Native Plants

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Friday - August 14, 2009

From: Crossville, TN
Region: Southeast
Topic: Seed and Plant Sources
Title: Plants for centerpieces that can be planted in a garden
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

I want to purchase flowers in Crossville, Tennessee to use as centerpieces and then plant in my garden. What are the best suggestions to do so?

ANSWER:

You don't say when you want to use your plants as centerpieces—that will influence which plants you choose. I am assuming that you want your plants to be blooming and I'll also assume that you are looking for something to use in the very near future. Here is how you can look for plants yourself. On the Recommended Species page click on Tennessee on the map or the pull-down menu. This will give you a list of commercially available native plants that are recommended for landscaping in Tennessee. From that list you can used the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option and choose 'Herb' from GENERAL APPEARANCE and 'August' and 'September' from BLOOM TIME. This will give you a list of about 20 plants that meet these criteria. Probably the next step after choosing a plant for your centerpieces is to find nurseries in your area that specialize in native plants. You can visit our National Suppliers Directory to find such businesses. Many have web pages with online catalogs. All of them should have telephone numbers listed that you can call to check on availability of the plants. Here are a few suggestions from that list:

Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)

Conoclinium coelestinum (blue mistflower)

Echinacea purpurea (eastern purple coneflower)

Liatris punctata (dotted blazing star)

Monarda didyma (scarlet beebalm)

Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)

Rudbeckia hirta (blackeyed Susan)