Rain Garden Plant List

Full Sun DIY Plant Guide
Shade DIY Plant Guide
Part-Shade DIY Plant Guide

Plants for wet soils and rain garden basins
Scientific NameCommon NameFull SunPartial SunShade
Asclepias incarnataSwamp milkweedXX 
Carex comosaBottlebrush sedgeX  
Chelone glabraTurtleheadX  
Elymus virginicusVirginia wild ryeXXX
Iris versicolorNorthern blue flag irisXX 
Lobelia cardinalisCardinal flowerXX 
Lobelia siphiliticaGreat blue lobeliaXX 
Matteuccia struthiopterisOstrich fernXXX
Mimulus ringensMonkey flowerXX 
Physostegia virginianaObedient plantXX 
Scirpus atrovirensDark-green bulrushX  
Senna hebecarpaWild sennaXX 
Spartina pectinataPrairie cordgrassXX 
Verbena hastasaBlue vervainXX 
Vernonia fasciculataIronweedXX 
Plants for medium/mesic soils and rain garden slopes
Scientific NameCommon NameFull SunPartial SunShade
Agastache scrophulariaefoliaPurple giant hyssopXX 
Allium cernuumNodding onionXX 
Anemone canadensisCanada anenomeXX 
Blephilia ciliataDowny wood mintXX 
Bouteloua curtipendulaSide oats gramaX  
Campanula americanaTall bellflower XX
Campanula rotundifoliaHarebellXX 
Carex bebbiiBebb's oval sedgeX  
Carex vulpinoideaBrown fox sedgeXX 
Coreopsis palmataPrairie coreopsisX  
Elymus hystrixBottlebrush grass XX
Eutrochium purpureumSweet Joe-pye weed XX
Fragaria virginianaWild strawberryXXX
Geranium maculatumWild geraniumXXX
Heliopsis helianthoidesEarly sunflowerXX 
Hypericum pyramidatumGreat Saint John's wortXX 
Hydrophyllum virginianumVirginia waterleaf XX
Liatris ligulistylusMeadow blazing starXX 
Monarda fistulosaWild bergamotXX 
Oligoneuron ridelliRidell's goldenrodX  
Oligoneuron rigidumStiff goldenrodXX 
Penstemon digitalisFoxglove beardtongueXX 
Polemonium reptansJacob's ladderXXX
Pycnanthemum virginianumMountain mintXX 
Rudbeckia subtomentosaSweet black-eyed SusanXX 
Silene regiaRoyal catchflyXX 
Solidago flexicalusZigzag goldenrod XX
Solidago speciosaShowy goldenrodXX 
Sporobolus heterolepisPrairie dropseedXX 
Symphyotrichum azureusSky blue asterXX 
Symphyotrichum macrophyllusBig-leaved aster XX
Thalictrum dioicumEarly meadow rue XX
Tradescantia ohiensisSpiderwortXX 
Verbena strictaHoary vervainXX 
Veronicastrum virginicumCulver's rootXX 
Zizia aureaGolden alexanderXX 
Plants for dry soils and rain garden berms
Scientific NameCommon NameFull SunPartial SunShade
Anemone virginianaTall thimbleweedXXX
Aquilegia canadensisColumbineXXX
Asclepias tuberosaButterfly milkweedXX 
Baptisia albaWild white indigoXX 
Dalea purpureaPurple prairie cloverX  
Drymocallis argutaPrairie cinquefoilX  
Phlox pilosaPrairie phloxX  
Schizachyrium scopariumLittle bluestemXX 
Was this page helpful to you?

Stormwater