Native Plant

All Native Plant Content

Plant Look-Alikes: What’s the Difference Between Phlox and Dame’s Rocket?

Distinguishing between native phlox flowers and the invasive dame's rocket can be challenging due to their similar appearances. Learn some key characteristics that can help you tell dame's rocket apart before it invades your property.

Left: Fireweed growing in a clearing. Right: Purple loosestrife growing in a meadow.

Plant Look-Alikes: What’s the Difference Between Fireweed and Purple Loosestrife?

Fireweed and purple loosestrife are often confused with one another due to their similar appearances, but the two plants have dramatically different impacts on the environment. Learn some key characteristics to help tell them apart.

White, oblong flowers on tall stems and green grass surrounded by brown prairie soil

Native Plants to Know: Thimbleweed (Anemone cylindrica)

Anemone cylindrica (Ranunculaceae), also known as thimbleweed or candle anemone, is a perennial, herbaceous plant native to prairies and woodlands of central and northern North America.

Small-flowered columbine in bloom in a wooded area.

Native Plants to Know: Small-Flowered Columbine (Aquilegia brevistyla)

Aquilegia brevistyla, or small-flowered columbine, is a native, perennial, herbaceous plant in the Ranunculaceae (buttercup family) that grows in cool, shaded, canyons in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Multiple red flowers bloom in an open meadow. Green foliage rises from the base of flowers. Spruce trees are seen in the background.

Native Plants to Know: Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum)

Geum triflorum or Prairie Smoke (Rosaceae) is a flowering, herbaceous (non-woody stem) perennial, native to North American prairies known for its distinctive nodding and wispy flowers that resemble plumes of smoke