Desmodium canadense Native to: All of New England Life cycle: Perennial Light: Full/Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Medium-Wet to Medium-Dry Height: 18-60” Spacing: 1’ Blooms: July-August Bloom Color: Purple Natural Habitat: Man-made or disturbed habitats, river or stream floodplains, forest edges, forests, meadows and fields, shores of rivers or lakes Benefits: Pollinator Favorite, Bird Favorite, Host Plant (eg. Silver-spotted Skipper, Hoary Edge), Compaction Tolerant, Low Maintenance “Desmodium canadense is aptly named Showy Tick Trefoil for its numerous pink flowers that bloom along the plant’s upper stems for about three weeks in mid-summer.

Hypericum prolificum Native to: New York and further west/south Life cycle: Perennial Light: Full/Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Medium-Wet to Medium-Dry Height: 2-5’ Spacing: 3-4’ Blooms: Jul-Sep Bloom Color: Yellow Natural Habitat: Open woods, meadows, and roadsides Benefits: Pollinator Favorite, Bird Favorite, Deer/Rabbit Resistant, Host Plant (eg. grey hairstreak) Drought Tolerant, Urban Environment, Salt Tolerant, Erosion Control/Soil Stabilization, Low Maintenance Pairs Well With: Culver’s root, heart-leaved Alexander, nodding onion, three-lobed coneflower, and flowering raspberry

Bouteloua curtipendula Native to: MA and CT Life cycle: Perennial Grass Light: Full/Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Medium to Dry Height: 2’ Spacing: 10-24” Blooms: August-September (non-showy) Natural Habitat: Human-disturbed or -maintained habitats, cliffs, balds, or ledges, river or stream floodplains, meadows and fields, ridges or ledges, woodlands Benefits: Bird Favorite, Deer Resistant, Host Plant (eg. skipper butterflies) “Bouteloua curtipendula, or Side-oats Grama, is a rarity among native grasses in the way that it sports its tiny attractive flowers during the summer bloom time (see detailed photos.

Agalinis tenuifolia Native to: All of New England Life cycle: Annual Light: Full/Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Medium to Dry Height: 2’ Spacing: 1-2’ Blooms: Aug-Oct Bloom Color: Pink/Purple Natural Habitat: Man-made or disturbed habitats, brackish or salt marshes and flats, fresh tidal marshes or flats, meadows and fields, woodlands Note: Slender false-foxglove is a hemiparasite, meaning that it can photosynthesize, but thrives best if it can also parasitize grasses and related species.

Boehmeria cylindrica Native to: All of New England Life cycle: Perennial Light: Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Medium-Wet to Medium Height: 3’ Spacing: 18-24” Blooms: June-August Bloom Color: Yellow Natural Habitat: River or stream floodplains, forests, swamps, wetland margins Benefits: Pollinator Favorite, Deer/Rabbit Resistant Host Plant (eg. Eastern Comma, Question Mark, Red Admiral) “Smallspike False Nettle is a host plant hotspot! Fly larva of Neolasioptera boehmeriae will form galls on the Smallspike False Nettle stems.

Symphyotrichum laeve Native to: All New England Life cycle: Perennial Light: Full/Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Medium-Wet to Medium-Dry Height: 1-4’ Spread: 12-18” Spacing: 18-24” Blooms: August-October Bloom Color: Blue, purple Natural Habitat: Dry, open woods and fields; disturbed areas and roadsides Pairs Well With: Butterfly milkweed, foxglove beardtongue, sundial lupine, black-eyed coneflower, foxglove beardtongue, flax-leaved aster, and little bluestem Benefits: Pollinator Favorite, Bird Favorite, Host Plant (Pearl Crescent, Silvery Checkerspot butterflies), Drought Tolerant, Urban Environment, Low Maintenance

Monarda punctata Native to: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont Life cycle: Perennial/self-sowing Biennial Light: Full/Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Medium-Dry to Dry Height: 2-3’ Spread: 12-24" Spacing: 8-12” Blooms: July-September Bloom Color: pink/purple Natural Habitat: Dry sandy or gravelly soils of beaches, pine barrens, woodland edges, and roadsides. Benefits: Deer/Rabbit Resistant, Pollinator Favorite, Bird Favorite, Urban Environment, Drought Tolerant, Edible, Low Maintenance, Host Plant (Raspberry pyrausta) Pairs Well With: Blue-eyed grass, butterfly milkweed, Scotch bellflower, sundial lupine, and New Jersey tea

Eutrochium maculatum Native to: All of New England Life cycle: Perennial Light: Full/Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Wet to Medium-Wet Height: 3-7’ Spread: 3-4’ Spacing: 3-4’ Blooms: Jul-Sep Bloom Color: Pink Natural Habitat: Man-made or disturbed habitats, marshes, meadows and fields, shores of rivers or lakes, swamps, wetland margins Benefits: Pollinator Favorite, Bird Favorite, Deer/Rabbit Resistant, Compaction Tolerant, Urban Environment, Host Plant (eg. Clymene moth, ruby tiger moth) Note: This plant was formerly known as Eupatorium maculatum.

Spiraea tomentosa Native to: All of New England Life cycle: Perennial Shrub Light: Full/Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Wet to Medium-Wet Height: 2-5’ Spacing: 1-3’ Blooms: July-September Bloom Color: Pink Natural Habitat: Human-disturbed or -maintained habitats, marshes, meadows and fields, shores of rivers or lakes, swamps, wetland margins Benefits: Bird Favorite, Host Plant (eg. Columbia silkmoth), Pollinator Favorite, Deer/Rabbit Resistant, Compaction Tolerant, Urban Environment, Low Maintenance, Erosion Control/Soil Stabilization S. tomentosa is covered in sharp, narrow, upright pink flowers in midsummer.

aka blue-eyed grass, narrow-leaved blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium angustifolium Native to: All New England Life cycle: Perennial Light: Full/Partial Sun Soil Moisture: Medium-Wet to Medium-Dry Height: 6-18"Spacing: 6-8" Blooms: May-JuneBloom Color: Blue Natural Habitat: Meadows and fields, shores of rivers or lakes, wetland margins Benefits: Attracts Bees, Attracts Songbirds, Low Maintenance, Benefits Other Pollinators/Wildlife “Closely related to Iris, blue-eyed grass blooms continuously all summer, opening during the day and closing at night.