Native Plants That Thrive in North Shore Landscapes

Native plants have moved from niche to mainstream on the North Shore, and for practical reasons rather than ideological ones. A plant that evolved in northern Illinois prairie or woodland already handles our clay, our humidity, our winters and our rainfall pattern. That translates directly into less watering, less feeding and fewer replacements.

Sun and prairie natives

If you have full sun, this is the deepest bench available, and most of these are unbothered by heavy soil.

• Purple coneflower, long blooming, drought proof and a reliable pollinator magnet.
• Black eyed susan, which naturalizes readily and carries color from midsummer into fall.
• Little bluestem, a compact native grass with outstanding copper winter color.
• Switchgrass, taller and useful as an informal screen that holds up through snow.
• Butterfly weed and swamp milkweed, both monarch host plants, the latter happy in wet spots.
• Bee balm, aromatic and hummingbird favored, though it wants air circulation to avoid mildew.
• Prairie dropseed, a refined, fine textured grass that suits formal borders.
• New England aster and goldenrod, which extend bloom into October when little else is working.

Shade and woodland natives

The dry shade under mature oaks and maples defeats most nursery perennials. These are the ones that evolved there.

• Wild geranium, a spring bloomer that forms a tidy groundcover layer.
• Woodland phlox, fragrant and early, excellent under deciduous trees.
• Christmas fern and lady fern, which handle dry shade better than most ferns.
• Wild ginger, a genuinely useful native groundcover for deep shade.
• Solomon's seal, arching and architectural, reliable in difficult spots.
• Great blue lobelia for shade that stays damp.

Native shrubs and small trees

Serviceberry is hard to beat as a small tree, with spring flowers, edible summer fruit and reliable fall color. Red twig dogwood earns its keep for winter stem color against snow. Ninebark offers exfoliating bark and tolerates clay without complaint. Viburnums provide flowers, fruit and fall color, and support a lot of bird life. Buttonbush is the answer for a chronically wet corner.

Designing so it does not look weedy

The complaint people have about native plantings is that they look unkempt. That is a design problem, not a plant problem, and it comes down to a few habits.

• Plant in drifts of three, five or seven of the same species rather than single specimens scattered around.
• Keep a crisp mowed edge or a defined bed line around the planting, which signals intent.
• Include native grasses for structure that holds shape through winter.
• Stagger bloom times so something is flowering from May through October.
• Put taller species toward the back, and leave the front row deliberately low and tidy.

The establishment period

The gardener's saying is that natives sleep the first year, creep the second and leap the third. It is accurate. They are investing in root systems that can run several feet deep, which is exactly why they shrug off the August drought that kills a hosta. Water them through that first season, then largely leave them alone.

Skip the fertilizer. Prairie soils are not rich, and feeding natives generally produces floppy growth that needs staking.

If you want a lower maintenance landscape that still looks designed, we can put together a native planting plan for your property. Call or text 224-634-0673 or 224-200-8363.

Ruiz Landscaping serves Vernon Hills, Libertyville, Mundelein, Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire, Long Grove and the rest of Vernon Hills's surrounding North Shore and Lake County communities.