Welcome to Awesome Native Plants
Blooming Now
Greek valerian/Jacob's Ladder
Polemonium reptans var reptans
These delightful pale blue flowers are blooming in our garden and their delicate leaves will persist through the summer. Polemonium reptans var reptans is S1 (Critically Imperiled) in NJ. However it grows well in the garden. It provides plenty of nectar to its pollinators with a large nectary ring at the base of the ovary. Read more: Greek valerian/Jacob's Ladder
See our 'Gardener News' article
Also See our Spring Plant photos & profiles
Flowering Early Spring
Dutchman's Breeches - Dicentra cucullaria
These these snow white gems may be blooming already.
Dutchman's Breeches is a true spring ephemeral so all traces of them will be gone by July. The flower structure is unique and requires a strong insect to pry open the closed tip to access the nectar and pollinate the plant. To appreciate the plant more, read about it. Dutchman's Breeches
A close relative and look alike is squirrel corn Dicentra canadensis. It is also a spring ephemeral and blooms a bit later and in NJ is S1 (Critically Imperiled). Read about squirrel corn
Flowering Early Spring
Round lobed Hepatica - Hepatica americana
These delightful flowers of pastel pinks and blues will be blooming soon. We have seen them as early as April 6. On a sunny day on the trail the hepaticas will dot the brown forest floor along with bloodroots. Already up (3/28) are spring beauties and spicebush flowers.
Round lobed Hepatica is not a spring ephemeral. It has evergreen leaves that over winter and it forms new leaves after flowering. Also to aid survival it will self-pollinate if cross pollination fails. Bloodroot also does this.
Read more about Round lobed Hepatica.
Also See our Spring Plant photos & profiles
Red Maple Revisited- Acer rubrum
We decided to look more closely at red maple flowers. Red maple is an important producer of nectar for early insects. Here are images of the nectaries.
See more close-ups of the flowers.
Learn about our spring flowers: Spring Plant Profiles & Photos
About AWESOME NATIVE PLANTS
This is the website of Millie & Hubert Ling. This site was created in September 2021 and is is dedicated to Native Plants mainly of New Jersey with a focus on the Plant Profiles & Photos pages. The goal here is to continue these. Also we will be adding trip reports of our many hikes in NJ. Hubert is a regular writer for the Gardener News and we will be republishing some of his articles. Continued in 'About Us': Click Here
WHY all the FUSS about NATIVE PLANTS?
What are they and why they are important?. Get the definitions and why they are important and how to find out if a plant is native or not. Also, NEW, added information on rarity in NJ. Click Here
in our 'Resources" section.
Looking around in NATURE: HIKES
Start planning where to hike for next year. NEW: Added: a list of conservation organizations that have preseves which are great places to see native plants. Click Here
BEAUTY and BEYOND
Get to know your native plants. Visit our Plant Profiles & Photos section for photos of not only the beautiful flowers but also their parts and what makes them work.
'GARDENERS NEWS' reprints
Hubert Ling as NPSNJ horticulture has been writing articles for 'Gardener News' since 2015. Some of his articles are being reprinted here. See them at Resources .
Redbud
Cercis canadensis
- Spring -
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
(Anglican hymn)
Study and photography unfolds a whole new dimension of intricacies and interdependencies that commands deference and awe.
"The Lord God made them all"