Shadblow Serviceberry is a deciduous, early-flowering, large shrub or small tree which features showy, five-petaled, slightly fragrant, white flowers in drooping clusters which appear before the leaves emerge in early spring. Small, finely toothed, elliptic, dark green leaves change to orange-red in autumn. Flowers give way to small, round, green berries which turn red and finally mature to a dark purplish-black in early summer. Edible berries resemble blueberries in size and color and are favored by songbirds. The berries are also used in jams, jellies and pies.

In early to mid-summer, small white flowers bloom for about one month. As the flower withers, the central green cone develops into an elongated fruit that resembles a cylindrical green thimble up to 1½" long, hence the name of the plant. This thimble is at least twice as long as it is wide. The thimble-like fruits develop during the summer, and then become transformed into cottony tufts during the fall.

Lots of bright orange, flat-topped flower clusters bloom atop stout stems for many weeks in late spring through summer. This milkweed is a host plant for the monarch butterfly and a great nectar source for many other butterflies and pollinators. This is a great garden plant, common in well-drained prairies and open savannahs.

Bring Monarch Butterflies to your garden with this pretty, sweet-scented milkweed. Tough, adaptable and deer resistant, this milkweed is easy-to-grow and tolerates clayey, sandy or rocky soil. It will thrive in average to moist garden soil as well as dry soil. It has attractive, dark green, finely textured, threadlike foliage topped by many clusters of pretty, greenish-white blooms. Bloom time starts in midsummer and continues thru fall with plenty of clusters produced on side branches.

Bright green, lacy fronds arise gracefully from creeping rhizomes which form dense, upright clumps. Vigorous and easy to grow. Can be used as a ground cover if it is happy.

A moderate to slow-growing, medium-sized tree with beautiful, exfoliating, reddish-brown to silvery-gray bark. Can be grown with a single trunk or as a multi-stemmed tree. The leaves cast a light, dappled shade and the fall leaf color is yellow. Normally found in lowlands, River Birch planted in deep, rich soils will develop best, but it will also grow in clay soils. Whitetail deer browse the young twigs and buds, while turkey, quail, songbirds and small mammals eat the tiny, abundant seeds.

Beautiful wetland plant with shiny, dark green leaves and glossy yellow flowers.

In summer, the Ox-eye Sunflower blooms for weeks with golden yellow daisy-like flowers that attract butterflies. It makes a good cut flower and songbirds enjoy the mature seed.

The plant is one of the easier rush species to identify because of its globular flower clusters and rhizomes which have tuberous enlargements. The plant flowers from July through October and is found on wet, sandy ground, on muddy shores of ponds and sloughs, and along small streams, ditches and wet depressions of prairies and meadows.

Mid-summer to fall, tall stalks are topped with large, red-violet flowers that provide a wonderful display of color and attract butterflies. Dark green leaves are lance-shaped.