The tallgrass prairie can be defined by the hundreds of native plants that thrive there. The simplest definition, when looking at the broader landscape, is that the prairie is where the trees are not. The word prairie comes from the French word for meadow. When planting native prairie plants in your yard, selecting “the right ones” can be overwhelming. Which will thrive? Which will outcompete all of the others? Which will grow too tall and too wild? Which will make the wildlife happy? Which will make you smile when you look outside?

Providers that specialize in native plants will offer information about bloom time, growth height, soil conditions, and sun requirements. If I was going to plant a native wildflower garden in my yard, I would select species that usually stay under 3 feet tall. These are the 21 flowers I would pick today (tomorrow I might pick a different set):

Butterfly weed Asclepias tuberosa

Canada milk vetch Astragalus canadensis

Common blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium albidum

Cream gentian Gentiana flavida

Cream wild indigo Baptisia bracteata

Dotted blazing star Liatris punctata

Goat’s rue Tephrosia virginiana

Lead plant Amorpha canascens

Midland shooting star Dodecatheon meadia

Narrow leaved coneflower Echinacea angustifolia

Prairie onion Allium stellatum

Prairie smoke Geum triflorum

Prairie wild rose Rosa arkansana

Purple prairie clover Dalea purpurea

Rattlesnake master Eryngium yuccifolium

Silky aster Symphyotrichum sericeum

Sky blue aster Symphyotrichum oolentangiense

Slender mountain mint Pycnanthemum tenuifolium

Ohio spiderwort Tradescantia ohiensis

White prairie clover Dalea candida

Whorled milkweed Asclepias virticillata