Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

Help us grow by giving to the Plant Database Fund or by becoming a member

Did you know you can access the Native Plant Information Network with your web-enabled smartphone?

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Ask Mr. Smarty Plants is a free service provided by the staff and volunteers at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.

Search Smarty Plants

See a list of all Smarty Plants questions

Please forgive us, but Mr. Smarty Plants has been overwhelmed by a flood of mail and must take a break for awhile to catch up. We hope to be accepting new questions again soon. Thank you!

Need help with plant identification, visit the plant identification page.

rate this answer

3 ratings

Wednesday - August 06, 2008

From: Port Monmouth, NJ
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Wildflowers
Title: Native flowers for an English garden in New Jersey
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

I am working on a English type garden and trying to achieve the most color flowers, mainly the longest summer blooms. I live in Port Monmouth NJ. Any suggestions for the best and longest summer blooming flowers?

ANSWER:

That is a lovely idea, and in the climate of New Jersey, you are probably more likely to achieve it than we could in Texas. However, we are going to recommend only plants native to North America, and also to New Jersey. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is dedicated to the use of native plants because they are already accustomed to their environment and thus will need to consume less water, fertilizer and mainenance. Usually, annuals will bloom longer, then set seed and die. Perennials don't bloom as long but if they are properly cared for will come back from the roots the next year. So, we are going to go to Recommended Species, click on New Jersey on the map, and Narrow Our Search to herbs (herbaceous plants), and all durations (perennial and annual). We'll make some selections from the lists we get for you to consider. Turns out all but one of the plants we chose are perennials. Please remember that they may not bloom the full extent of the time indicated, depending on climate and weather.

Since we don't know the conditions of the soil and the sun exposure in your garden, you may want to repeat our search, adding sun exposure and soil moisture to the search criteria. These are all commercially available native plant species suitable for planned landscapes in New Jersey. Visit our Suppliers Directory to locate businesses that sell native plants or seeds or provide professional landscape or consulting services in your general area.

Achillea millefolium (common yarrow) - perennial, white or pink, blooms mid-July to September

Aquilegia canadensis (red columbine) - perennial, red and yellow, blooms April to July

Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed) - perennial, orange, blooms May to September, attracts butterflies

Campanula rotundifolia (bluebell bellflower) - perennial, blue, purple, blooms June to September

Coreopsis lanceolata (lanceleaf tickseed) - perennial, yellow, blooms April to June

Lobelia cardinalis (cardinalflower) - perennial, red, blooms July to October

Lobelia siphilitica (great blue lobelia) - perennial, blue, July to August

Monarda didyma (scarlet beebalm) - perennial, red, July and August

Phlox subulata (moss phlox) -perennial, blue, March to June

Rudbeckia hirta (blackeyed Susan) - annual, yellow, June to October

Rudbeckia laciniata (cutleaf coneflower) - perennial, yellow, July to October

Symphyotrichum novi-belgii (New York aster) - perennial, pink, purple, blooms August to October, pictures of New York aster