Growing Hardy Native Plants for Zone 6
The selection of zone 6 native plants is quite diverse, with everything from bushes and trees to annuals and perennials. Incorporating a variety of these into your garden fosters the ecosystem and local wildlife, and creates biodiversity in the landscape. Because these native plants have spent centuries adapting to local conditions, they require less water, fertilizer, spraying, or mulching than those that are not indigenous to the area. They have over time become accustomed to many diseases as well.
Native Plants in USDA Zone 6
This is a partial listing of plants suited for USDA zone 6. Your local extension office will also be able to assist you in choosing those that are suited for your landscape. Before you purchase plants, be sure to ascertain light exposure, soil type, the size of the mature plant, and the purpose of the plant for a selected site. The following lists are sectioned off into sun lovers, partial sun, and shade lovers. Sun worshippers include:
Big Bluestem Black-eyed Susan Blue Flag Iris Blue Vervain Butterfly Weed Common Milkweed Compass Plant Great Blue Lobelia Indian Grass Ironweed Joe Pye Weed Coreopsis Lavender Hyssop New England Aster Obedient Plant Prairie Blazing Star Prairie Smoke Purple Coneflower Purple Prairie Clover Rattlesnake Master Rose Mallow Goldenrod
Native plants for USDA zone 6 that thrive in partial sun include:
Bergamot Blue-eyed Grass Calico Aster Anemone Cardinal Flower Cinnamon Fern Columbine Goat’s Beard Solomon’s Seal Jack in the Pulpit Lavender Hyssop Marsh Marigold Spiderwort Prairie Dropseed Royal Fern Sweet Flag Virginia Bluebell Wild Geranium Turtlehead Woodland Sunflower
Shade dwellers native to USDA zone 6 include:
Bellwort Christmas Fern Cinnamon Fern Columbine Meadow Rue Foamflower Goat’s Beard Jack in the Pulpit Trillium Marsh Marigold Mayapple Royal Fern Solomon’s Seal Turk’s Cap Lily Wild Geranium Wild Ginger
Looking for native trees? Look into:
Black Walnut Bur Oak Butternut Common Hackberry Ironwood Northern Pin Oak Northern Red Oak Quaking Aspen River Birch Serviceberry
