US perennials

06/05/2026

New Hope is on Garden Walk 2026, Bloomington, IN! This Saturday 6/6 (10am-2 pm) and Sunday 6/7 (noon to 4 pm). Garden designed by Rad, created and maintained by many MANY volunteers! 🙏 Stop by to explore naturalistic gardens, visit new Ladybug Garden, peak in New Hope facility, have a snack! We’ll be there!

06/02/2026

Ying Yang still life with sweaty, worn out straw hat and worn out potting table

06/01/2026

Campanula punctata 'Pink Octopus' - BELLFLOWER 'PINK OCTOPUS' now available in our store! Woohoo!
Yes, not a native one, but with excellent qualities - this is a true dense ground covering perennial for full sun, and also average-drier soils. It is a a vigorous one and spread wide, but the mat of leaves is very dense and does surprise the weeds (you still should check on that here and there). It will thrive in average and leaner soil, without any additional irrigation and will do well even in the deeper humid south!
This plant is even recommended for the rooftop gardens (this really tells a lot about it's adaptability).
Yeah, the flowers are "weird" little octopuses!
These pics were taken in amazing small Yew Dell Botanic Garden in KY (if you haven't been there yet, check it out too).
10"/18" with flowers, 18-24" wide and in time even more - leave some space for it.
Zone 5-9.

05/31/2026

Oeonothera rosea - PINK EVENING PRIMROSE.
Slender shorter-lived perennial, native to Arizona , New Mexico and Texas.
It's surprisingly humidity tolerant and works in our south-central midwestern climate (in times too hot, too wet and too cold).
Often just seeds around, fills the gaps in and floats around other plants. In optimum conditions could potentially even smother smaller plants, since it can seed heavily.
On the picture from the nursery it echoes nicely with Geranium 'Azure Rush' in the background.
Sun, average soils with average moisture to dry. In nutrient rich soils can grow fast.
1-1.5' tall and only 0.25-0.5' wide, zone 5/6-9.

05/30/2026

Andropogon gerardii 'Blackhawks' - BIG BLUESTEM 'BLACKHAWKS' - Perennial of the Year 2026!
Available in our store www.usperennials.com
(and a lot more!)

Shop our online perennial nursery for North American native plants and nativars. Sustainably grown, pollinator-friendly perennials shipped directly to your door. Discover the beauty of perennial gardening year-round at US Perennials. Explore a stunning array of hardy perennials, from vibrant spring....

05/27/2026

Monster-sized flower of Penstemon cobea - SHOWY BEARDTONGUE. Truly showy, but not a plant that can be planted on it's own. It is pretty much one single upright stem with large flowers (imagine it growing in it's natural habitat in grassy prairie and just poking through various grasses). The same way it should be planted in your garden - tucked among other plants, ideally grasses (little blue-stem, prairie dropseed, muhly grass etc).
2'-2'+tall, average to dry soil. Native to Ohio, Illinois and diagonally southwest. It does well in our area, it is not a heavy seeder unfortunately. So we get only a few plants here and there.

05/26/2026

Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red Improved - FOXGLOVE BEARDTONGUE 'HUSKER RED IMPROVED'.
One of the first, if not the first dark-leaved beardtongues on the market. This one is "improved", since these were/are also propagated from seeds and therefore variable in the look and dark-coloration. 'Husker Red Improved' is propagated clonally - from cuttings and divisions only.
At the end, this buddy really seems to be one of the best ones for our south-central midwestern climate (maybe generally for the Midwest).
It's healthy, sturdy, dense, fairly compact and HOLDS THE COLOR the whole season, plus have excellent fall carmine-red color.
For those who love to propagate and share (or sell plants) - it is not patented variety. You can propagate as much as you want!

05/25/2026

Thermopsis caroliniana (T. villosa) - CAROLINE LUPINE time in our gardens.
Cousin of Baptisia that starts to bloom when baptisia time is over.
Tough, sturdy native perennial, with dramatic seasonal effect = there are not many native perennials that would reach height of 5' during May and would bloom in that height! (tall prairie plants peak in summer and fall fall, the only other tall early ones are narrow-leaved Echinaceas).
Narrow vertical appearance, and transparency are very valuable features.
This is a clumper that doesn't take much space. Silvery foliage and citrine yellow pea-like flowers. Total deer and rabbit resistance, great longevity, excellent drought and heat tolerance.
Full sun is the best, because you can see some leaning in partial sun/half shade garden, like ours. The leaning happens usually after heavy rain here. Plants are strictly upright in full and aired spot. We did cut back some plants to the ground after such a flopping, and the plant usually turned dormant, but came back in full strength next year, without any signs of weakening.
Just like many other native plants, this one has many common regional (and often misleading names) : Aaron's Rod, False Lupine, Southern Lupine, Bush Pea, Blue Ridge Buckbean, ...and many more.
Native to quite a few southeastern and northeastern states, Alabama, Georgia and also Wisconsin. The native range layout suggests that this plant had to be a lot more common once, before the glaciation wiped it out from some areas. Since the seeds are heavy, drop down and don't disperse easily to the longer distance, those wiped areas were never re-populated by it again.
Carolina Lupine is not a pollinator magnet, but bumblebees do visit and love the flowers.
One of the plants that really thrives in our sand bed and has actually even nicer habit - a bit shorter and bulkier. Zone 4-7.
💛Thermopsis💛, don't you think?
Soon available in our store.

05/24/2026

...this is what we like. When a non-native plant (like Digitalis grandiflora - Large-flowered Foxglove) peacefully and happily grows together with native plant (Coreopsis pubescens - Star Tickseed). Generally, it's the fact, when you find the right plant for the right place in your garden = less work and care. Sometimes it's more that the plant finds it's own place. But there's also the fact that the native plants do not judge, they can coexist and enjoy the company of a plant from Europe (Digitalis, Stachys,..), Africa (Eucomis, Kniphofia,.), Asia (Amsonia, Salvia koyame, Polygonatum), or South America (Alstroemeria), without being bullied and maybe even support one another with matching growth strategy, or protective unpalatable chemicals. Many plants from various areas can be "mean", can be thugs, can smother and suppress others, no matter what their origin is. It's often us, humas, who project our ideas into plants. At the end it is the gardener who nurtures, observes, adjusts and balances the powers in the garden. Many non-native plants will also feed hummingbirds, various native bees or butterflies, but also the native insects that feed on leaf will often munch on non-natives, even when they have the choice between native and non-native plant in the same flower bed. Plant and natural world is not black and white. Lets try to judge less, observe and learn more and share our experiences, without repeating many times said "truths" or "half-truths". Lets fill our gardens with wide variety of plants and not with heaps of mulch. Lets try to achieve long and continuous flowering season and higher diversity plantings and therefore higher diversity of other life forms.

05/22/2026

Two natives meeting in bloom in our garden:
White Partenium auriculatum - WILD GLADE QUININE and purple Blephilia ciliata - DOWNY WOOD MINT.
Here, in the sunny woodland edge, in mildly sloping area, with limestone bedrock deeper underneath. Simply well drained spot, seems to make both very happy.
This Quinine, rare endemic perennial, growing only to southeastern US (dry, rocky glades, woodlands in North Carolina, Virginia, and nearby areas) seems to be very promising plant. It does well for us and we appreciate it's earlier blooming period, very fuzzy leaves and shorter statue (in comparison to more common P. integrifolium). We expect it will grow fine in any average, naturally draining soil (not compacted, wet, waterlogged soil).
Downy Wood Mint is lot more common plant (found in central and estern half of USA), but hardy seen in the gardens. We find that it appreciates light mulching, preferably with composted leaves only (the crown can tend to rot).
Both plants are are aromatic, so deer and rabbit don't bother them