Songbird Plants

Dense clusters of dainty white to lavender tubular flowers top the hairy blue-green to green fragrant foliage in summer. The small nectar rich flowers of Hairy Mountain Mint attract a wide variety of pollinators, and are especially important to native bees. This is a rhizomatous native perennial that will readily spread especially in moist soils. Hairy Mountainmint, Pycnanthemum verticillatum var. pilosum, is native to the northcentral US, mainly Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas, eastern Tennessee, eastern Kentucky and as far south as northern Mississippi. It is typically found in moist, calcareous soils but can tolerate drier sites where it is less likely to spread aggressively. Item# 11763

4-6" wide, white to pale pink flowers with a contrasting burgundy eye and showy staminal column are produced in summer along the 4-6' high stems attracting bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The Halberdleaved Rosemallow, Hibiscus laevis, is a root hardy herbaceous native perennial Hibiscus producing multiple stems at maturity. It is typically found growing along freshwater lakes, rivers, and streams where it has an ample moisture supply and will likely prefer a similar, consistently moist, fertile soil in a full to mostly sunny site for optimum growth and vigor. This will be a good choice for bogs and rain gardens. The Halberdleaved Rosemallow is native to much of the central and eastern US and gets its name from its halberd shaped foliage. Caterpillar host: Gray hairstreak. Item# 12975

Steely blue-gray spring and summer foliage is topped by nicely contrasting tan colored airy panicles in late summer and fall. In fall the foliage changes to yellow and finally beige creating winter interest and providing food, habitat, and nesting material for a variety of birds and other fauna. Heavy Metal Switchgrass, a selection of the native Panicum virgatum, with an with a strongly upright, columnar, dense habit that remains upright even through heavy rains. This is a naturally clump-forming herbaceous perennial that is found throughout much of the US and into Canada, except for the westernmost states, and is a major component of the Tall Grass Prairies. Switchgrass was also used by native Americans to build long-lasting, rain resistant shelters. The foliage is a larval host to the Delaware Skipper, Arogos Skipper, Tawny Edged Skipper, Northern Pearly Eye, and Dotted Skippers. Adaptable to a wide variety of soil types and moisture regimes. Item# 12854

Henry Eiler's is unique in that is has petals that are quilled or rolled into tubes as well as having flowers that are more yellow than gold all with the same easy to grow habit of the Sweet Coneflower. A beautiful and eye-catching addition to any garden setting as well as a long lasting cutflower for arrangements. A vigorous clump forming perennial common to stream banks and moist areas but will do fine in average garden soils. The sweetly scented foliage gives it its common name. Images courtesy of North Creek Nurseries. Item# 10164.

Huge 4-6" bright yellow, green-eyed daisies are held on4-6'+ sturdy stems and produce an extended summer display. A reliable and vigorous clump forming perennial that is adored by butterflies and pollinators of all shapes and sizes. The rich green deeply cut foliage is disease and pest resistant. Deadhead spent flowers to extend the flowering season well into fall. Appreciates ample moisture when in growth. One of our favorites! Item# 9366.

In early spring, rich pink cherry blossoms cover the bare stems attracting an array of pollinators with pollinated flowers producing 3/8-1/2" diameter, tart fruit that ripen to a deep purplish red in mid to late spring to early summer. The Hiromi Dwarf Afghan Cherry, a selection of Prunus jacquemontii, is a small deciduous shrub growing to about 3-5'H and 4-5'W with an upright to spreading, bushy habit. The plants are self-fertile and have proven to fruit reliably even in the Deep South with minimal chill hours. The weight of ripening fruit can give the plants a semi-weeping habit. The small cherries are semi-sweet and tart when fully ripe and have a fairly large pit. The fruit, which doesn't all ripen at once, can be eaten fresh or made into preserves or jelly, if you have several plants, or left for the songbirds to enjoy. Provide a full to mostly sunny site in well-drained, fertile soils for optimum vigor and growth. The Hiromi Cherry has moderate drought resistance once fully established in the garden or landscape. It is reported to be a butterfly host plant for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. Item# 10641

The large rounded flower clusters, to 12" more across, are of composed of hundreds of dainty pinkish-purple flowers are produced in mid to late summer and into fall atop tall, sturdy, upright to arching, hollow, purple spotted stems with whorled, medium green, rugose foliage. Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium fistulosum but now classified Eutrochium fistulosum, is a long-lived, clump forming, deciduous, herbaceous, native perennial that is typically found growing along stream banks and in other relatively consistently moist areas but it does just fine under average garden conditions as well. Joe Pye Weed's nectar rich flowers attract butterflies and a variety of smaller pollinators including honeybees. Provide a full sun to partly shaded site in a moist to wet to average moist, fertile soil for optimum vigor, the sturdiest stems, and maximum flower production. Item# 475

This 2022-23 release is a vigorous upright growing plant boasting bluish-green spring foliage that adorns sturdy red stems with the crescendo of color peaking in fall when the foliage takes on shades of deep purple and burgundy accented by deep red, orange, and pink stems. Holy Smoke Big Bluestem, another excellent Intrinsic Perennials selection of Andropogon gerardii, chosen for its statement making vigor, sturdy upright stems, and seasonal 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. Caterpillars: Dusted Skipper, Arogos Skipper and Delaware Skipper. Photos courtesy of Brent Horvath, Intrisic Perennial Gardens, Inc., all rights reserved. Item# 13170

Clusters of red to red-orange, yellow to orange throated, tubular flowers are borne from spring to fall on established plants with the peak flowering season in early to mid spring and again in mid to late summer to fall. Honey Coral™Honeysuckle is a tame and manageable vine perfectly suited to fences and medium sized trellises and arbors. The flowers attract hummingbirds and occasional butterflies. Caterpillar host: Chalcedon Checkerspot. Pollinated flowers develop into clusters of clear red berries that make summer and fall fruit for songbirds. Their tame habit and long blooming season make the native Coral Honeysuckles an easy choice for covering a fence, arbor or trellis. Item# 11491

The dense spikes of bicolor mahogany and yellow pea-like flowers lighten into yellow as they age creating an orangish overall effect from a distance and are produced in mid to late spring to early summer depending on your zone. The flowers attract mainly bees. Honey Roasted Baptisia or False Indigo, a hybrid cultivar of US native species (a.k.a. nativar), is a vigorous, heavy and early flowering selection of this clump forming perennial growing to about 36-42"H x 42-48"W. Baptisias 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 them 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# 12898

Large, 1-2" long x 3/8-1/2" diameter, shiny black mulberries with a very sweet flavor are produced in spring and are basically seedless. Fruit can be eaten fresh as well as to make jelly, jams, and even wine. The Illinois Everbearing Mulberry, a highly popular hybrid of Morus alba and the native M. rubra, reliably produces large crops at a young age and is self-pollinating. These are fast growing, medium sized trees with a natural umbrella to rounded shaped mature habit to 30-40' high and wide. Songbirds love the ripe fruit and waves of Cedar Waxwings come through annually to feast on them. Mulberries make an easy and low maintenance fruit tree for homes and gardens. These are cuttings grown from our own tree. Item# 1000

In late spring to early summer, loads of 12-15" high flower spikes that are adorned with deep blue to deep violet pea-like, nectar rich flowers and are accented by a narrow yellow keel and are held well above the neat mounds of foliage. The main flower show is extended by an encore of secondary flower spikes and the flowers attract mainly bees as pollinators. Indigo Spires Baptisia or False Indigo, a hybrid of our native species, is an easy and low maintenance, deer resistant, large, long-lived clump forming, herbaceous, taprooted perennial maturing to about 3-4'H and wide. As the palnts mature they 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# 13300

In summer arching spikes of showy green, flattened seed heads, reminiscent of fish hanging on a fishing pole, are produced which eventually fade to tan and remain showy until late winter or early spring. The seed heads flutter even in the slightest of breezes providing motion and interest for months. One of our most recognizable, useful, and adaptable native grasses, Inland Sea Oats, Chasmanthium latifolium, is a deciduous, small to medium-sized perennial that readily develops into a groundcover via both rhizomes and seed. Its shade and moisture tolerance lend it to use as a tallish groundcover in both full sun to lightly shaded, wet to average moist, naturalistic garden and landscape settings. The decorative seedheads are used both fresh and dried in cut flower arrangements and the foliage is utilized by the Northern Pearly-Eye, Salt and Pepper Skipper, Bell's Roadside Skipper, and the Bronzed Roadside Skipper butterflies. This rhizomatous native grass is widely distributed throughout the central and eastern US from near central and eastern Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas to Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvannia. Tough, adaptable, provides late summer, fall, and winter color, and it's deer resistant. Item# 13108

In mid to late summer large clusters of frilly deep purple flowers sit atop short sturdy stems that are covered in fine dark green narrow foliage giving this tough as nails perennial as soft pleasing texture even when not in flower. Iron Butterfly Ironweed is as tough as its name implies, even though this is a selection of a rare species, it can tolerate short periods of drought or periodic inundation with ease. A nice tightly clump forming perennial from the works of Dr. Allen Armitage and the UGA horticulture program. The flowers provide much needed late summer fodder for bees, butterflies, and other garden beneficials. Item# 10929.

#3 in Mt. Cuba Center Baptisia trials and the #1 white cultivar! In midspring, loads of dark smokey purple 12-20" high flower spikes adorned with starkly contrasting bright white pea-like, nectar rich flowers are held well above the neat mounds of foliage. Ivory Towers Baptisia or False Indigo, a hybrid of our native species developed by Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery, is an easy and low maintenance, deer resistant, large, long-lived clump forming, herbaceous, taprooted perennial maturing to about 4-5'H and equally wide and it maintains its architecturally pleasing vase shaped form throughout the growing season. As the palnts mature they 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. Image credit: Tony Avent, Plant Delights, all rights reserved. Item# 13318

Voted in the top 5 by visitors in 2020 Echinacea trials at Mt. Cuba Center! Brilliant glowing orange-red rays that fade into yellow-orange pastels in late summer surround the dark orange rounded cones of disk flowers on the 3-4" wide flowers atop sturdy 18" high stems beginning in late spring and continuing into early fall. KISMET® Intense Orange Coneflower is a hybrid Echinacea selected for its exceptionally long flowering season, brilliant colors, as well as its perennial reliability as a garden plant. 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 for 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. Photos courtesy of TERRA NOVA® Nurseries, Inc. www.terranovanurseries.com, all rights reserved. Item# 12784

The large two tone flowers are composed of large lemonade pink rays tipped in a starkly contrasting pastel yellow surrounding dark cones and are held on sturdy 14-18" branching stems from late spring or early summer until fall. KISMET® Pink Lemonade Coneflower is a hybrid Echinacea selected for its exceptionally long flowering season, rich colors, compact branching habit, as well as its perennial reliability as a garden plant. 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 for 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. Photos courtesy of TERRA NOVA® Nurseries, Inc. www.terranovanurseries.com, all rights reserved. Item# 13321

#5 overall in 2020 Echinacea trials at Mt. Cuba Center! Intense raspberry red rays surround the dark orange rounded cones of disk flowers on the 3-5" wide flowers atop sturdy 18-24" high stems beginning in late spring and continuing into early fall. KISMET® Raspberry Coneflower is a hybrid Coneflower selected for its exceptionally long flowering season, brilliant color, extra large flowers, as well as its perennial reliability as a garden plant. 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 for 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. Photos courtesy of TERRA NOVA® Nurseries, Inc. www.terranovanurseries.com, all rights reserved. Item# 12785

Spring and summer offer up a mound of dark purplish-black foliage that covers up in late summer and fall with contrasting white daisies with a purplish-red eye. The flowers of Lady in Black Calico or Woodland Aster attract a myriad of pollinators like bees, smaller butterflies, and other garden beneficials at a time when many are stock piling for winter. This is an easy and reliable clump forming native perennial selected for its deep dark foliage. Lady in Black Woodland Aster is tolerant of light shade but will have the darkest foliage where it receives the most direct sunlight. May reseed on exposed soils. Caterpillar host: Field Crescent, Pearl Crescent, Texan Crescent, Roadside Checkerspot, Hoffman's Checkerspot, and American Lady.. Images courtesy of North Creek Nurseries, all rights reserved. Item# 12114

Multitudes of 3-4" wide golden yellow daisies with a tan to dark brown 'eye' sit atop sturdy 18-24" stems and are produced in late spring to early summer and may repeat if deadheaded. The Large-Flower or Rough Coneflower, Rudbeckia grandiflora, is a tough and easy to grow clump forming perennial that can produce 80 or more flowering stems per clump once mature. This is probably one of the most underutilized native perennials as it has one of the most uniform habits of the native Coneflowers, it is long-lived and it can tolerate the moist to wet settings of acid bogs as well as short periods of drought once well-established. This is one of the major components of our Once-Mown Meadows here onsite. Provide a full to mostly sunny site for optimum vigor and flowering. Deer and rabbit resistant and the flowers attract a variety of smaller pollinators. Item# 9885

This Black-Eyed Susan gets a gold star for flower power! An improved truly dwarf selection of the award winning Goldsturm, Little Goldstar Black-Eyed Susan produces loads of dark eyed golden yellow daisies on well branched sturdy stems beginning in summer and continuing into fall. All on a neat and tidy compact native perennial with deep green foliage that is deer and drought resistant once established. LIttle Goldstar Rudbeckia lends itself to use in formal settings, mass plantings, as well as for a bright spot of summer long color in less formal perennial gardens and landscapes. Image courtesy of North Creek Nurseries. Item# 10920