An airy, see-through ornamental in the vervain family (Verbenaceae), native to South America and naturalized across the warm southeastern United States. NC State Extension describes an erect plant 2-5 feet tall on thin but strong red-marked green stems, topped from summer into fall by dense, flat-topped clusters of small tubular purple-lavender flowers held well above mostly basal, lance-shaped, serrated dark-green leaves. A perennial in USDA zones 7-11 (grown as an annual in colder climates), it is fast-growing, drought and deer tolerant, and a magnet for bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds — though it self-sows freely and some sources have labeled it invasive.

A tough, bright perennial for sunny borders, pollinator patches, and late-summer color.

A long-lived native perennial of central and eastern US woodland borders and prairie meadows with deep blue pea-shaped flowers in late spring, blue-green leguminous foliage, attractive black seed pods for winter interest, and a nitrogen-fixing root system (Fabaceae). Larval host for 6 documented butterfly species per NC State (orange sulphur, clouded sulphur, frosted elfin, eastern tailed-blue, hoary edge, wild indigo duskywing) — among the highest Lep-host-count perennials in the eastern flora.

A drought-hardy western-native subshrub (long known as Zauschneria) that lights up dry, rocky ground with scarlet tubular flowers from midsummer until frost — exactly when migrating and resident hummingbirds need a late-season nectar source. Slender, highly-branched stems carry small grey-green lance-shaped leaves; the whole plant thrives on full sun, lean soil, and very little water once established.

A sun-loving, drought-tolerant short-lived perennial in the daisy family, prized for its long succession of red-and-yellow banded daisy flowers from early summer to frost. Native to western and central North America, it thrives on lean, sharply drained soils and is one of the most reliable pollinator plants for hot, dry full-sun beds — provided it never sits in wet feet.

A spring-blooming native bulb of the moist meadows of the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies, common camas sends up a 2-3 foot scape lined with dozens of star-shaped blue-violet florets that open from the bottom up over basal grass-like leaves. It is the camas whose bulb was a staple food of Indigenous peoples across its range — the genus name comes from the Native American "kamas"/"quamash". The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center flags it as a plant of special value to native bees.