Native range
Native plants of Kentucky
62 wild species and 19 plant groups in the BloomsEye library grow wild somewhere in Kentucky, read from Kew's World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS. The 143 garden forms of them are listed apart below, each naming its wild parent.
Showing 1 to 60 of 81 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; Kentucky 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 81 plants, 63 have been checked against outside sources (2 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.
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Recorded across Kentucky
How many of the state's 120 counties record each wild species growing wild, from USDA PLANTS: a plant recorded in many counties is widespread in Kentucky; one recorded in few may be local, or simply under-recorded. A county's absence is not evidence a plant is absent. 61 of the wild species carry a county record here.
- American Elderberry
- Sugar Maple
- Flowering Dogwood
- Eastern Redbud
- Christmas Fern
- Smooth Hydrangea
- Tulip Tree
- Blackhaw
- Wild Ginger
- Honeylocust
- Flava (Yellow Trumpet)
- Trumpet Vine
- Buttonbush
- Red Maple
- Maidenhair Fern
- Carolina Rose
- Butterfly Weed
- River Birch
- Bottlebrush Grass
- Lady Fern
- Northern Sea Oats
- Eastern Red Columbine
- Little Bluestem
- Garden Phlox
- Virginia Bluebells
- Mountain Laurel
- Cardinal Flower
- Celandine Poppy
- Eastern Hemlock
- Shrubby St. John's Wort
- Goatsbeard
- Fragrant Sumac
- False Sunflower
- Hardy Hibiscus
- Cinnamon Fern
- New England Aster
- Eastern White Pine
- Pennsylvania Sedge
- Royal Fern
- Switchgrass
- Winterberry
- Arrowwood
- Ninebark
- Bald Cypress
- Allegheny Spurge
- Black Chokeberry
- Virginia Sweetspire
- Aromatic Aster
- Staghorn Sumac
- Blue Indigo
- Purple Coneflower
- Appalachian Sedge
- Creeping Phlox
- Palm Sedge
- Carolina Allspice
- Canby's Mountain Lover
- Mountain Stewartia
- Arborvitae
- Cherokee Sedge
- Carolina Lupine
- Queen of the Prairie
Garden forms of Kentucky natives
143 garden forms, each a named selection of a species that grows wild in Kentucky and each naming its wild parent. A garden form is not the wild plant, so it is listed here and never counted above.
- Adams Elderberry
- Alba Gayfeather
- Alma Pötschke
- Alpine Carpet Juniper
- Amazing Grace
- Amber Jubilee
- Amethyst Falls Wisteria
- Annabelle
- Appalachian Red
- Aquavita Juniper
- Arctic Fire Red Twig Dogwood
- Arctic Fire Yellow Dogwood
- Athena Gold False Sunflower
- Autumn Bride Coral Bells
- Autumn Colors
- Baby Joe Dwarf Joe Pye Weed
- Balmy Purple
- Berry Heavy
- Berry Poppins
- Berry Scape Aronia
- Blackhawks Big Bluestem
- Blackjack Gold Black-Eyed Susan
- Blaze
- Blue Blaze Viburnum
- Blue Moon Wisteria
- Blue Moon Woodland Phlox
- Blue Muffin Viburnum
- Blue Paradise
- Brandywine Viburnum
- Bridesmaid Mountain Laurel
- Bright Eyes
- Bronze Wave Coral Bells
- Bubblegum Pink Garden Phlox
- Candy Stripe
- Caramel
- Carol Mountain Laurel
- Carousel Mountain Laurel
- Cheer Drops Arborvitae
- Cherokee Brave
- Cherokee Chief
- Cherokee Princess
- Cherry Berries Wintergreen
- Cherry Brandy
- Citronelle
- Claire Grace
- Cloud Nine
- Coconut Lime
- Columnar White Pine
- Coppertina
- Coral Flame
- Crème Brûlée
- Crimson Trumpet
- Danica
- David
- DeGroot's Spire
- Denver Daisy
- Diabolo
- Drummond's Pink
- Dwarf White Pine
- Early Sunrise
- Elf Mountain Laurel
- Emerald Blue
- Emerald Green
- Emerald Pink
- Falling Waters
- Fire Chief
- Flame Thrower
- Forest Pansy
- Gentsch White
- Golden Globe
- Goldilocks
- Goldsturm
- Grand Marshall
- Green Jewel
- Gro-Low Fragrant Sumac
- Hearts of Gold
- Heavy Metal
- Henry's Garnet Sweetspire
- Holmstrup
- Incrediball Hydrangea
- Indian Summer
- Invincibelle Spirit II Hydrangea
- Jeana
- Jeddeloh Hemlock
- Laura
- Lavender Twist
- Lemony Lace Elderberry
- Little Devil
- Little Henry Sweetspire
- Luminary Ultraviolet
- Luna Pink Swirl
- Luna White
- Magnus
- Major Wheeler
- Moonbeam
- New England Aster 'Barr's Pink'
- New England Aster 'Harrington's Pink'
- Nicky
- Northwind
- Nugget
- October Skies
- Orange Perfection
- Pardon My Purple
- Peve Minaret
- Pink Double Delight
- PowWow Wild Berry
- Prairie Sun
- Purple Beauty
- Purple Dome
- Purple Phlox
- Purple Rooster
- Raydon's Favorite
- Red Sprite
- Red Wings
- Rheingold
- River Mist
- Robert Poore
- Route 66
- Royal White Redbud
- Ruby Falls
- Sarah Mountain Laurel
- Scarlet Flame
- Shawnee Brave
- Shenandoah
- Sienna Sunset
- Starfire
- Sugar Buzz Cherry Pops
- Sugar Shack Buttonbush
- Summer Wine
- Techny
- The Rising Sun
- Tiger Eyes Sumac
- Tiny Wine
- Toto Gold
- Twilight Zone
- Weeping Hemlock
- Weeping White Pine
- White Delight
- White Flame
- White Swan
- Winter Gold
- Winter Red
- Zagreb
Plant groups native to Kentucky
19 plant groups sold under one name whose wild species grow in Kentucky; 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.