Common fiddleneck is found in both wet and dry prairies and has bristly hairs on the foliage. The large, elongating flower stems are bright orange and curl at the ends (like the head of a fiddle). The seed is a favorite food on our native goldfinches. It does best in disturbed habitats and areas of low competition.

The Monarch butterfly host plant with great retail appeal, so it's easy to sell. It is unusual and showy with 3-in., globes of pink-tinged, star-shaped flowers. This increasingly rare plant is the only genus on which Monarch butterflies will deposit eggs. The nectar-filled flowers, opening late summer, exude a pleasing sweet fragrance and produce magnificent seed pods. 2-3 ft. tall.

Because this is the dominant native bunchgrass in the upland prairies west of the Cascades from southern British Columbia to central California it is an easy choice for mass plantings. With its fine thread-like leaves of steely blue-gray that form tussocks 10 in. height, it is very beautiful too, even planted individually in the landscape. No concern over ecological invasiveness. Drought and deer resistant.

Beautiful legume. Long, showy blue/purple to creamy white flowering stems, and large showy leaves, 4-6 ft. tall! Commonly found in our wet prairie sites.

Medium-height bunch grass with thin, blue-green leaves, flowers in soft, tufted spikes, 3-4 ft in flower. Forms of pine-bluegrass can be found on dry, rocky bluffs as well as wet prairies.