State or province

Kentucky

Kentucky, United States of America: 5 ecoregions. Each with its climate now and toward 2050, and its conservation tier.

Landscape and climate

Five ecoregions reach Kentucky and three are in the Nature Imperiled tier. The Interior Plateau US Hardwood Forests cover much of the state, with the Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests on the eastern side, the Central US forest-grasslands transition to the west, the Southeast US conifer savannas reaching the south, and the Mississippi lowland forests in the far western corner. The mixed mesophytic forest is the part worth knowing about: it is among the most species-rich temperate forest types anywhere, with no single dominant canopy tree. A garden in eastern Kentucky sits inside that, and the way to work with it is layers and variety rather than a short list of specimen trees.

Native plants of Kentucky

Species in the catalog recorded as native to Kentucky, each with its climate-fit grade and planting guidance.

Adam's needle Allegheny blackberry American arborvitae American basswood American elderberry American hazelnut American holly American hophornbeam American persimmon American plum American sweetgum American sycamore Annabelle hydrangea Aromatic aster Arrowwood viburnum Bald cypress Big bluestem Black cherry Black chokeberry Black oak Black tupelo (black gum)Black walnut Black willow Black-eyed Susan Blackhaw viburnum Bloodroot Blue false indigo Blue vervain Boneset Boxelder Bur oak Butterfly weed Canada anemone Canada goldenrod Canada lily Cardinal flower Carolina allspice (sweetshrub)Catawba rhododendron Chestnut oak Chinkapin oak Chokecherry Christmas fern Common blue violet Common hackberry Common hops Common juniper Common milkweed Common ninebark Common witch hazel Common yarrow Cutleaf coneflower Dense blazing star Dwarf crested iris Eastern cottonwood Eastern prickly pear Eastern red cedar Eastern redbud Eastern white pine Flowering dogwood Foamflower Fox grape Foxglove beardtongue Garden phlox Golden alexanders Gray birch Gray dogwood Green hawthorn Groundnut Hairy alumroot Hardy hibiscus Highbush blueberry Honey locust Indian grass Indian pink Lady fern Lanceleaf coreopsis Largeflower tickseed Little bluestem Loblolly pine Mapleleaf viburnum Marginal wood fern Mayapple Maypop (purple passionflower)Mountain laurel New England aster New Jersey tea New York ironweed Northern maidenhair fern Northern red oak Northern spicebush Ohio buckeye Orange coneflower Pagoda dogwood Pawpaw Pecan Pinxter azalea Plains coreopsis Possumhaw Possumhaw viburnum Post oak Prairie dropseed Purple coneflower Pussy willow Ramps Red maple Red mulberry River birch River oats Sassafras Scarlet bee balm Shagbark hickory Short-toothed mountain mint Side-oats grama Silky dogwood Silver maple Smooth blue aster Southern red oak Stiff goldenrod Sugar maple Sunchoke Swamp milkweed Swamp sunflower Swamp white oak Sweet Joe-Pye weed Switchgrass Threadleaf coreopsis Trumpet honeysuckle Tulip tree (yellow poplar)Virginia iris Virginia sweetspire White oak White wood aster Whorled milkweed Wild bergamot Wild geranium Wild ginger Wild lupine Wild senna Wild strawberry Willow oak Winterberry Woodland phlox Yellow birch Yellow buckeye

Country

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United States of America

Ecoregions here

Appalachian mixed mesophytic forests Central US forest-grasslands transition Interior Plateau US Hardwood Forests Mississippi lowland forests Southeast US conifer savannas