PA Native Plant Society
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These resources can assist with selecting plants for home and or commercial landscaping. 

Plant Information and Landscaping

Pa Flora Database

Pa Flora is an excellent resource for identifying Pennsylvania native plants.  For landscaping assistance, the database can be used to find plants based on growing conditions and plant type by clicking on the Advanced Search button. 

DCNR (Pa Department of Conservation and Natural Resources)

 The DCNR website has a lot of information on landscaping with native plants, including a listing of recommended plants based on your growing conditions.  Click here.

Native Plant Database

Compiled by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at Univ. Texas, Austin.  Can be searched by state, growing conditions, and type of plant.

USDA Plant Database

Helpful for obtaining cultural information on all species endemic to North America

Grow Native

Helpful for obtaining suggestions for plants for particular uses

National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder

Native plants in your geographic location, ranked by the number of butterfly and moth species that use them as host plants for their caterpillars.
The Native Plant Center - The Chesapeake Bay Native Plant Center

Snetsinger Butterfly Garden, State College, PA

Provides information on pollinator gardens, recommended plantings and garden designs. 
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The Birdy Dozen

Twelve plants recommended each year by the Audubon Society to attract birds to your garden.    2023      2022      2021     2020

Bee-Safe Plants for Nurseries

From the Xerces Society
Safe Roundup Alternatives

Audubon At Home
Audubon Society - Plants for Birds

Creating a Wildlife Habitat in Your Backyard

Bringing Nature Home - Dr. Douglas Tallamy

Penn State Extension - Landscaping for Wildlife

Helpful information for choosing plants that provide habitat for wildlife. 

iConserve Pennsylvania

Helpful for obtaining native plant suggestions based on your landscape requirements.

Mid-Atlantic Landscapes Partnership   

Xerces Society Pollinator Resource Center 

Native Plants for the Small Yard 

Created by the Lehigh Gap Nature Center - this easy to use book provides  helpful landscape tips and plans, along with recommended alternative native plants for the home landscape. 

Native Plant Alternatives

A listing of Native Plants that can be used in place of invasive ornamentals.  You can use this list as you plan your landscape, or to just start replacing existing plants.  Compiled by Jennifer Stingelin Keefer, Invasive Species Specialist, Penn State University.  Click here.

Landscaping with Native Plants

A helpful booklet produced by the Maryland Native Plant Society providing landscaping ideas and plant recommendations.

Hometown National Park

A grassrootss call-to-action to restore biodiversity - No experience necessary - Get digging and Get on the map!

Designing Native Gardens

Basics of how to incorporate native plants into your landscape. Presented by Shari K. Edelson, Director of Horticulture and Curator, Penn State Arboretum at the 2019 Central Pa Native Plant Festival.
Click here for a copy of her slides: 
Concept         Spring       Summer     Fall and Winter

Ecological Landscaping Alliance 

Muhlenberg Botanical Society

The Humane Gardner, Nancy Lawson

Lancaster Conservancy Community Wildlife Habitat

Invasive Plant Information

Invasive Plants of Eastern USA

PaDCNR Invasive Plants

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The Dirty Dozen
- a list of twelve invasive species to avoid planting.  These are frequently available at nurseries and landscape retailers.

Alien Plant Working Group   

Plant Invaders of the MidAtlantic

Invasive Plants Atlas of US

Bugwood Apps - Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health Mobile Applications - Apps for identifying invasive species.

RateTea.com  : a guide on invasive herbs usable for herbal tea 
The guide covers specific herbs invasive in North America, many in PA, and also gives some warnings about health, legal, and ecological considerations when harvesting wild herbs.  Get rid of invasives and enjoy your results.  Note:  While we scrutinize accuracy of websites we link to, we are not responsible for accuracy, safety of advice/information contained on these websites.  PNPS Webmaster

Mid-Atlantic Invasive Plant Council (MAIPC)

Additional Resources

Sustainable Sites Initiative™ (SITES™) - Sabrena Schweyer, FAPLD - spoke about The Sustainable Sites Initiative ™ (SITES™) program which is an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and the United States Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction and maintenance practices. Visit their website to read more: sustainablesites.org/


Benjamin Vogt - milktheweed.blogspot.com/ and monarchgard.com 

Great article on Boneset:  http://www.houzz.com/boneset

Wild Edibles app available on itunes - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wild-edibles-full/id431504588?mt=8

For more on mushrooms, check out:
MushroomsforHealth.com
Mycopolitan.com 
ChickenMushroom.com
Central PA Mushroom Club 
NJ Mycological Association - Marcus de la fleur presents a case study for a sustainable landscape:  http://www.delafleur.com/

Great Picks for your summer reading list:

Pollinators Native Plants by H. Holme:  pollinatorsnativeplants.com/

"Native Plant Wildlife Garden" by D. Tallamy and R. Darke:  nativeplantwildlifegarden.com/tallamy-and-darke-team-up/

"Paradise Lots" by Eric Toensmeier:  paradiselotblog.wordpress.com

"Mycelium Running" by Paul Stamets:  Fungi.com/product-detail/product/mycelium-running.html

Granma Lisa's Humming, Buzzing, Chirping Garden by Lisa Doseff - [published by Heather Holm]


Educational Resources

The Native Plant Channel - educational videos created to help gardeners select natives for their gardens, including deer-resistant natives.  Please note that whenever possible, it is best to plant native species, not cultivars as some cultivars negate the benefits of straight species.

The Native Link

Helpful handout listing many easy to grow plants for home landscaping. 

Container Gardening with Native Plants

A webinar by Guy Godfrey, courtesy of the North American Native Plant Society on growing native plants on your balcony.
Milk Jug Greenhouse

Instructions on using milk jugs for plant germination
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