Warm-Season Grass
Switchgrass
Panicum virgatum
A native prairie grass with deep roots, airy seed heads, and exceptional soil-building value — one of Ohio's ecological workhorses.
View ProfileExploring Ohio's native plants, wildlife relationships, and ecological beauty.
Our Purpose
The Ohio Native Plant Guide is a growing reference for anyone who wants to understand the plants growing around them — what they are, why they matter, and what they support.
Each profile explores a plant's ecological relationships: the pollinators it feeds, the insects that depend on it, the soil it builds, and its place in Ohio's native landscape history.
This guide is integrated directly into native garden spaces via QR codes, so visitors can scan a plant and instantly access its full profile — bringing ecological knowledge into the landscape itself.
Native Plant Profiles
In-depth ecological guides for Ohio native species
Wildlife Relationships
Pollinators, insects, birds, and the food web
QR Garden Integration
Scan a plant tag and learn everything on your phone
Habitat Gardening
Practical guidance for growing native plants at home
Featured Profiles
A closer look at three Ohio natives currently in this garden. Each profile explores ecology, wildlife relationships, care, and natural history.
Warm-Season Grass
Panicum virgatum
A native prairie grass with deep roots, airy seed heads, and exceptional soil-building value — one of Ohio's ecological workhorses.
View ProfileSpring Wildflower
Zizia aurea
Ohio's essential early-season pollinator plant — bright golden umbels that feed specialist bees and host black swallowtail butterflies.
View ProfileNative Perennial
Eryngium yuccifolium
A bold, architectural prairie plant with spiky globe flower heads that attract an extraordinary diversity of beneficial insects.
View ProfileThe full directory includes all plant profiles, browsable by bloom time, plant type, habitat value, and design role.
Plant Categories
Ohio's native flora spans every form and function. Explore the guide by the type of plant you're looking for.
Full Directory
The full directory is designed to grow alongside this garden — eventually covering dozens of Ohio native species across every season, habitat type, and design role.
Browse by
From early spring ephemerals to the last asters of fall — find what's in bloom any time of year.
Browse by
Grasses, wildflowers, shrubs, sedges, and more — filter by the type of plant you're looking for.
Browse by
Pollinator support, larval hosts, bird habitat, overwintering structure — find plants by ecological function.
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Matrix species, structural accents, seasonal bridges, groundcovers — find plants that fit your planting design.
Ecology
Native plants aren't just beautiful — they are the structural foundation of healthy ecosystems. Here's what they do that non-native plants cannot.
Native plants co-evolved with native bees, butterflies, and other pollinators over thousands of years. Many specialist insects can only survive on specific native species.
Native plants support the insects that birds depend on for food. Studies show non-native plants support dramatically fewer insects — and therefore fewer birds.
Deep native root systems build soil structure, feed underground microbial communities, and improve water infiltration over time — especially in disturbed or compacted soils.
Prairie plants like switchgrass push carbon deep underground through their root systems, where it can remain stored in soil organic matter for decades.
Deep-rooted native plants slow runoff, filter pollutants, and reduce erosion — making them especially valuable in rain gardens, bioswales, and watershed restoration.
Each native plant anchors a web of relationships with insects, fungi, birds, and soil organisms. A diverse native planting creates a genuinely functional ecosystem.
Always Growing
New plant profiles are added regularly as this garden and guide expand. Each new entry follows the same depth of ecological detail — covering wildlife relationships, growing conditions, natural history, and the stories that make each plant worth knowing.
Browse the complete plant directory by bloom time, plant type, habitat value, and design role.