.
Native grasses for Midwestern gardens
Grasses are NOT boring. Grasses are perfect drought-resistant pairings to help flowers pop. Leave the grasses exactly where they are throughout the winter to watch them turn into sculptures and while feeding songbirds.
Native shrubs and trees for Midwestern gardens
These native shrubs and trees are made for Midwest weather, seasons, and sunshine.
Plant all these plants together for a stunning native garden
All the plants here look amazing in Midwestern gardens! Every one of these plants is also a perennial, meaning they will come back year after year looking better than ever.
Every one of these plants is easy to grow. After their first year being established, each of these flowers will come back year after year and require nothing fancy to keep going besides rain. Planting native plants ensures our gardens look amazing and our water bills stay low. You don’t have to have a botany degree to have a garden! Plant these easy natives and enjoy a gorgeous Midwest yard all summer long.
Found a few native favorites? Let’s make finding them easy.
Where can I find native plants in the Midwest?
The sad reality is that finding native plants (especially if you’re not looking for cultivars) can be a challenge. But it’s much easier if you know where to look!
We’ve put together an ever-evolving list of native-friendly nurseries. It’s time for a road trip.
Midwest native nurseries include:
Illinois
- Country Road Greenhouses (Rochelle, IL)
- Natives Haven (Harvard, IL)
- Natural Garden Natives (St. Charles, IL)
- Natural Communities (Algonquin, IL)
- Possibility Place (Monee, IL)
- Pleasant Prairie Nursery (Williamsfield, IL; pick-up or appt only)
- Prairie Wind Natives (Glen Ellyn, IL)
- Red Buffalo Nursery (Hebron, IL; sold commercially via plant sales only)
- Red Stem Natives (Chicago, IL)
- Stellar Native Plant Nursery (Chicago, IL)
- The Growing Place (Aurora, IL)
- The Wild Midwest (Urbana, IL)
Indiana
- Ion Exchange (Harpers Ferry, Indiana)
- Naturally Native (South Bend, IA; pick-up only)
Michigan
- Black Cap Farm (Onekama, MI)
Minnesota
- Blazing Star Gardens (Owatonna, MN; pick-up only)
- Blue Prairie Nursery (Watertown, MN)
- Heidi’s Growhaus (Corcoran, MN)
- Landscape Alternatives (Shafer, MN)
- Mother Earth Gardens (Minneapolis, MN)
- Morning Star Greenery (Morris, MN; by appt only)
- Natural Shore Nursery (Independence, MN)
- Naturally Wild (Minneapolis, MN)
- Prairie Moon (Winona, MN)
- Prairie Restoration (Princeton, MN)
- Shooting Star Native Seed (Spring Grove, MN)
- The Mustard Seed (Chaska, MN)
- Windflower Natives (Fergus Falls, MN)
Missouri
- Greenscape Gardens (St. Louis, MO)
- Missouri Wildflowers Nursery (Jefferson City, MO)
- Papillon Perennials (Wildwood, MO; pick-up only)
- Pure Air Natives (Wentzville, MO)
- Sharpe Seed (Clinton, MO)
- Sugar Creek Gardens (Kirkwood, MO)
Nebraska
- Prairie Legacy (Nebraska)
Ohio
- Deeply Rooted Landscapes (Tipp City)
- Down Nature’s Path (Greenville)
- Keystone Flora (Cincinnati)
- The Milkweed Patch (Troy)
- Native Ohio Plants (Tipp City)
- Natives In Harmony (Marengo)
Ohio Native Plant Month also has a great map to explore more nurseries (both wholesale and retail.)
Wisconsin
- Elk Mound Seed (Elk Mound, WI)
- Heritage Flower Farm (Mukwonago, WI)
- Johnson’s Nursery (Menomonee Falls, WI)
- Northwind Perennial Farm (Burlington, WI)
- Pollinator Friendly Nursery (Delafield, WI)
- Reeseville Ridge Nursery (Reeseville, WI)
Find native plants for the Midwest online
Looking to start your native garden by buying online? We got you. Here are sources for buying native seeds and plants online in the Midwest:
- Easy Wildflowers (Willow Springs, Missouri)
- Elk Mound Seed (Elk Mound, Wisconsin)
- Ion Exchange (Harpers Ferry, Indiana)
- Missouri Wildflowers Nursery (Jefferson City, Missouri)
- Natural Communities (Algonquin, Illinois)
- Prairie Legacy (Nebraska)
- Prairie Nursery (Westfield, Wisconsin)
- Prairie Moon (Winona, Minnesota)
- Prairie Restoration (Princeton, Minnesota)
- Pure Air Natives (Wentzville, Missouri)
- Sharpe Seed (Clinton, Missouri)
- Shooting Star Native Seed (Spring Grove, Minnesota)
Why do we keep including the city/town and state? Here’s why:
Local blooms, fewer glooms
Find native plants near you
Local plants and seeds—grown within 800 miles—are best suited for your garden. This also fosters cross-pollination among locally grown plants, enhancing their resilience for generations to come. Stay local for a happy garden!
Finally, sometimes you want to get lost in a picture-filled book and scribble your garden dreams in the margins. Here are three of The Plant Native’s favorites:
Best native plant books for Midwestern gardens
The Plant Native has read a lot of books to create this website. Here our favorites for Midwestern gardens.
Got Sun? 200 Best Native Plants for Your Garden
Carolyn Harstad, 2013
Carolyn’s writing feels like you have a friend beside you, chatting over coffee. An excellent resource for Midwestern gardens.
Go Native! Gardening with Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest
Carolyn Harstad, 1999
Such a fun book to read, although with few pictures in color.
The Midwest Native Plant Primer: 225 Plants for an Earth-Friendly Garden
Alan Branhagen, 2020
Like the other books in this series, this offers photo-filled portraits of individual native plants. Good for easy inspiration.
And that concludes our beginner-friendly round-up for planting native in the Midwest. We hope this inspired you to plant native plants and get excited about all the possibilities for your garden. We’re not with the inspiration yet! Explore our other native planting FAQs, peruse the native plant library, and bookmark our ever-expanding resources for native gardening. Or join your local native plant society and find your people (and plant sales)… Happy planting!
Sources
- Harstad, Carolyn. Go Native! Gardening with Native Plants and Wildflowers in the Lower Midwest. (1999).
