North Shore Plant Club
Illinois Natives
Native plants are frequently favorites of local birds and pollinators, who have evolved to depend on them at certain times of the year. These species also tend to be extremely well adapted to our climate — practice makes perfect! — which can mean less work for you. And with natives, we don't need to worry about them escaping our gardens and destablizing local natural ecosystems, the way we sometimes do with aggressive introduced species.
Why should you add Native Plants to your garden?
Native plants are key to providing a wildlife friendly garden. Native plants, shrubs, and trees provide nectar and pollen to native bees and other insects that are in severe decline. They offer food, protection, and housing not only to insects, but to spiders, birds, amphibians, reptiles, small and large mammals.
You could help create a pollinator corridor which is series of yards, open spaces and communities with native plants that connects different areas of habitat. This provides nutrition and homes for pollinators. A common example is milkweed which is necessary for monarch butterflies as they migrate. Milkweed used to be found commonly along roads and open areas but has recently been greatly reduced or eliminated.
Why Native Plants instead of Nativars?
Nurseries are cultivating native plants for various atypical features such as color, disease resistance, different color foliage and different flower heads. These are commonly referred to as Nativars. While these Nativars might be useful and attractive in your garden, the initial research has shown that some pollinators and insects cannot use these plants to collect pollen, food, or use as host plants. For example, consider the “Razzmatazz” cultivar of purple coneflower, which has a double flower (which is atypical). Bees and butterflies cannot gather pollen from double flowers. Also, this cultivar are sterile, which means it cannot produce seeds which typically provide food for birds such as goldfinches.
Please consider incorporating some native plants along with nativars in your garden to help nourish insects, pollinators, birds and more.
(See our "Illinois Natives" Top 25 Rankings!)260 results
2024 Plant Club "Illinois Native" Top 25
| Plant | 2024 | 2023 |
| Carex pensylvanica | 1 | NR |
| Geranium maculatum | 2 | NR |
| Sporobolus heterolepis | 3 | NR |
| Lobelia cardinalis | 4 | NR |
| Viburnum dentatum var. deamii 'Glitters & Glows' | 5 | NR |
| Lobelia siphilitica | 6 | NR |
| Echinacea purpurea | 7 | NR |
| Viburnum dentatum | 8 | NR |
| Mertensia virginica | 9 | 1 |
| Liatris spicata | 10 | NR |
| Lilium michiganense | 11 | NR |
| Schizachyrium scoparium | 12 | NR |
| Aquilegia canadensis | 13 | NR |
| Chelone glabra | 14 | NR |
| Geum triflorum | 15 | 3 |
| Monarda fistulosa | 16 | NR |
| Penstemon digitalis | 17 | NR |
| Clematis virginiana | 18 | NR |
| Echinacea purpurea 'Pas702917' POWWOW WILD BERRY | 19 | NR |
| Carex rosea | 20 | NR |
| Filipendula rubra | 21 | 10 |
| Polemonium reptans | 22 | 25 |
| Carex bicknellii | 23 | NR |
| Osmunda regalis | 24 | NR |
| Rudbeckia hirta | 25 | NR |
NR: No Ranking
