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 bold, moisture-loving native perennial of eastern North America that dies back to a woody base each winter and returns to throw up stout 2-6 ft stems topped with enormous 4-8 inch saucer-shaped flowers — white, pink, red, or burgundy, each with a contrasting central eye — from June into September. NC State Extension describes a herbaceous perennial hardy across USDA zones 4a-9b that thrives in wet to constantly moist soils, tolerates heat, humidity, and even brief flooding, and draws hummingbirds, butterflies, and other pollinators. The tropical-looking dinner-plate blooms make it a dramatic focal point for rain gardens, pond edges, and the back of a sunny border.

A tough, fine-textured warm-season bunchgrass of the North American shortgrass prairie, named for its distinctive seed spikes that hang from one side of the arching stem like a comb or an eyebrow. Bluish-gray summer foliage forms dense low clumps that turn golden brown — sometimes orange and red — in autumn, while reddish-purple flowers rise above on slender culms in summer. Exceptionally drought- and heat-tolerant once established, it is a larval host for several prairie skipper butterflies and a seed source for granivorous birds.

A large, hairy, clump-forming North American native perennial of wet meadows, low woods, stream banks, and prairies. Its most distinctive feature is the perfoliate foliage — pairs of wrinkled, opposite, lance-shaped leaves whose bases fuse around the hairy stem, so the stem appears to pass through the leaf. From July to September, flat-topped clusters of small, fluffy white flowers feed a wide range of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators, while all parts of the plant are toxic and bitter.

A herbaceous, tuberous perennial vine of eastern North America that twines 8-16 feet up surrounding vegetation through moist thickets, bottomlands, marsh and streambank edges. From mid-summer into fall it carries fragrant, maroon-to-reddish-brown pea-like flowers in compact racemes from the leaf axils, followed by edible seeds; the underground tubers are an edible, protein-rich staple long gathered as Indian potato. A native legume and a documented larval host for the Silver-spotted Skipper, it spreads vigorously by seed and tubers.

A fast-growing, tendril-climbing native vine of the eastern United States, named "maypop" for the fleshy egg-shaped fruits that pop underfoot. Its intricate 2.5-inch fringed flowers — white-to-lavender petals beneath a pinkish-purple filament crown and a raised central androgynophore — are precisely engineered for large carpenter bees. Woody in warm-winter climates and herbaceous (dying to the ground) where winters are cold, it climbs to 6-8 feet on a trellis and produces edible yellowish maypops in fall.