Songbird Plants

This native perennial Hibiscus boasts large 6-8" wide typically white but occassionally pink flowers with a dark burgundy eye. The Crimson-Eyed Rosemallow, Hibiscus moscheutos, is common in moist and wet areas as the name implies but is tolerant of average moist garden soils but may require extra moisture during dry spells. This is a vigorous and hardy native perennial that can reach 5-7' high but is more commonly found at 4'. The foliage may be used as a butterfly caterpillar host by Hairstreaks, Blues, Coppers, and others. Hibiscus moscheutos is one of the main species used in breeding of the large dinner plate-sized Hardy or Perennial Hibiscus cultivars. Item# 9399

A CSU Trial Gardens 2020 Top Performer! The dark burgundy to near black, glossy foliage is to die for but wait it gets better as in late spring or early summer, tall sturdy spikes ascend above the dark foliage and are composed of lavender to purple, 1" long, nectar rich, tubular flowers that eventually develop into decorative dark purple round seed pods. DAKOTA™ Burgundy Penstemon, a flower child of Penstemon digitalis, is more compact than and has darker foliage than Dark Towers and Mystica Penstemons and it has more purple colored flowers and improved reliability easily surviving for 3 years in CSU's trials. Provide this easy to grow perennial, a nativar (a cultivar from native species), with a moist to average moist, well-drained, fertile soil in a full to mostly sunny location for optimum vigor, flowering, and for the deepest foliage colors. Pair DAKOTA™ Burgundy Penstemon with chartreuse foliaged plants for a wonderful contrast. The flowers attract a variety of polliinators including hummingbirds, bees, and occasional larger butterflies. Photos courtesy of Terra Nova Nurseries, Inc., www.terranovanurseries.com, all rights reserved. Item# 12856

The spring and summer clumps of yellow-green foliage are accented with and tipped with red and in late summer tall, 4-1/2-5-1/2' high, sturdy spikes of decorative reddish seed heads are produced. As fall approaches the foliage becomes red and then deepens into fiery scarlet. Dancing Wind Big Bluestem, a selection of Andropogon gerardii, has a slightly shorter, sturdier upright habit than the species with excellent fall color. The species is native throughout much of the eastern 2/3's of the US and is a clumping to slowly spreading rhizomatous grass whose seeds are utilized by a number of seed eating birds. Provide a full to mostly sunny site with an average to well-drained, acidic soil for the deepest foliage colors and optimum vigor. Plants are in their best form when grown in a low fertility soil. Photos courtesy of Brent Horvath, Intrisic Perennial Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12852

An exceptionally free flowering form of our native Coral Honeysuckle producing a nearly continuous display of red tubular blooms with a yellow throat. Dan's Everblooming Coral Honeysuckle begins flowering in late winter and early spring and lasts through fall on established plants. This variety may produce a few flowers throughout winter even in zone 8B. Item# 9729.

Deep wine-red foliage provides a wonderful foil for the tall sturdy spikes of light pink tubular flowers in late spring and early summer attracting bees, hummingbirds, and the occassional butterfly. Dark Towers Penstemon, an offspring of Penstemon digitalis, was developed by Dale Lindgren at the University of Nebraska from his original selection of Husker Red. Dark Towers has darker foliage that keeps its color better through summer and it has pink flowers versus white on Husker Red. Provide this easy to grow clump forming perennial, a nativar (a cultivar from native species), with a moist to average moist, well-drained, fertile soil in a full to mostly sunny location for optimum vigor, flowering, and for the deepest foliage colors. Pair Dark Towers Penstemon with chartreuse foliaged plants for a wonderful contrast. Images courtesy of Ball Horticulture, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12469

A profusion of golden orange-yellow dark eyed daisies are produced in mid to late summer and into fall atop tall sturdy stems and attract a myriad of smaller pollinators and garden beneficials. Deam's Black-Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii, is different from Goldstrum by having a clump forming habit, slightly larger flowers, and overall taller plants with better resistance to powdery mildew. Its reliability has garnered this US native perennial the coveted RHS Award of Garden Merit. Provide Deam's Black-Eyed Susan with a full to mostly sunny site in average to well-drained soils. Songbirds enjoy the ripe seed heads and it may reseed under good conditions on exposed soils making it a good addition to cottage gardens, meadows, prairies, and other naturalistic and informal settings. Images courtesy of North Creek Nurseries, all rights reserved. Item# 12115

A unique bicolor with a vigorous habit! Large, dark purplish to charcoal colored, lupine-like spikes and buds open to contrasting soft lemony yellow, pea-shaped flowers that mature to raspberry pink and are held above a neat mound of blue-green foliage in spring to early summer attracting bees and other pollinators.  DECADENCE DELUXE® Pink Lemonade Baptisia, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), has exceptional vigor developing into a vase-shaped 4'x4' plant as well as foliage that lasts through summer. These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year with some plants producing over a 100 spikes on mature plants. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12667

Large, dark purplish to charcoal colored, lupine-like spikes and buds open to purplish-pink pea-shaped flowers with a contrasting yellow keel that lighten as they age and are held above a neat mound of blue-green foliage in spring to early summer attracting bees and other pollinators. DECADENCE DELUXE® Pink Truffles Baptisia, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), has exceptional vigor developing into a vase-shaped 4'x4' plant as well as foliage that lasts through summer. These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year with some plants producing over a 100 spikes on mature plants. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12668

Large spikes of deep indigo-blue, pea-like flowers are produced atop a neat mound of blue-green foliage in spring to early summer, depending on your zone, attracting bees and other garden beneficials. DECADENCE® Blueberry Sundae Baptisia, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), produces darker blue flowers than its parent, Baptisia australis or Blue Wild Indigo, and has improved vigor and foliage that lasts through summer. It was selected as one of the top ten in the 2012-15 Baptisia Trials at Mount Cuba Center and is reported to produce over 280 flowering stems on mature plants! These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12664

"An unusually beautiful and unique flower color as well as densely branched foliage set this new variety apart. Deep maroon buds open to bicolor maroon and yellow flowers held on strong scapes above the blue-green foliage in late spring to early summer. Secondary branching on the flower stems makes this variety especially floriferous. As the flowers age, they turn gold." - Walter's Gardens, Inc. DECADENCE® Cherries Jubilee Baptisia, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), has a slightly more compact habit than the others in this series as well as foliage that lasts through summer. It was selected as one of the top ten in the 2012-15 Baptisia Trials at Mount Cuba Center and is reported to produce over 270 flowering stems on mature plants! These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12665

The huge flower spikes can exceed 24" long and are adorned with deep charcoal purple, pea-like flowers that are produced in late spring to early summer, depending on your growing zone, and are held above the dense mounds of lush green foliage. The flowers attract a variety of bee species. DECADENCE® Dark Chocolate Baptisia or False Indigo, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), has excellent vigor with a slightly more compact habit than many of the other cultivars currently available. These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year with some plants producing over a 100 spikes on mature plants. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12900

The #2 star performer in Mt. Cuba Center Baptisia Trials! Large, dark purplish to charcoal colored, lupine-like spikes and buds open to contrasting bright sunny yellow, pea-shaped flowers and are held above a neat mound of blue-green foliage in spring to early summer attracting bees and other pollinators.  DECADENCE® Lemon Meringue Baptisia, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), has excellent vigor as well as foliage that lasts through summer. It scored a perfect 5 of 5 stars in the Mt. Cuba Center's 2012-15 Baptisia Trials of 46 cultivars.These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year with some plants producing over a 100 spikes on mature plants. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12666

The tall flower spikes are adorned with deep blue to blue-purple, pea-like flowers that are produced in summer and are held above the dense mounds of lush green foliage. The flowers attract a variety of bee species. DECADENCE® Periwinkle Popsicle Baptisia or False Indigo, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), has excellent vigor and a neat vase-shaped habit topping out at about 4 to 4-1/2 feet high and 3 to 3-1/2 feet wide. This large growing cultivar begins flowering after most cultivars have finished for the season. These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year with some plants producing over a 100 spikes on mature plants. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 13144

Large, dark purplish to charcoal colored, lupine-like spikes and buds open to soft yellow pea-shaped flowers that lighten to creamy vanilla as they age and are held above a neat mound of gray-green foliage in spring to early summer attracting bees and other pollinators. DECADENCE® Vanilla Cream Baptisia, a hybrid cultivar of our native species (a.k.a. nativar), has excellent vigor with a slightly more compact habit than the other members of this series. These are easy and low-maintenance, deer resistant, long-lived, taprooted perennials that produce more and more flowering spikes with each passing year with some plants producing over a 100 spikes on mature plants. Considered a must for the cutflower garden as the spikes have an excellent vase life. Provide Baptisias with a full to mostly sunny site in a soil with average or better drainage and moderate fertility. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 12669

#2 in 3 year trials at Secrest Arboretum! Rich glowing fuchsia to cherry red rays surround the rounded cones of the same coloration on 2-3" wide flowers atop short sturdy stems to 12-18" high stems. Plant with cautions may cause traffic jams. Delicious Candy® Coneflower is a long-flowering hybrid selection with a compact habit and dark green disease resistant foliage developed from US native species, since Echinacea are only native to North America, developed by Netherlands breeder Marco van Noort who states that this is his best selection in 5 years! Coneflowers are clump forming perennials whose often fragrant flowers are adored by butterflies, bees, and other pollinators that can be enjoyed as part of the sunny garden garden and landscape as well as container specimens. Leave seedheads for fall and winter songbirds to enjoy. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in an average moist, well-drained, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of Walter's Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved and are credited to Marco van Noort. Item# 12783

Fine textured, narrow, bronze-tinged yellow-green new growth matures to deep olive green on this compact native evergreen shrub. Don's Dwarf Wax Myrtle, a selection of Myrica cerifera, a.k.a Morella cerifera, makes a tough and easy, low-maintenance low to medium-sized evergreen hedge that could easily be used to replace Boxwood, Indian Hawthorn, and even Dwarf Yaupon Holly in the garden and landscape. Its toughness lends it to use in parking lot islands. Don's Dwarf Wax Myrtle is resistant to leaf spot that plagues some Wax Myrtles, is drought resistant once fully established, and is not likely to be bothered by deer thanks to its Bayberry-like fragrance. Provide a full sun to part shade site in a fertile, average to well-drained soil for optimum growth and vigor. The only drawback is that Wax Myrtle is subsceptible to fire and so should be utilized away from houses, businesses, and other structures, although, the plants themselves generally recover from the root stock. Item# 12746

The dwarf form of it's much larger cousin and native to the sandy and sandy loam soils of much of the southeast US. The Dwarf Pawpaw produces 3-5" green-yellow elongated fruit that eventually turn brown to nearly black when ripe. It is reported to have a banana custard-like flavor, some say that fully ripe fruit of the Dwarf Pawpaw is equal to the Pawpaw, while others firmly disagree. Produces small maroon to greenish flowers flowers in spring. A small to medium-sized, spreading to upright, moderately slow growing, native deciduous shrub. A caterpillar host plant of the Zebra Swallowtail Butterfly. Seedling grown. Plant two for pollination. Item# 10232.

Another excellent native shrub for the landscape! The dense neat mound of deep green glossy foliage and red tinged stems is topped by clusters of white flowers in spring which make way to red berries ripening through purple and finally black. The flowers attract a variety of pollinators and the fruit attract songbirds and smaller fructivores. Walter's Dwarf Viburnum, Viburnum obovatum 'Densa', is a compact, densly branching selection of this southeastern native. This shrub's dense habit lends it to use anywhere a small to medium-sized shrub is desired in the landscape. It is generally evergreen into zone 8A and tends to be deciduous to semi-evergreen in zones 6 and 7. Use this tough native shrub in place of Dwarf Yaupon, Indian Hawthorne, or anywhere a medium-sized, disease resistant, low maintenance shrub or hedge is desired. Provide a full sun to part shade site in an average to well-drained soil for optimum vigor. Images shown are an example of what to expect with this cultivar but are of the common Walter's Viburnum, Viburnum obovatum. Item# 12731

A must have perennial! Early Bird Gold Rudbeckia produces wave after wave of bright golden yellow, 3-4" daisies from late spring to fall on a nicely branching plant. This exciting new day-length neutral and thusly free flowering Black-Eyed Susan was discovered at Dupont Nursery near Plaquemine, Louisiana and is sure to bring in the butterflies and pollinators as well as providing color all summer. Drought tolerant, deer resistant, and reliable. Item# 10626.

An RHS Award of Garden Merit selection. Grown mainly as a tough and disease resistant evergreen hedge adorned with a cloak of deep bluish-green to gray-green foliage with a contrasting silvery reverse but this is also an excellent shrub for fruit production for home use or leave it for the songbirds. Ebbinge's Silverberry is a hybrid Elaeagnus that is prized for its toughness and fast rate of growth as a hedge or screen. It can be maintained as small as 3'H x 3'W but is more commonly maintained at 5-6'H x 5-6'W or allow it to grow to its 10-15'H x 10-15'W naturally rounded mature size. In fall it produces fragrant but not very showy greenish to cream colored, 1" long tubular flowers that ripen in spring into 1" long cylindrical red fruit flecked with silver and with a large seed that is also edible excluding its woody exterior. The fruit is astringent and tart if eaten before being fully soft, deep red, and ripe at which point it makes a wonderful jelly similar to mayhaw or crabapple. Songbirds and small mammals are happy to assist with collection of the ripe fruit. Deer, salt, and drought resistant once well-established requiring mainly good drainage in a full sun to partially shade site for optimum vigor and growth. Item# 10695

A dwarf Joe-Pye Weed producing large clusters of up to 10" wide, nectar rich, reddish-purple flowers are produced over an extended period in summer attracting a variety of pollinators including both bees and butterflies. Euphoria™ Ruby Dwarf Joe-Pye Weed or Eupatorium, a selection of Eutrochium purpureum, is a clump forming, multi-stemmed perennial with dark green foliage growing to about 24-30" high and wide. This Darwin Perennials introduction has garnered high marks in trials across the US: a 2021 Colorado State University Flower Perennial Trials Top Performer, 4.93 out of 5 rating in 2021 Penn State Flower Trials, 4.5 out 5 in 2019 at the UGA Trial Gardens. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in a moist to average moist, fertile soil for optimum vigor and flowering. Images courtesy of Ball Horticulture, all rights reserved. Item# 12951

Golden yellow berries cover the stems of this wonderful selection of native deciduous holly from fall through spring (if the birds don't get them all!). The nectar and pollen laden flowers attract bees and smaller pollinators and even provide a caffiene kick. Finch's Gold Possumhaw Holly, a selection of Ilex decidua, is a large growing, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub but could potentially be shaped into a small tree form. It has few if any pests or diseases and is quite tolerant of growing conditions from average moist to moderately wet and periodically flooded sites. Provide a full to mostly sunny site for optimum growth, vigor, and fruit set. Almost any male native holly that flowers at the same time will pollinate the female Finch's Gold Possumhaw Holly including the American Holly, Ilex opaca, and we also now offer the male Midas Possumhaw Holly as well. Item# 9145

A dwarf selection of our native Sundrops, Fireworks is the ultimate Oenothera cultivar producing vigorous but compact sprawling plants with red tinged foliage and even redder new growth and winter rosettes. The plants are absolutely covered by 2" wide, widely flaring, 4-petalled, glowing sunny yellow flowers in late spring and early summer. Images courtesy of North Creek Nurseries. Item# 10160.