WTF Did I Plant?

Here are photos from my nursery of plants as they emerge after winter. Some of these are difficult to tell apart down to species. Others may look similar to introduced (non-native) species. This guide is meant for those who know they planted a specific native plant, or maybe they have several in a group, and they’re not sure which one’s which. It may also help you from accidentally weeding a native plant as you try to get ahead of weeding.

I dedicate this page to my friend Katie, who should be sending me photos any day now asking “WTF did I plant?”

If you’re looking for seedlings, check out “WTF Did I Sow?“

A big thank you to Red Trillium Gardens for contributing some of her photos to this visual library!

Genera A-B+

Achillea millefolium (yarrow)

Aconitum uncinatum (southern blue monkshood) emerging

Adlumia fungosa (Allegheny vine) 2nd year growth, biennial

Agastache foeniculum (anise hyssop) emerging

Agastache nepetoides (yellow giant hyssop) emerging

Agastache scrophulariifolia (purple giant hyssop) emerging

Anaphalis margaritacea (pearly everlasting) emerging

Anemone virginiana (thimbleweed) emerging

Anemone virginiana (thimbleweed) emerging, along with spring beauty

Antennaria neglecta (prairie everlasting aka prairie pussytoes), evergreen

Aquilegia canadensis (eastern columbine) emerging

Blephillia hirsuta (hairy woodmint)

Genera C-D+

Callirhoe involucrata (winecups) emerging

Campanulastrum americanum (American bellwort) evergreen rosette, biennial

Cerastium strictum (large-flowered meadow chikweed) emerging

Claytonia virginica (spring beauty)

Clinopodium vulgare (wild basil) emerging

Comarum palustre (purple marshlocks) emerging

Genera E-F+

Erythronium americanum (trout lily)

Eurybia divaricata (white wood aster) emerging

Genera G-H+

Gaultheria procumbens (eastern teaberry, wintergreen), evergreen

Gelsemium sempervirens (Carolina jessamine), semi-evergreen

Gentiana clausa (closed bottle gentian) emerging

Gentianella quinquefolia (agueweed), 2nd year growth, biennial

Gentianopsis crinita (fringed gentian) emerging

Geranium maculatum (spotted geranium)

Geum canadense (white avens) evergreen rosette

Helenium flexuosum (purple-headed sneezeweed)

Helianthus angustifolius (swamp sunflower) emerging

Helonias bullata (swamp pink), semi-evergreen

Hepatica acutiloba flower

Houstonia caerulea (quaker ladies), semi-evergreen rosette

Houstonia purpurea (purple summer bluet), semi-evergreen rosette

Hylotelephium telephioides (Allegheny stonecrop) emerging

Hypericum ascyron (great St. John’s wort) emerging

Hypericum kalmianum (Kalm’s St. John’s wort), semi-evergreen

Genera K-L+

Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) winter rosette

Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) evergreen rosette

Lonicera sempervirens (coral honeysuckle) emerging buds

Lupinus perennis (sundial lupine) emerging

Genera M-N+

Mergensia virginica (Virginia bluebells) 2nd year seedling

Mimulus ringens (Allegheny monkey flower) emerging

Monarda clinopodia (white bergamot), emerging

Monarda didyma (scarlet beebalm) emerging

Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot) emerging

Monarda media (purple bergamot) emerging

Myosotis laxa (smaller forget-me-not) emerging

Genera O-P+

Packera aurea (golden groundsel or ragwort), young seedlings

Packera aurea (golden groundsel or ragwort) established patch, semi-evergreen

Penstemon digitalis (foxglove beardtongue) emerging

Penstemon laevigatus (eastern smooth beardtongue), emerging

Phlox caroliniana (Carolina phlox)

Phlox divaricata (woodland phlox)

Phlox paniculata (summer garden phlox) emerging

Physocarpus opulifolius (ninebark) emerging

Podophyllum peltatum (mayapple) root

Polemonium reptans (Jacob’s ladder)

Primula media (midland shooting star)

Pycnanthemum muticum (short-toothed mountain mint) emerging

Genera Q-R+

Rudbeckia fulgida (orange coneflower)

Genera S-T+

Salvia lyrata (lyre-leaf sage) semi-evergreen

Scutellaria incana (hoary skullcap) emerging

Sedum ternatum (wild stonecrop), evergreen

Seriocarpus linifolius (white-topped aster) winter rosette

Silene stellata (starry campion) emerging

Solidago caesia (bluestem goldenrod) emerging

Solidago sphacelata (autumn goldenrod) wild type, 2nd year seedling

Solidago sphacelata (autumn goldenrod ‘Golden Fleece’) established emerging

Spiraea corymbosa (shinyleaf dwarf spiraea) budding leaves

Stokesia laevis (Stoke’s aster) emerging

Symphyotrichum ericoides ‘Snow Flurry’ (Snow Flurry aster)

Symphyotrichum laeve (smooth blue aster), 2nd year seedling

Symphyotrichum lateriflorum (calico aster) emerging

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae (New England aster) emerging

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (aromatic aster) emerging

Symphyotrichum pilosum (frost aster) emerging rosette

Symphyotrichum prenanthoides (crooked-stemmed aster) emerging

Symphyotrichum undulatum (wavy-leaf aster)

Thalictrum coriaceum (maid-of-the-mist) emerging

Thalictrum thalictroides (early meadow-rue) emerging

Trillium sessile (toadshade) emerging, surrounded by evergreen Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry) plants and runners

Genera U-V+

Vaccinium macrocarpon (American cranberry), evergreen

Viola brittoniana (coastal violet) emerging with clonal seedling cotyledons

Viola palmata (trilobed wood violet) emerging

Viola sororia (common blue violet) emerging

Genera W-Z+

Zizia aurea (golden alexanders, here variegated) emerging

Zizia aurea (golden alexanders), single leaf, non-variegated