Native Plants

For more than 15 years, LEAP’s Native Plant Promotion Committee has worked to increase awareness of the importance of native plants and encourage their use in home gardens and landscapes throughout the region. Chaired by Dan Volk of The Wilderness Center, the committee helps people understand the benefits of landscaping with native plants and provides resources to help gardeners select, design with, and source native plants for their own landscapes.

Under the leadership of Cathi Lehn, who chaired the committee from 2011 through 2020, the group developed LEAP’s Native Plants of the Year, highlighting native species that make exceptional additions to Northeast Ohio gardens and landscapes. Today, the committee continues to build on that work by connecting people with the information and resources they need to make native plants part of their own yards and communities.

Choosing native plants does more than create a beautiful landscape. Native plants help protect our region’s biodiversity, provide important habitat and food sources for wildlife, and can reduce the spread of invasive non-native species.

Native plants in your garden can:

Attract and support native wildlife
Promote regional biodiversity
Reduce soil erosion
Require less fertilizer and supplemental watering
Thrive under local growing conditions
Help connect people to nature

April is Native Plant Month

April is both Ohio and National Native Plant Month, a time to celebrate the plants that form the foundation of our local ecosystems. The national movement has special ties to Ohio: our state was the first in the nation to officially designate April as Native Plant Month, and that effort helped lead to the first national recognition by the U.S. Senate in 2021. The bipartisan resolution was spearheaded by then-Ohio Senator Rob Portman and Hawaii Senator Mazie Hirono, who worked together to establish the national designation. Today, National Native Plant Month encourages people across the country to plant native species, remove invasive plants, restore habitat, and recognize the essential role native plants play in supporting birds, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife

Resources for Selecting and Sourcing Native Plants

Tree Selector Tool

Looking for the right native tree for your planting project? Cleveland Metroparks' Tree Selector provides interactive tools to help match native Ohio tree species with your site conditions, including sunlight, soil moisture and type, mature height, climate tolerance, and more. The site also offers plant community information, landscape mapping, and a nursery locator.

Finding Native Plants

The following links will provide you with helpful information to locate a native plant nursery near you.

Cleveland Metroparks' Native Plant Nurseries Map - Please contact Constance Hausman if you are a native plant nursery that would like to be added to the map.
Ohio Native Plants - Explore this map for detailed nursery information, including plant types, inventory, and pesticide-use practices. Growers please see link on below the map to be added to this nursery resource.
Summit Metro Parks - Wild Backyards- Wild Back Yards helps residents create more wildlife-friendly outdoor spaces through native plants, improved habitat, and sustainable landscaping practices.

Garden Design

Coming soon...

Native Plants of the Year

2020

Purple-flowering Raspberry
(Rubus odoratus)

Its large, fragrant blooms attract pollinators, while the fruit is sought after by wildlife.

Scarlet Bee Balm
(Monarda didyma)

This perennial herb has tubular, two-lipped bright scarlet flowers resembling messy mop-heads and tolerates a wide range of conditions.

Wafer Ash
(Ptelea trifoliata)

This small, aromatic, and slow-growing tree has distinctive fruit with waferlike winged seeds.

2019

New Jersey Tea
(Ceanothus americanus)

This native shrub is excellent in attracting hummingbirds.

Prairie Dropseed
(Sporobolus heterolepis)

Adds tall, beautiful wisps of green to your garden.

Turtlehead
(Chelone glabra)

Host plant for the Baltimore Checkerspot butterfly!

2018

Great Blue Lobelia
(Lobelia siphilitica)

This clump-forming perennial provides late summer blooms in the garden.

Tamarack
(Larix laricina)

This deciduous conifer prefers a cold climate and provides good fall color when its needles turn yellow.

Virgin's Bower
(Clematis virginiana)

A vigorous vine with sweet, aromatic white flowers that bloom from August through October.

2017

Eastern Red Cedar
(Juniperus virginiana)

A small evergreen tree that serves as an excellent windbreak and erosion control shrub. Thrives on dry soils in full sunlight. An aromatic tree with reddish wood.

Prickly Pear
(Opuntia humifusa)

Prickly pear cactus spines are a deterrent to deer. Roots, stems, fruits, and seeds may be eaten by a variety of animals. Highly drought tolerant. Thrives in full sun in hot and dry environments and is also winter hardy.

Purple Coneflower
(Echinacea purpurea)

A member of the sunflower family, this erect, long-lived perennial is often grown for its showy flowers. Goldfinch and other song birds are fond of its seeds in the fall. Pollinated by butterflies and bees.