Native range
Native plants of Iowa
147 wild species and 17 plant groups in the BloomsEye library grow wild somewhere in Iowa, read from Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS. The 124 garden forms of them are listed apart below, each naming its wild parent.
Showing 1 to 60 of 164 plants
How this list is made
Derived from each plant's native-range record, checked against Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS with every decision on a ledger; Iowa is read off the record's own range, and the order is how many of the state's counties record each plant, as stored in the BloomsEye library, which was written with AI assistance. Of these 164 plants, 152 have been checked against outside sources (1 fully verified); the rest have not been checked yet, and each plant's own page says which. The cards are AI-generated illustrations.
Range data from the World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 4.0, adapted) and USDA PLANTS. How the native range is credited.
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Foliage
Recorded across Iowa
How many of the state's 99 counties record each wild species growing wild, from USDA PLANTS: a plant recorded in many counties is widespread in Iowa; one recorded in few may be local, or simply under-recorded. A county's absence is not evidence a plant is absent. 105 of the wild species carry a county record here.
- Maidenhair Fern
- Lady Fern
- Indiangrass
- Little Bluestem
- Sideoats Grama
- Switchgrass
- Golden Alexanders
- Sensitive Fern
- Gray-Headed Coneflower
- Whorled Milkweed
- Ostrich Fern
- Bur Oak
- Prairie Junegrass
- Bottlebrush Grass
- Prairie Dropseed Grass
- Leadplant
- Smooth Blue Aster
- Swamp Milkweed
- Eastern Red Columbine
- Wild Bee Balm
- Chokecherry
- False Sunflower
- Common Milkweed
- Common Sneezeweed
- Great Blue Lobelia
- Prairie Blazing Star
- American Elderberry
- American Linden
- Stiff Goldenrod
- American Hazelnut
- Common Black-Eyed Susan
- Honeylocust
- Purple Lovegrass
- Sunflower
- Northern Red Oak
- Pale Purple Coneflower
- Silver Maple
- Butterfly Weed
- New Jersey Tea
- Rattlesnake Master
- Woodland Phlox
- Dotted Blazing Star
- Mexican Hat
- New England Aster
- Common Blue Grama Grass
- American Hophornbeam
- Aromatic Aster
- Blue Wood Aster
- Culver's Root
- Kentucky Coffeetree
- Sweet Joe Pye Weed
- Christmas Fern
- Smooth Solomon's Seal
- Smooth Sumac
- White Oak
- Chinkapin Oak
- Nannyberry Viburnum
- Rosy Sedge
- False Solomon's Seal
- Pennsylvania Sedge
- Brown-Eyed Susan
- Buttonbush
- Common Pussy Willow
- Virginia Creeper
- Wild Ginger
- Common Hackberry
- Long-Beaked Sedge
- Narrowleaf Mountain Mint
- Quaking Aspen
- Eastern Red Cedar
- Zigzag Goldenrod
- Downy Serviceberry
- Gray's Sedge
- Redosier Dogwood
- Buffalograss
- Eastern Redbud
- Mayapple
- Southern Blue Flag
- Spotted Joe Pye Weed
- Wild Geranium
- Golden Currant
- Purple Poppy Mallow
- Showy Milkweed
- Bristleleaf Sedge
- Creeping Jacob's Ladder
- Marginal Wood Fern
- River Birch
- American Cranberrybush Viburnum
- Common Pawpaw
- Ninebark
- Pin Oak
- Anise Hyssop
- Blackhaw
- Blue Indigo
- Cardinal Flower
- Carolina Rose
- Coral Honeysuckle
- Flava (Yellow Trumpet)
- Foxglove Beardtongue
- Fragrant Sumac
- Garden Phlox
- Red Elderberry
- Sugar Maple
- Trumpet Vine
- White-Tinged Sedge
Garden forms of Iowa natives
124 garden forms, each a named selection of a species that grows wild in Iowa and each naming its wild parent. A garden form is not the wild plant, so it is listed here and never counted above.
- Abbotswood
- Alma Pötschke
- Alpine Carpet Juniper
- Amazing Grace
- Amber Jubilee
- Amethyst Falls Wisteria
- Appalachian Red
- Aquavita Juniper
- Arctic Fire Red Twig Dogwood
- Arctic Fire Yellow Dogwood
- Athena Gold False Sunflower
- Autumn Beauty
- Autumn Colors
- Baby Joe Dwarf Joe Pye Weed
- Bailey Compact American Cranberrybush
- Bar Harbor Juniper
- Berry Heavy
- Berry Poppins
- Blackhawks Big Bluestem
- Blackjack Gold Black-Eyed Susan
- Blaze
- Blonde Ambition Blue Grama Grass
- Blue Blaze Viburnum
- Blue Chip Juniper
- Blue Moon Woodland Phlox
- Blue Muffin Viburnum
- Blue Paradise
- Blue Rug Juniper
- Bright Eyes
- Bubblegum Pink Garden Phlox
- Bunny Blue Sedge
- Candy Stripe
- Cherry Brandy
- Claire Grace
- Coconut Lime
- Columnar White Pine
- Compact Andorra Juniper
- Coppertina
- Coral Flame
- Crimson Comet Buttonbush
- Crimson Trumpet
- Dakota Burgundy Beardtongue
- David
- Denver Daisy
- Diabolo
- Drummond's Pink
- Dwarf White Pine
- Early Sunrise
- Emerald Blue
- Emerald Pink
- Eye Candy Moss Phlox
- Eye Shadow Moss Phlox
- Flame Thrower
- Forest Pansy
- Giant Sunflower
- Goldfinger
- Goldilocks
- Green Jewel
- Gro-Low Fragrant Sumac
- Happy Face Yellow
- Hearts of Gold
- Heavy Metal
- Indian Summer
- Jeana
- Laura
- Lavender Twist
- Lemon Queen
- Lemony Lace Elderberry
- Little Devil
- Luminary Ultraviolet
- Magnus
- Major Wheeler
- Mammoth
- Mango Tango
- McKay's White
- Moulin Rouge
- New England Aster 'Barr's Pink'
- New England Aster 'Harrington's Pink'
- Nicky
- Northwind
- Nugget
- October Skies
- Orange Perfection
- Orange Whisper
- Pink Beauty
- Pink Double Delight
- Pink Whisper
- PowWow Wild Berry
- Prairie Sun
- Purple Beauty
- Purple Dome
- Purple Phlox
- Raydon's Favorite
- Red Ace
- Red Sprite
- Red Wings
- Regent Serviceberry
- Ring of Fire
- River Mist
- Robert Poore
- Royal White Redbud
- Ruby Falls
- Scarlet Flame
- Shenandoah
- Snow Flurry
- Soraya
- Starfire
- Strawberry Blonde
- Sugar Shack Buttonbush
- Summer Wine
- Tangerine
- Teddy Bear
- The Rising Sun
- Tiger Eyes Sumac
- Tiny Wine
- Toto Gold
- Twilight Zone
- Velvet Queen
- Weeping White Pine
- White Delight
- White Flame
- White Swan
- Winter Gold
- Winter Red
Plant groups native to Iowa
17 plant groups sold under one name whose wild species grow in Iowa; the count beside each is how many of its wild species the record finds in the state.
Keep exploring
Native to your own county
This page is the whole state. In the free garden planner, enter your ZIP and Garden Check lists these same plants for your location, marks the ones recorded growing wild in your county, and places any of them in your plan; its Browse tab answers for any of the 65 states, provinces and territories with no account.
Design your garden
Drop plants onto a 3D plan, see how they fill in, and watch the whole garden bloom across the year.