Native Plants Are Well Adapted and Extremely Hardy

Beautiful, hardy, locally adapted native plants are great choices for growing in home gardens and landscapes, along rivers and trails and in business and public spaces, parks and natural areas.

Native plants grew here in western PA long before the arrival of European settlers. These plants evolved and adapted naturally over time in the soils, climate, topography and moisture conditions of the Allegheny Plateau region.

Plants for All Growing Conditions

Well chosen, these native plants are marvelously adapted to present day growing situations. Blue curls love sun, dry soil and are drought tolerant. Bishop's Cap and Twinleaf thrive in rich loamy earth and shade. Blue Flag Iris enjoys sun and "wet feet" in constantly soggy soil. Wild Senna takes to CLAY!!! Butterfly Weed likes rocky hillsides and full sun. Woodland Asters and Black Cohosh thrive in relatively dry, deep shade. Our catalog lists desired growing conditions for close to 100 species we are currently propagating.

Native Plants are Disappearing

Native plants are keystone underpinnings of ecosystems. And unfortunely, native plants are disappearing from our landscapes. Development continues to shrink and fragment natural areas. Invasive exotic plants crowd out native plants and we commonly fill our yards and green areas with a small variety of introduced plants. Butterflies, birds, ants and bees, among others, co-evolved with native plants and rely on them for food and habitat. We live in an enormous network of unseen relationships. So, when native plants, ants, bees, wasps, butterflies and birds disappear, yet other things perish and our environment is impoverished.

Native Plants Bloom in Myriad, Stunning Colors Over the Growing Season

Native perennials and shrubs, as well as trees, grow in a wonderful, wild, changing rainbow of colors and foliage all season long. Luckily, we have the opportunity to restore these native plants to our landscapes and enjoy their diverse beauty.

Revel in drifts of Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) that shine with lovely rich-yellow flowers in flat-topped umbels like Queen Anne's Lace in spring . . . Enjoy early Wild Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis) in dappled shade with it's distinctive red spurred outer flower that shelters a yellow inner flower . . . Spot the single starry white flowers of Bowman's Root (Porteranthus trifoliatus) and clusters of white Wild Hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) blossoms in June . . . Wade through exuberant clouds of brown-eyed, yellow daisylike flowers on the 3'-8' tall stems of Tall Coreopsis (Coreopsis tripteris) in July . . . Watch for Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) with brilliant scarlet fl owers that are magnets for hummingbirds in July and August . . . Drink in the astounding deep blue of massed Bottle Gentian (Gentiana clause) in August and September . . . Catch the spiky yellow flowers of Witch-hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) in October.