Plants that belong here.
Every plant outside this window has grown in New England for thousands of years. Tap any plant to learn more.
The iconic spine of this planting. Bold, upright, and unmistakable. Its rosy-purple petals sweep back from a spiny bronze cone that glows in afternoon light. Blooms for up to two months, then holds its seed head through winter as both a sculptural form and a bird feeder.
The magic thread woven through the whole planting. In late summer it erupts into an airy haze of reddish-purple, a cloud of color that seems to hover above the soil. Catch it in late afternoon light and it practically glows. Landscape designers call this a matrix plant. We call it the soul of the design.
The fall showstopper. Blazing upright wands of golden-yellow at the exact moment the season turns. Unlike its sprawling cousins, Showy Goldenrod stays tight and disciplined. It reads as an elegant vertical exclamation point. Pairs naturally with New England Aster for a classic late-season combination that has played out in Maine meadows for millennia.
The mid-summer bridge. Lavender-pink ragged blooms with a distinctive spiky texture that contrasts beautifully against the bold forms around it. Crush a leaf and you get a wild oregano scent. It is in the mint family and the connection is unmistakable. Hummingbirds cannot resist it.
The workhorse and among the first to bloom. Flat-topped white flower clusters sit on fine, fernlike foliage, providing a strong horizontal texture that anchors all the vertical energy around it. Yarrow is the landing pad. Its wide, flat blooms are perfectly designed for smaller bees and beetles that cannot access tubular flowers.
The closer. Deep purple-pink daisy flowers that erupt just as everything else begins to fade. A final burst of color echoes the Coneflower from midsummer and brings the season full circle. One of the most important late-season plants in the Northeast, it provides critical fuel for pollinators preparing for winter.
These six plants collectively support dozens of pollinator species native to the Northeast. Here are the ones most likely to visit this planting.
Maine's most visible pollinator. Her long tongue reaches Bergamot's tubular flowers that shorter-tongued bees simply cannot access. A single colony visits millions of flowers in a season.
Specialist native bees that are among the first to emerge in spring. Several Andrena species are aster specialists and depend on Symphyotrichum pollen almost exclusively to feed their larvae.
Small, metallic bees that are often the first you'll notice on Yarrow's flat flower heads. Their size makes them perfectly suited to the open, accessible architecture of flat-topped blooms.
Solitary cavity-nesting bees that carry pollen on their abdomen rather than their legs. Watch for the tell-tale semicircular cuts they make in nearby leaves to line their nests.
The most iconic migrating butterfly in North America, passing through Maine each fall on its way to Mexico. Goldenrod and Aster are critical fueling stops. Without late-season nectar, the migration fails.
Maine's largest butterfly, with a 4-inch wingspan. Drawn strongly to Bergamot and Coneflower, it is one of the most striking visitors this planting will attract.
A small orange and black butterfly that uses Symphyotrichum asters as a host plant. It lays eggs directly on New England Aster leaves and the caterpillars feed on the foliage.
A fast-flying skipper that uses Purple Love Grass as a larval host plant. Because Love Grass is in this planting, this species does not just visit. It can complete its full life cycle right here.
Maine's only breeding hummingbird. Wild Bergamot's tubular lavender flowers are one of its preferred nectar sources. They typically arrive in May and migrate south in September.
A clearwing moth that hovers like a hummingbird and is easily mistaken for one at dusk. Wild Bergamot is its host plant. If you see one here, it's one of the more remarkable sightings this planting can produce.
Goldfinches time their nesting to coincide with Coneflower seed production. In fall and winter you may see them clinging to the dried seed heads of Coneflower and Goldenrod. That is exactly why we leave them standing.
Often mistaken for bees, hover flies are important pollinators that favor flat, open flowers. Yarrow is a particular favorite. Their larvae prey on aphids, making them a form of natural pest control as well.
This planting was designed so that color, texture, and life are present from spring through the first hard frost and into winter.
We intentionally leave seed heads standing through winter. Coneflower and Goldenrod seed heads feed Goldfinches and Chickadees when other food sources disappear. The dried stems also provide nesting material and look genuinely beautiful under a dusting of snow.
Every choice in this planting was deliberate. Here's the thinking behind it.
Each species in this planting occupies a distinct depth zone underground. There is no competition. Every plant has carved out its own territory in the soil column, which is one reason this palette works so well together in a confined container.
Nearly all land birds raise their young on caterpillars. Caterpillars need native plants to eat. Remove the plants and the whole chain unravels.
Turf grass is essentially a biological desert. It supports almost no native insects, produces no food for wildlife, and requires enormous water and chemical inputs just to maintain. It is the most irrigated crop in America and it feeds nothing.
You don't need an acre. A planter works. A window box works. A parking lot edge works. Native plants in even a small space create real habitat. And when those small spaces connect, they form corridors that wildlife can actually move through.
The fact that you are reading this means you noticed the planters. That is how it starts: curiosity, then a question, then a single plant in a pot on a porch. Wild Heart Nativescapes designs and installs native plantings for homes, businesses, and spaces like this one throughout coastal Maine. We'd love to help you get started.
A native plant design and installation practice based in Portland, Maine.
We design and install native plant landscapes for homes, businesses, and public spaces throughout coastal Maine. Our work is rooted in the belief that the most beautiful gardens are also the most ecologically alive, places where wildness and intention coexist.
Every plant we use is native to the Northeast. Every design is built around the idea that a planting should look better in year three than year one and better at dusk than noon. We don't fight nature. We work with it.
The planters outside are a small demonstration of what native plants can do in any space: a patio, a front yard, a parking lot edge. If you'd like a planting like this at your home or business, we'd love to talk.