Growing Native Plants in Chisago County

Tom Dickhudt

March 1, 2005

What is here?

• What is a Chisago County native plant?

• What do they look like?

• How do I plant them?

• Where do I get them?

What is a Chisago County native plant?

• A native plant is usually defined as one that was growing naturally in a specific area before white or European settlement.

• A cultivar is a specially produced plant (from the words cultivated and variety)

• An exotic is a plant introduced from outside of a region

Pasque Flower anemone patens

Lead plant New Jersey Tea

Meadow blazing star liatris ligulistylis

Woodland Coneflower

Cardinal Flower lobelia cardinalis

Grey headed Coneflower ratibida pinnata

Prairie Coneflower ratibida columnifera

Downy mint monarda punctata

Golden Aster chrysopsis villosa

Partridge Pea cassia fasciculata

Bellwort

Shooting star

Birdsfoot violet

lupine

Sneezeweed helenium autumnale

New England Aster Aster novae-angliae

Swamp milkweed

Wood Betony pedicularis canadensis

Joe Pye Weed eupatorium maculatum

Turks Cap Lilly lilium michiganense

Grand Penstemon penstemon grandiflorus

Prairie Smoke geum triflorum

Pale purple Coneflower echinacea pallida

Orchis Spectalis

Wild Ginger

Prairie Onion allium stellatum

Butterfly weed asclepias tuberosa

Little Bluestem andropogon scoparius

Highbush Cranberry viburnum trilobum

Site Preparation

• The first method is to put a dark plastic sheet, tarp, or pieces of plywood over the grass for at least two months before you begin planting.  

• The second procedure is to turn the soil and cultivate the area every few weeks for a complete growing season.

• A third method involves using a nonselective herbicide containing the active ingredient glyphosate, such as Round Up® or Kleenup®, to kill all existing vegetation.

How Do I choose Plants?

• The Minnesota Department of Transportation has a great web site at :

• http://www.plantselector.dot.state.mn.us/

Type selection page

Plant characteristics

Place of origin

Choose Minnesota for Natives

Program generates list that meets your criteria

Where do I get Plants?

• Soil and Water Conservation District

• Landscape Alternatives

• Prairie Restorations

• Prairie Moon

• Grow your own from local sources

• Don’t dig from the wild

Any Rain Garden is better than no Rain Garden

What is a rain garden?

• A “bioretention” system that retains water and soaks it up rather than allow it to run off the property.

preparation

• Dig and loosen soil to a depth of two feet

• Create a dip for water to settle until it sinks in

• Native plants can ‘tough it out’

What are some good plants?Tall plant garden

• Sorghastrum nutans Indian Grass • Eupatorium purpureum Joe-Pye Weed • Andropogon gerardi Big Bluestem • Vernonia fascicolata Ironweed • Solidago rigida Stiff Goldenrod • Liatris spicata Dense Blazingstar • Baptista australis Blue False Indigo • Echinacea pallida Pale Purple Coneflower • Panicum virgatum Switch Grass • Ratibida pinnata Yellow Coneflower • Echinacea purpurea Purple Coneflower

Short plants

• Eupatorium perfoliatum Boneset 3-4' Echinacea purpurea Purple Coneflower 3-4'

Solidago ohioensis Ohio Goldenrod 3-4' Bouteloua curtipendula Side-oats Grama 2-3' Lobelia siphilitica Great Blue Lobelia 1-4' Physostegia virginiana Obedient Plant 1-2' Rudbeckia hirta Black-eyed Susies 1-3' Sisyrinchium angustifolium Blue-eyed Grass 1' Allium cernuum Nodding Pink Onion

Septic Mounds

• prairie onion (Allium stellatum) • pussytoes (Antennaria neglecta) • butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) • heath aster (Aster ericodes) • bigleaf aster (Aster macrophyllus)* • Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica)* • prairie clover (Dalea spp.) • pale purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) • rattlesnake master (Eryngium yuccifolium) • wild geranium (Geranium maculatum)*

• prairie smoke (Geum triflorum)

• oxeye (Helianthus helianthoides)

• rough blazing star (Liatris aspera)

• wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

• penstemon (Penstemon spp.)

• pasqueflower (Pulsatilla patens)

• violets (Viola spp.)*

• Grasses

• sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula)

• blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis)

• little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium)

• prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)

• June grass (Koeleria macrantha)