Native Plants
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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.
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Friday - December 24, 2010
From: Germantown, TN
Region: Southeast
Topic: Wildflowers
Title: Native wildflowers for Tennessee
Answered by: Marilyn Kircus and Nan Hampton
QUESTION:
Can you suggest some native wildflowers for west Tennessee and a source for seeds?ANSWER:
I began answering your question by going to the Wildflower Center's website and clicking on Explore Plants. Then I selected the Recommended Species topic and chose the state of Tennessee from the map. Here is a list of over 120 species of native plants recommended for Tennessee. You can narrow the list down to wildflowers by choosing 'Herb' under GENERAL APPEARANCE in the side bar NARROW YOUR SEARCH option.
Here are some suggested ones from that list that grow from seeds:
Coreopsis tinctoria (golden tickseed) Gaillardia pulchella (firewheel) Monarda citriodora (lemon beebalm) Rudbeckia hirta (blackeyed Susan) Echinacea purpurea (Eastern purple coneflower) Liatris punctata (Dotted blazing star) Monarda didyma (Scarlet beebalm) Asclepias tuberosa (Butterflyweed) Sources of seeds: You can go to our National Suppliers Directory where you will get a list of seed companies and nurseries that are registered as native plant sellers. I searched by Tennessee. Nashville Natives is listed as selling wildflower seeds but I can't see that they ship. You can contact them to learn if they do. Here is a link to American Meadows that sells southeastern wildflower seeds and Wildflower Farm sells Tennessee wildflower seeds. If you are just getting started you might enjoy reading the book, Gardening With the Native Plants of Tennessee, by Margie Hunter. Here are some photos from our Image Gallery:
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