Native Seed Mixes
Details & instructions on starting your native plant garden
Planting Instructions & Resources
Native Seeds
Native seeds are a little different from standard annuals in that many require a period of cold stratification (exposure to cold and moist conditions) in order to germinate. As a result, seeds should be planted outside in the Fall or Winter. If planted in the Spring, seeds will not germinate until the following year.
Planting
Seeds should be planted on bare soil. Some seeds require light to germinate, so they should be left uncovered. Seeds can be spread on the ground, started in a container left outside over winter, or using the popular Winter Sowing method.
How to Grow a Prairie from Seed (Guide from Prairie Moon Nursery)
Winter Sowing Instructions (Wild Ones Twin Cities)
Seed Mix Details
Both seed mixes are from Prairie Moon Nursery and plant lists are below. Additional information can be found on their website.
Pollinator Palooza Seed Mix: https://www.prairiemoon.com/pollinator-palooza-prairie-seed-mix-prairie-moon-nursery.html
Shady Woodland Seed Mix: https://www.prairiemoon.com/shady-woodland-seed-mix-prairie-moon-nursery.html
Note: Both seed mixes include a temporary cover crop called ReGreen; a sterile, short-lived perennial wheat hybrid that can be planted spring or fall.
Seed Mix Details
Pollinator Palooza Seed Mix
This seed mix by Prairie Moon Nursery is best suited for sites with Medium-Wet to Medium-Dry Soils and Full to Partial Sun. It includes the follwing species of wildflowers, shrubs, and grasses:
WILDFLOWERS
Agastache foeniculum (Anise Hyssop)
Allium cernuum (Nodding Onion)
Asclepias incarnata (Rose Milkweed)
Asclepias syriaca (Common Milkweed)
Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed)
Asclepias verticillata (Whorled Milkweed)
Baptisia alba (White Wild Indigo)
Chamaecrista fasciculata (Partridge Pea)
Coreopsis lanceolata (Lance-leaf Coreopsis)
Dalea purpurea (Purple Prairie Clover)
Echinacea pallida (Pale Purple Coneflower)
Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower)
Eryngium yuccifolium (Rattlesnake Master)
Gaura biennis (Biennial Gaura)
Gentiana flavida (Cream Gentian)
Helianthus pauciflorus (Showy Sunflower)
Lespedeza capitata (Round-headed Bush Clover)
Liatris ligulistylis (Meadow Blazing Star)
Liatris pycnostachya (Prairie Blazing Star)
Lobelia siphilitica (Great Blue Lobelia)
Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot)
Oligoneuron rigidum (Stiff Goldenrod)
Parthenium integrifolium (Wild Quinine)
Penstemon digitalis (Foxglove Beardtongue)
Pycnanthemum verticillatum var. pilosum (Hairy Mountain Mint)
Pycnanthemum virginianum (Mountain Mint)
Ratibida pinnata (Yellow Coneflower)
Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan)
Rudbeckia triloba (Brown-eyed Susan)
Scrophularia lanceolata (Early Figwort)
Senna hebecarpa (Wild Senna)
Solidago juncea (Early Goldenrod)
Solidago speciosa (Showy Goldenrod)
Symphyotrichum laeve (Smooth Blue Aster)
Tradescantia ohiensis (Ohio Spiderwort)
Verbena hastata (Blue Vervain)
Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's Root)
Zizia aurea (Golden Alexanders)
TREES, SHRUBS & VINES
Amorpha canescens (Lead Plant)
GRASSES, SEDGES & RUSHES
Bouteloua curtipendula (Side-oats Grama)
Carex molesta (Field Oval Sedge)
Elymus canadensis (Canada Wild Rye)
Juncus dudleyi (Dudley's Rush)
Schizachyrium scoparium (Little Bluestem)
Sporobolus compositus (Rough Dropseed)
Sporobolus heterolepis (Prairie Dropseed)
Shady Woodland Seed Mix
This seed mix by Prairie Moon Nursery is best suited for sites with Medium-Wet to Medium-Dry Soils & nearly Full Shade. It includes the following wildflowers and grasses:
WILDFLOWERS
Agastache scrophulariifolia (Purple Giant Hyssop)
Ageratina altissima (White Snakeroot)
Allium tricoccum (Wild Leek)
Aquilegia canadensis (Columbine)
Aralia racemosa (Spikenard)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack-in-the-Pulpit)
Asclepias exaltata (Poke Milkweed)
Blephilia hirsuta (Hairy Wood Mint)
Campanula americana (Tall Bellflower)
Caulophyllum thalictroides (Blue Cohosh)
Cryptotaenia canadensis (Honewort)
Dasistoma macrophylla (Mullein-foxglove)
Desmodium glutinosum (Pointed-leaved Tick Trefoil)
Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's Breeches)
Dodecatheon meadia (Midland Shooting Star)
Eurybia macrophylla (Big-leaved Aster)
Eutrochium purpureum (Sweet Joe Pye Weed)
Hydrophyllum appendiculatum (Great Waterleaf)
Hydrophyllum virginianum (Virginia Waterleaf)
Impatiens pallida (Yellow Jewelweed)
Isopyrum biternatum (False Rue Anemone)
Lobelia inflata (Indian Tobacco)
Lysimachia ciliata (Fringed Loosestrife)
Maianthemum racemosum (Solomon's Plume)
Mitella diphylla (Bishop's Cap)
Osmorhiza claytonii (Sweet Cicely)
Osmorhiza longistylis (Aniseroot)
Penstemon hirsutus (Hairy Beardtongue)
Persicaria virginiana (Woodland Knotweed)
Phlox divaricata (Wild Blue Phlox)
Phryma leptostachya (Lopseed)
Polemonium reptans (Jacob's Ladder)
Polygonatum biflorum (Solomon's Seal)
Prenanthes alba (Lion's Foot)
Rudbeckia laciniata (Wild Golden Glow)
Sanguinaria canadensis (Bloodroot)
Scrophularia marilandica (Late Figwort)
Smilax lasioneura (Common Carrion Flower)
Solidago ulmifolia (Elm-leaved Goldenrod)
Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (Calico Aster)
Symphyotrichum shortii (Short's Aster)
Taenidia integerrima (Yellow Pimpernel)
Thalictrum dioicum (Early Meadow Rue)
Triosteum perfoliatum (Late Horse Gentian)
Uvularia grandiflora (Bellwort)
GRASSES, SEDGES & RUSHES
Bromus latiglumis (Ear-leaved Brome)
Carex blanda (Common Wood Sedge)
Carex davisii (Awned Graceful Sedge)
Carex grayi (Common Bur Sedge)
Carex grisea (Wood Gray Sedge)
Carex sprengelii (Long-beaked Sedge)
Cinna arundinacea (Wood Reed Grass)
Diarrhena obovata (Beak Grass)
Elymus hystrix (Bottlebrush Grass)
Elymus riparius (Riverbank Wild Rye)
Elymus villosus (Silky Wild Rye)
Elymus virginicus (Virginia Wild Rye)
Festuca subverticillata (Nodding Fescue)
Glyceria striata (Fowl Manna Grass)