Herbaceous ornamentals add interest to our yards and gardens with bright, beautiful flowers and interesting foliage. Whether native, non-native, sun-loving or shade-tolerant, herbaceous plants invite wildlife, provide for pollinators, and bring us enjoyment with color, texture and fragrance.
Native & Naturalized Selection
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Ornamental grasses are a great addition to the landscape. Switchgrass is a North American prairie native that adapts readily to the garden, especially several cultivars that have been selected for their attractive shape or color. Learn about this low-maintenance, warm season grass with airy, pink-tinged flower spikes in this article…
This time of year the leaves of Virginia creeper turn from an average green to a brilliant crimson red, painting tree trunks and the ground on woodland edges with bright color once temperatures cool. Learn more about this vigorous native vine that adapts to many different conditions and soils in this article…
Anise hyssop is a great plant for attracting bees, butterflies and beetles. Learn more about this native species in this article…
If you’ve seen a large, mostly black butterfly lately, chances are it was a black swallowtail, a very common butterfly of eastern North America. The colorful caterpillars feed on many herb garden plants while the adults nectar at a variety of flowers. To learn more about this species and how to encourage it in your garden, read this article…
July brings out the fireworks, but if you’d rather have visual explosions in the garden than pyrotechnics in the sky, consider the annual purple fountain grass cultivar ‘Fireworks’. This ornamental grass offers pink variegated foliage in an arching form that provides great contrast in color and form. Learn more about ‘Fireworks’ grass in this article…
Need to cover a trellis with color for the summer? Black-eyed Susan vine is a good choice if you want lots of showy flowers in the yellow and orange range. Thunbergia alata is actually a tender perennial that grows fast enough to be used as an annual in cooler climates. To learn more about this African native, read this article…
Not all Lamiums are created alike. The European species L. orvala is a tall, clump-forming plant with whorls of spotted purple-pink flowers that resemble orchids in spring. When the flowers fade the big leaves provide good contrast to grassy or fine-textured foliage in the garden. To learn more about this species of ornamental plant, read this article…
Mayapple is a native wildflower with distinctive, deeply lobed, umbrella-shaped leaves. It forms dense colonies in open deciduous woodlands and other shaded sites. It can be a wonderful groundcover, outcompeting most weeds in a woodland garden or naturalized setting. To learn more about this unique herbaceous perennial, read this article…
Learn how to plant and care for mums to keep them blooming from late summer through fall.
Viruses can destroy the value of a gladiolus crop. Serious infections have been observed throughout Wisconsin in some years. While Aster Yellows is common, it usually infects just a few gladioli scattered in plantings. This fact sheet covers the symptoms, causes, and means of control of viral and Aster Yellows infection.
Every year, the National Garden Bureau selects one ornamental flower to feature in their “Year of the” program. 2015 is the Year of the Gaillardia. This native North American plant is both a common wildflower in places and a colorful garden ornamental, with new cultivars being developed all the time. Learn more about blanket flower in this article…
Hosta virus X (HVX) is a viral disease that causes serious problems on many hosta cultivars, causing nursery owners and gardeners in the United States to voluntarily destroy large numbers of hosta to help prevent the spread. This fact sheet describes the symptoms and management of this virus.
