Northeast Native Plants to Try

Tuck this pretty wildflower in a part to fully shaded garden with average, well-drained soil. The purple to pink blooms appear in early spring and provide an important pollen source for bees. Plants are spring ephemerals and disappear as summer heat arrives. Let blooms set seed, and you’ll be rewarded with drifts of these bloomers. Avoid waterlogged soils, especially those that drain poorly in winter. Plants are increasingly rare in the wild. Shooting star is hardy in zones 3 to 8.

Blue-eyed grass pairs pretty blue blooms with grassy foliage on plants that flower from late spring to early summer. Allow blossoms to set seed, and you’ll be rewarded with a spreading colony of blue-eyed grass. Some consider this native invasive, so take care where you site it and if you let it set seed. Ideal conditions include full sun with medium-wet, well-drained soil. This deer-resistant perennial is hardy in zones 3 to 9.

Cinnamon fern adds a vertical touch to shade garden plantings with strongly upright fronds. Brown spore fronds appear in spring and linger into the growing season. This fern thrives in acidic, humusy, moist soil, but plants also adapt to less favorable conditions. Plants provide habitat for insects and ground-feeding birds. Hummingbirds harvest fibers from stems to line their nests. Plants are hardy in Zones 3 to 9 and grow 2 to 3 feet tall.

Also known as ironwood, eastern hornbeam is a lovely tree that offers multi-season interest. Male flowers, or catkins, linger on trees well into winter. Female flowers resemble hops. A woody fruiting capsule contains tiny nutlets favored by birds like grouse, pheasant and songbirds. The wood of hornbeam was prized by colonists for its strength and graced many tool handles and sleigh runners. This tree is hardy in zones 4 to 8.