Of course, all things must come to an end and a series of wildflowers is no exception. Still, I must remind you that just because many of these flowers were once used in traditional medicine by Native Americans and others doesn’t mean you should. Because as a history major, I know full well that traditional medicine isn’t the most reliable since a lot of them haven’t been proven as effective medical treatments by medical community. While a lot of them have actually been known to harm actually harm or kill people. Especially if they’re known to be toxic upon ingestion or touch. Anyway, in this post, we’ll see a Pasque flower in South Dakota, garden favorites in Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin, an iconic lupine in Texas, two iconic western flowers, a notable wildflower in West Virginia, and a mountain flower in Washington.

41. South Dakota

American Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla nuttalliana)

Why the Prettiest: Called the Prairie Pasque Flower, it’s the state flower of South Dakota. A low-lying perennial flower featuring fuzzy low-growing stems with delicate, showy lavender-to-purple bell-shaped flowers.

Location: Native to North America east of Lake Michigan from as north as Alaska to as south as New Mexico.

Environment: Inhabits cool, northern prairies, open slopes, fescue grasslands, granite outcrops in forests, and woodlands dry and open in mountain and boreal areas. Also grows in clearcut areas, roadsides, and gravel pit edges. Adapted to habitat disturbances, including wildfires. Though seeds don’t significantly persist. Grows up to 6 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms during the early spring. Flowers bloom before the leaves fully emerge. Is one of the first flowers to bloom during the season, sometimes pushing through lingering snow. Attracts honeybees, mining bees, bumblebees, and hover flies. Has low forage value for herbivores due to it being mildly toxic with its protoanemonin content. Yet, when grazed, it will produce new leaves from dormant buds. And numbers will increase in grazed meadows.

Color Varieties: Available in lavender, purple, and white.

Gardening Conditions: Not as popular as its European counterparts as an ornamental plant. Unless it’s planted in gardens intended to resemble an upper Midwest prairie or in rock gardens. Germinates readily without pre-treatment or stratification within 3 weeks. Propagates through seed and vegetatively. Seedlings are difficult to transplant and transplantation of all plant sizes depends on avoiding root disturbance by digging with a substantial amount of soil. Garden must have good drainage. Grows best in soils that are moist to dry with neutral or slightly alkaline characteristic and winter snow cover. Grows well with some additional compost in the topsoil around 7 cm in depth. Needs partial to half-day shade in hot summer areas. In areas with cool summers like mountain habitats and northern prairies, full sun is required. Contains protoanemonin, a toxin causing skin irritation.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure. Although seen as critically imperiled in Illinois, Washington, and Ontario.

Trivia: Provincial flower of Manitoba. Seeds are distributed by the wind or by catching in fur of passing animals. Prepared and used by indigenous communities for specific traditional remedies.

Other Candidates: Purple Coneflower, Purple Prairie Clover, Black-Eyed Susan, and Gunnison’s Mariposa Lily.

42. Tennessee

Fire Pink (Silene virginica)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a short-lived perennial is known for its brilliant, star-shaped flowers and sticky stems deterring crawling insects from getting a free meal.

Location: Native to central and eastern North America, ranging as far west as Texas, as north as southern Ontario, and as south as Florida.

Environment: Inhabits open woodlands, rocky slopes, cliffs, and road banks. Can grow up to 8-31 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms in late spring and early summer like from April to July. Attracts hummingbirds and long-tongued insects, with the ruby-throated hummingbird being its principal pollinator. Other birds aid in its seed dispersal such as sparrows, juncos, and pine siskins.

Color Varieties: Available in red.

Gardening Conditions: Prefers bright and partial shade and well-drained soils. Yet, tends to grow in areas with acidic, poorer quality soils. Tolerates sunny conditions and can withstand drought and high temperatures. Can self-seed. Doesn’t have serious problems with disease or pests. Though it can be occasionally affected by the anther smut disease, which can render it sterile. Used in rock gardens and along border fronts in landscaping.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure. But imperiled in Louisiana and considered endangered in Wisconsin, Florida, and Michigan.

Trivia: Has sticky, glandular hairs on its upper stem and calyx to trap insects in order to prevent them from nectar feeding and robbing it from the flower without providing pollinator services. Used medicinally by Native Americans and European settlers. Cherokees used the root as a snakebite remedy and intestinal worms. Used by the Iroquois as an anti-bacterial. Though other tribes said it’s poisonous.

Other Candidates: Large-Flowered Trillium, Dwarf-Crested Iris, Nashville Gladecress, and Virginia Bluebell.

43. Texas

Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus texensis)

Why the Prettiest: For one, it’s Texas’ state flower, known for its vibrant, blue pea-like clusters with distinct white tips. While its leaves are light green, velvety, palmately compound usually split into 5 leaflets.

Location: Native to the south-central United States and northern Mexico. Found in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas.

Environment: Lives in prairies, roadsides, and wooded edges. Grows up to 6 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms in early to mid spring such as from March to May. Attracts bees and butterflies.

Color Varieties: Available in blue, white, pink and maroon.

Gardening Conditions: Its gravel-like seed has a hard seed coat that must be penetrated by wind, rain, and weather over a few months (but sometimes several years). Seeds may be scarified before being stored. Seeds germinate in the fall and winter so sow them in the fall. Requires full sun. Thrives in alkaline, moderately fertile, and extremely well-drained soils. Reseeds itself. Plants and seeds are toxic to humans.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Said to have the ability to fix the nitrogen in the soil, which benefits surrounding the vegetation.

Other Candidates: Giant Blue Iris, Texas Indian Paintbrush, Indian Blanket, Pink Evening Primrose, Winecup, and Texas Bluebell.

44. Utah

Sego Lily (Calochortus nuttallii)

Why the Prettiest: It’s Utah’s official state flower since 1911.  It’s a striking, bulbous perennial featuring 2-4 narrow, grass-like leaves that wither as the plant blooms. Bears 1-3 tulip-like, satiny blossoms up to 3 in across featuring white, pink, or lavender petals with distinctive yellow and dark red or maroon markings at the base.

Location: Native to the western United States from as north as Montana to as south as New Mexico and Arizona.

Environment: Lives in dry, brushy or grassy slopes, open foothills, and on desert high country. Can grow up to 6-18 in height.

Bloom Season: Blooms from late spring to early summer, often after seasonal rainfall.

Color Varieties: Available in white, pink, or lavender.

Gardening Conditions: Doesn’t tolerate excessive water in growth or in dormancy. Needs well-drained soil, but not excessively sandy with very little organic matter. Can receive full sun or partial shade in dry climates. In wetter climates, you must take additional critical protections to shield the bulbs from rotting. Can be propagated from newly formed bulblets, which take 2 years to flower.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Native Americans used bulbs, seeds, and flowers as food. Hopi used it for ceremonies. Shoshone taught the Mormon pioneers to use the plant for desperately needed food. Commemorated by the Sego Lily Dam, a flood-prevention infrastructure project in the shape of a giant sego lily, built in Salt Lake City’s Sugar House Park in 2017. Can be confused with deathcamas. Is featured on Salt Lake City’s Flag that was designed by 2 high school students for a contest.

Other Candidates: Indian Paintbrush, Silvery Lupine, Utah Columbine, Mountain Bluebell, and Elephant Head.

45. Vermont

Canada Lily (Lilium canadense)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a wildflower known for its chandelier-like clusters of nodding, bell-shaped flowers. Its leaves are lance-shaped and arranged in distinct whorls of 3-8 among them. Up to 20 pendulous, trumpet-shaped flowers per stem.

Location: Native to eastern North America, ranging from Ontario and Nova Scotia to Alabama and Georgia. Most common in New England, the Appalachian Mountains, and the Canadian Maritimes.

Environment: Lives in moist meadows, marsh margins, and wood margins. Less common in urban and suburban areas due to heavy browsing by white-tailed deer. Can grow up to 1.6-4.9ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from June to July. Attracts ruby-throated hummingbirds and large butterflies. Highly favored and heavily browsed by deer.

Color Varieties: Available in yellow, orange, and red, often with darker spots.

Gardening Conditions: Grows best in filtered shade to full sun. Prefers deep, rich, loamy, and acidic to neutral soils that stay consistently moist.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure. Although listed as Rare in Indiana, Exploitably Vulnerable in New York, and Threatened in Rhode Island and Tennessee.

Trivia: Buds and roots were gathered and eaten by Native Americans.

Other Candidates: Red Trillium, White Trillium, Painted Trillium, Spring Beauty, Virginia Bluebell, Cardinal Flower, and Joe Pye Weed.

46. Virginia

Virginia Bluebell (Mertensia virginica)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a popular spring ephemeral featuring nodding pink buds opening into soft sky-blue, bell-shaped blossoms.

Location: Native to eastern North America from as north as Ontario and Quebec to as south as Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia and as west as Kansas.

Environment: Found in rich, moist woods, on low, wooded hillsides, on floodplain forests, and along stream banks. Grows 18-24 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from early to mid-spring like from March to May for about 3-6 weeks. Attracts long-tongued bees like bumblebees, butterflies, moths, skippers, hummingbird moths, flower flies, bee flies, and hummingbirds.

Color Varieties: Available in sky blue, pink, white, and periwinkle.

Gardening Conditions: All parts of the plant are edible, including the flowers. Thrives in partial to full shade. Prefers moist, rich, humus-heavy, and well-draining soil. Requires low maintenance such as adding a layer of organic leaf mulch in the spring. Best paired in shaded garden beds with later-emerging perennials that will fill the space once the plant goes dormant.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Often form large groups. Used by Native Americans as medicine for various ailments.

Other Candidates: Yellow Lady’s Slipper, Large-Flowered Trillium, Fire Pink, and Virginia Meadow Beauty.

47. Washington

White Avalanche Lily (Erythronium montanum)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a mountain wildflower known for blooming right at the edge of melting snowfields. Its leaves are a pair of solid, glossy green, lance-shaped basal leaves with smooth coloring. Each stem has 1-4 showy flowers with pristine white petals that sweep or curl backward, revealing a bright yellow center and long yellow anthers. Grows in massive dense patches resembling fresh patches of snow on mountain slopes.

Location: Native to the Pacific Northwest from coastal British Columbia to Oregon, particularly in the alpine and subalpine Cascade and Olympic Ranges.

Environment: Found in damp, subalpine woodlands and alpine meadows, often in extensive patches along the edges of snowfields. Often at elevations between 3,000 and 6,500 ft. Grows up to 6-10 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from late spring to midsummer such as from June to August, beginning when the snow melts and the sunlight hits the soil. Eaten by rodents, deer, elk, and bears.

Color Varieties: Available in white.

Gardening Conditions: Prefers full to partial sunlight and moist, well-drained soil.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure although it’s said to be rare.

Trivia: Stores energy in an underground bulb all winter.

Other Candidates: Lupine, Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Common Camas, and Western Pasque Flower.

48. West Virginia

Giant Ironweed (Vernonia gigantea)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a perennial wildflower with remarkably tough, rigid erect stems that resist flopping over and fluffy, intense purple, magenta, or rose purple clusters.

Location: Native to eastern North America from as north as Ontario and New York state to as south and west as Texas.

Environment: Found along roadsides, meadows, and open woodlands. Can grow up to 5-8 ft tall.

Bloom Season: Bloom from July to September. Larval host to the ironweed borer moth, American lady butterfly, and the red groundling moth. Attracts butterflies, bees, moths, and hummingbirds. Birds feed on its seeds and use the plant as a structural perch.

Color Varieties: Available in magenta and purple.

Gardening Conditions: Plant is self-incompatible and can’t self-pollinate. But can readily self-sow. Prefers full sun to part shade and medium to wet soil. Tolerates wet conditions, seasonal flooding, and heavy clay. But adapts to regular garden soil if kept consistently moist. Very low maintenance with few pests and diseases. Deadheading flower heads before seeds develop prevents unwanted spreading.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Seeds are wind-dispersed.

Other Candidates: Virginia Bluebell, Large-Flowered Trillium, Yellow Lady’s Slipper, Cardinal Flower, and Goldenrod.

49. Wisconsin

Shooting Star (Primula meadia)

Why the Prettiest: This herbaceous perennial and spring ephemeral has distinctive, nodding, umbrella-like clusters of 8-20 flowers featuring swept-back pink, purple or white petals and a pointed central cone of yellow stamens resembling tiny shooting stars. Forms a low, basal rosette of smooth, bright to grayish green lanced-shaped leaves, often with reddish bases.

Location: Native to central and eastern United States ranging from southern Wisconsin to western Pennsylvania and southeastern Texas and Georgia.

Environment: Found in both prairies and forests, often in calcareous areas. Can live in an open habitat if the effects of potential competing woody vegetation are limited. Grows up to 8-20 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from April to June. Attracts bumblebees and other native bees using buzz pollination to shake the pollen loose. Honeybees often steer clear because it produces strictly pollen, not nectar. But relies on insects to disperse pollen and seeds within pollen capsules. Not preferred by deer or rabbits.

Color Varieties: Available in pink, lavender, magenta, purple, and white.

Gardening Conditions: Thrives while surrounded by plants that are shorter in its early growing stages. Prefers partial shade but can grow in the sun as long as the soil is moist. Prefers rocky, sandy soil but is also able to flourish when planted in clay soil. Once a seed’s propagated, it grows at a slow pace, sometimes taking 4 years to bloom. Benefits from fire and brush removal. Grows well when not obstructed by other flowers and placed at the front of flower beds. Can exist with other species in a rock or woodland garden. Not toxic to humans or pets.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure, though it’s not evenly distributed within its range.

Trivia: Color varies by location. Northern flowers are often pink or lavender. Southern flowers are often white.

Other Candidates: Butterfly Milkweed, Lupine, Pale Purple Coneflower, Wild Columbine, and Wild Bergamot.

50. Wyoming

Wyoming Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja linariifolia)

Why the Prettiest: It’s Wyoming’s state flower since 1917 and taller than any other paintbrush flower, which is found in most of the state save for 8 counties. Although the vibrant parts that look like red or orange flower petals are actually specialized modified leaved called bracts. While its true flowers are small and greenish-yellow, modestly hidden inside the bracts.

Location: Native to every US state west of the Rocky Mountains except for Washington along with the state of Sonora in northern Mexico.

Environment: Associated with sagebrush steppe, grasslands, and pinyon-juniper woodlands. Also grows on dry rocky slopes, dry plains, talus deposits at cliff bases, and in forest openings. Grows up to 7-39 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from April to October. Attracts Edith’s checkerspot butterfly that feeds on it exclusively as well as other butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.

Color Varieties: Available in red, orange, and pink.

Gardening Conditions: Can withstand droughts. Seeds can sometimes be part of wildflower seed mixes sold in the southwest. Note that this plant is hemi-parasitic, meaning its roots attach to the roots of a neighboring plant, frequently native grasses or sagebrush to steal a portion of their water and nutrients. Due to this root dependency, transplanting wild specimens almost always kills them. So if you plant a seed, plant it near a compatible host plant to establish a connection. Prefers full sun and well-drained, lean soils.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Present in Tewa and Hano decorative art, painted on pottery, carved into wood, and imitated in colored yarn. Used by the Shoshone as a traditional medicine for venereal disease through boiling the roots, administering it in small amounts, and acting as a purgative.

Other Candidates: Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Rocky Mountain Columbine, Lupine, Fireweed, and Sky Pilot.

              Unlike the cute animals in my previous series, you can actually buy many of these flowers to plant in your own garden. In fact, it’s often encouraged to buy these flowers depending on the location. But one size doesn’t fit all. For instance, I live in southwestern Pennsylvania which is a temperate area with significant greenery and a high rate of precipitation. That we think Seattle’s reputation as the Rainy City is basically a joke. That if you want to grow garden with a cactus or tropical orchid, then you better have a greenhouse. In this post, you’ll see a cactus from New Mexico, an endangered lupine in New York, ornate shrubs from North Carolina and Pennsylvania, a wild rose in North Dakota, garden favorites from Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Rhode Island, and a controversial yellow flower from South Carolina.

31. New Mexico

Scarlet Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus coccineus)

Why the Prettiest: For a state that’s mostly temperate desert, this is a cold-hardy, perennial cactus that produces brilliant scarlet, crimson, or orange funnel-shaped flowers.

Location: Native to the southwest United States.

Environment: Found in desert and rocky environments. Can grow up to 16 in and spread over 2ft in mounds of sprawling clumps.

Bloom Season: Blooms in the spring.

Color Varieties: Available in red, orange, yellow, pink, purple, and white.

Gardening Conditions: Prefers full sun and sandy or rocky well drained-soil. Is cold-hardy and capable of surviving outdoors. Rots easily in heavily wet dirt. Water sparingly and allow soil to quickly dry out between waterings and keep it mostly dry during winter dormancy. If you live in a state like mine where it rains almost every other week, keep it indoors.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Least Concern.

Trivia: Has 5 subspecies. Forms tight mounds or sprawling clumps of cylindrical of blue-green to dark green stems. Has edible spherical fruits and falling thorns.

Other Candidates: California Golden Poppy, Cholla Cactus, Prickly Pear, Yucca Flower, and Indian Blanket.

32. New York

Wild Lupine (Lupinus perennis)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a native perennial wildflower known for its striking spikes of blue or purple pea-like flowers.

Location: Native to the eastern United States from southern Canada to as south as Texas and Florida.

Environment: Found in oak savannas, pine barrens, dunes, and sand plains, many of which are disturbance dependent with suppression of natural fire regimes has contributed to widespread population declines in its native range. Can grow up to 1.5-2.5ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from late spring to early summer. Used as food plants by several caterpillars of butterflies such as the clouded sulfur, eastern tail blue, gray hairstreak, silvery blue, wild indigo duskywing, frosted elfin, eastern Persius duskywing, and rare endangered Karner blue. Attracts bees.

Color Varieties: Available in blue, lavender, and purple.

Gardening Conditions: Prefers dry, acidic, well-drained, sandy soils and high-light habitats. Prefers full sun and partial shade. Can’t tolerate standing water or soggy dirt. Reproduces exclusively by seed, which require scarification and cold stratification before it can successfully sprout. Toxic to livestock like sheep and horses if ingested in large amounts.

Conservation Status: Listed as Vulnerable. Has experienced substantial decline since the 20th century with some areas experiencing losses as high as exceeding 90%. Causes include habitat loss, wildfire suppression, habitat fragmentation, and poor management. Considered to be threatened in New Hampshire.

Trivia: Plays an important role as a pollinator resource and a nitrogen-fixing species in which it forms symbiotic relationships with nitrogen-fixing bacteria in root nodules, enhancing fertility in nutrient-poor environments.

Other Candidates: Pink Lady’s Slipper, New England Aster, Red Columbine, New York Aster, and Cardinal Flower.

33. North Carolina

Catawba Rhododendron (Rhododendron catawbiense)

Why the Prettiest: Although a very common site, this is named after a river in North Carolina, a state that comprises of most of its native range. It’s an exquisite broadleaf evergreen shrub that produces clusters of violet, lavender, or deep purple flowers in the spring.

Location: Native in the southern Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States.

Environment: Found in woodland slopes and ridges. Can grow up to 6-10 ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms during the spring from May to June. Attracts hummingbirds, butterflies, and bees.

Color Varieties: Available in pink, purple, lavender, and white.

Gardening Conditions: Widely cultivated shrub in North America and parts of Europe. Plant in partial shade or morning sun with protection from harsh afternoon rays. Requires cool, moist, well-draining, and acidic soil rich in organic matter. Keep the soil moist during establishment but never let the plant sit in soggy or waterlogged soil. Is highly flammable and should not be planted within a defensible space of your home. Susceptible to insect problems include aphids, borers, lace bugs, leafhoppers, mealybugs, mites, nematodes, scale, thrips, and whitefly. Susceptible to diseases like canker, crown rot, root rot, leaf spot, rust, and powdery mildew. Also frequently damaged by deer.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure. Though it likely lost much of its natural range due to development and deforestation.

Trivia: Has several different varieties.  

Other Candidates: Oconee Bell, Cardinal Flower, Pink Lady’s Slipper, Butterfly Weed, and Big-Headed Aster.

34. North Dakota

Wild Prairie Rose (Rosa arkansana)

Why the Prettiest: For one, it’s North Dakota’s state flower since 1889 along with Iowa’s. This perennial subshrub produces fragrant pink blossoms and bright red seed pods called hips.

Location: Native to a large central area of North America between the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains from Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan to as south as New Mexico, Texas, and Indiana.

Environment: Found in pastures, foothills, meadows, and along roadsides. Can grow up to 40 in tall. Spreads by underground roots.

Bloom Season: Blooms from May to September. Attracts native bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects. Provides food and shelter through its winter rose hips for birds.

Color Varieties: Available in pink and white.

Gardening Conditions: Prefers full sun to partial shade. Adapts well to dry, sandy, loamy, or clay soils. Highly resistant to cold weather, fire, and drought once established.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure. Considered a weed by the US Department of Agriculture.

Trivia: Hips are rich in Vitamin C and can be used to make jellies, teas, and jams. Used in food, food additives, animal foods, bee plants, fuels, poisons, medicines, and environmental compounds.

Other Candidates: Wood Lily, Prairie Smoke, Yellow Prairie Coneflower, and Black-Eyed Susan.

35. Ohio

Large-Flowered Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum)

Why the Prettiest: It’s Ohio’s state wildflower. It’s a showy spring-blooming perennial with 3 larger green leaves and a single large 3-petaled white flower that ages into a soft blush pink.

Location: Native to eastern North America from as north as Quebec to as west as Minnesota and as south as Georgia. Also has isolated populations in Iowa, Maine, southern Illinois, and Nova Scotia.

Environment: Inhabits deciduous woodlands. Can grow up to 8-16 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms during the spring such as from late April to early June. Attracts bumblebees. Seeds are dispersed by ants, yellowjackets, and deer. A favorite food of white-tailed deer.

Color Varieties: Available in white and pink.

Gardening Conditions: Favors well-drained, neutral to slightly acidic soils, usually in second or young-growth forests. Seeds have double dormancy, meaning that it takes 2 years for it to germinate. Requires 7-10 years to reach flowering size. Susceptible to phytoplasmas disease. Transplantation can result in the plant’s death.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure though it’s been threatened by habitat destruction. Though its popularity as a commercial plant have raised many conservation concerns, given that most of the plants sold are collected from the wild. Said to be critically imperiled in Nova Scotia, Alabama, New Jersey, and South Carolina. While it’s seen as vulnerable in Illinois, Georgia, and Quebec.

Trivia: A single rootstock can form clonal colonies that can become very dense. Flowers are odorless. Occasionally produces double forms of more than 3 petals. Leaves were cooked and eaten by Native Americans who also chewed rootstalks for various medical purposes. Is a symbol for the French-speaking community in Ontario.

Other Candidates: Blazing Star, Sharp-Lobed Hepatica, Goldenrod, and Aster.

36. Oklahoma

Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella)

Why the Prettiest: It’s Oklahoma’s state wildflower. A short-lived perennial or annual relative of the daisy family, it produces a vibrant red-and-yellow pinwheel flowers.

Location: Native to northern Mexico and the southern and central United States as north as Nebraska.

Environment: Lives in sandy plains and deserts. Common along roads. Can grow in urban areas but usually below 3,300ft above sea level. Can grow up to 24 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from late spring to early fall or until the first frost. Attracts native bees, butterflies, and beneficial insects. Larval host of the border patch butterfly and painted schinia moth. Seeds provide valuable food source for birds like goldfinches.

Color Varieties: Available in red and yellow.

Gardening Conditions: Prefers loose, sandy, and well-drained soil. Has a high drought tolerance and does best in a hot, dry climate with full sun. Needs only occasional water during dry spells. Can be deadheaded to promote further blooming. Self-seeds freely. Excellent for xerishaping meadows, roadside naturalization, and sunny borders.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Apparently Secure.

Trivia: County Flower of Penghu County in Taiwan. Produces a dark, reddish amber buttery tasting honey.

Other Candidates: Indian Paintbrush, Plains Coreopsis, Purple Coneflower, and Purple Poppy Mallow.

37. Oregon

Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittate)

Why the Prettiest: Known as the Oregon Sunflower, this long-lived western perennial in the sunflower family is known for its bright yellow sunflower-like blooms and large, silvery-green arrowhead-shaped leaves.

Location: Native and widespread in western Canada and the western United States. Extends from British Columbia to as south as northern Arizona and California’s Mojave Desert and as west as South Dakota’s Black Hills.

Environment: Lives in many types of habitats such as mountain forests, grasslands, and desert scrub. Can grow from 1-3 ft tall.

Bloom Season: Typically blooms from April to July depending on local climate and elevation. Palatable to grazing animals, particularly the flowers and developing seed heads. Elk and deer browse the leaves.

Color Varieties: Available in yellow.

Gardening Conditions: Is drought tolerant. Used in slope restoration projects for its beauty and slow-growing taproot. Thrives in full sun. Prefers well-drained sandy, gravely, or loamy soils. Due to taproot, it does poorly when transplanted. Best propagated by direct sowing in the fall to allow for cold stratification.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Leaves can be raw or cooked for eating but roots must be cooked before consumption. Seeds can be eaten raw or pounded into flour. Specimen collected by William Clark in 1806 during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. While Merriwether Lewis collected a specimen near the Lewis and Clark Pass that same year. Used by Nez Perce, Kootenai, Salish, and Cheyenne as food and medicine. A Nlaka’pamux legend states that when this flower starts blooming meant bitterroot was ready for digging up. Official emblem of Kelowna, British Columbia in Canada.

Other Candidates: Lupine, Indian Paintbrush, Pacific Bleeding Heart, and Camas Lily.

38. Pennsylvania

Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia)

Why the Prettiest: It’s Pennsylvania’s state flower alongside Connecticut’s and namesake of its southwestern Laurel Highlands. It’s a slow-growing evergreen shrub famous for its clusters of cup-shaped pink and white flowers.

Location: Native to the eastern United States with range stretching from Maine to Florida and west to Indiana and Louisiana.

Environment: Naturally found on rocky slopes and mountainous forest areas. Grows in large thickets, covering great areas of the forest floor. Grows very densely in low, wet areas and very sparse in dry uplands. Can grow up to 5-15ft tall in natural settings.

Bloom Season: Blooms in May and June. Attracts butterflies and hummingbirds. Though it has an unusual pollination process where its stamen’s flaments are bent and brought into tension. An insect landing on it releases the tension and catapults the pollen onto the insect.

Color Varieties: Available in white and light pink. Cultivated varieties in various colors.

Gardening Conditions: Thrives in acidic soil. Prefers partial shade such as morning sun filtered with afternoon shade. Individual shrubs must be spaced at least 4-6 ft apart. Apply a layer of mulch to keep shallow roots cool and moist, and prune lightly right after flowering finishes. All parts of plant are toxic upon ingestion to humans, deer, cattle, sheep, monkeys, and goats. This includes the pollen, flowers, twigs, and even food products such as its honey, which may produce neurotoxic and gastrointestinal symptoms in humans eating more than a modest amount. Symptoms begin to appear 6 hours upon ingestion which include irregular or difficulty breathing, anorexia, repeated swallowing, profuse salivation, watering of the eyes and nose, cardiac distress, incoordination, depression, vomiting, frequent defecation, weakness, convulsions, paralysis, coma, and eventually death. Can cause gastrointestinal hemorrhage in animals.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Least Concern.

Trivia: Namesake of Laurel County in Kentucky, the city of Laurel, Mississippi, and Mount Laurel, New Jersey. Was described by Carl Linneaus in 1753. Can become a tree in the Appalachians but is mainly a shrub further north. Originally brought to Europe during the 18^th century as an ornamental plant. Wood is considered heavy but brittle and is more suitable for wreaths, furniture, bowls, handrails or guardrails, and other household items. Wood was used in clocks during the 19^th century. Root burls were used for pipe bowls in place of briar burls unattainable in World War II. Used by the Cherokee as a medical analgesic and infusion as well as the wood for carving.

Other Candidates: Cardinal Flower, Great White Trillium, Pink Lady’s Slipper, and Blue-Eyed Mary.

39. Rhode Island

White Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)

Why the Prettiest: Listed as a historical plant in Rhode Island, it’s a hardy, perennial wildflower is known for its showy, tubular, lavender-pin or white pompom-like clusters.

Location: Native to most of North America. Ranges from Quebec, Northwest Territories, and British Columbia to Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Idaho, and northeastern Washington.

Environment: Found in prairies, dry rocky woods, glade margins, and unplanted fields. Can grow up to 2-4 ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms during mid to late summer. As a honey plant, it attracts a variety of pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Larval host to hermit sphinx, orange mint moth, and raspberry pyrausta.

Color Varieties: Available in pink, white, and lavender.

Gardening Conditions: Spreads via rhizomes and self-sowing to form clumping patches. Thrives in full sun to partial shade. Highly adaptable to sandy, loamy, or clay soils ranging from dry to medium moisture, preferring well-drained conditions. Provide good air circulation to prevent powdery mildew, which is common in the plant. Leave hollow dead stems standing through winter to shelter native nesting bees.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Known for its fragrance though its composition can be quite variable. Has 8 varieties. Used as a medicinal plant by Native Americans for various ailments such as colds, fevers, and headaches. Can be brewed into a soothing herbal tea.

Other Candidates: Cardinal Flower, Virginia Meadow Beauty, Butterfly Weed, New England Aster, and Black-Eyed Susan.

40. South Carolina

Yellow Jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens)

Why the Prettiest: For one, it’s South Carolina’s state flower. A fragrant, evergreen climbing vine famous for its bright yellow, trumpet-shaped, sweet-smelling flowers and glossy green leaves.

Location: Native to subtropical and tropical America from the southeastern and south-central United States to Guatemala.

Environment: Found in wooded areas and thickets growing on tree trunks. Can become weedy in disturbed areas and along roadsides. Can grow up to 10-20 ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms in late winter into early spring. Attracts bumblebees and native bees.

Color Varieties: Available in yellow.

Gardening Conditions: Thrives best in full sun and partial shade. Prefers moist, well-drained soil. Needs regular watering when young and becomes drought tolerant once established. All parts of the plant contain toxic strychnine-related alkaloids gelsemine and gelseeminine and shouldn’t be consumed. Sap may cause skin irritation in sensitive individuals. Children, mistaking it for honeysuckle have been poisoned for sucking the nectar from the flower. Symptoms consist of severe muscle weakness and respiratory paralysis. Nectar is toxic to honeybees which could cause brood death when gathered by them. Plant can also be lethal to livestock. Yet, despite the hazards, it’s a popular garden plant in warmer areas. Said to be perfect for training up trellises, arbors, and fences, or letting it sprawl as a mounding ground cover on slopes.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Said to be a folk remedy for various ailments.

Other Candidates: Cahaba Lily, Goldenrod, Butterfly Milkweed, Atamasco Lily, and Wild Bergamot.

You may notice that many of these wildflowers are often the state flowers in many of these states. But that isn’t always the case. Still, states have a habit becoming attached to certain flowers that it often becomes part of its emblem. Yet, as you’ll see later, it’s not unusual for some states to have the same state flower with the common violet being one for 4. But I can’t use the common violet for all four of them. Anyway, in this post, you’ll see a columbine from New England, a lily from the Midwest, two lady’s slippers, a coreopsis, an evening primrose, a small pink flower westerners can’t resist in Montana, two mallow flowers, and a violet with a polarizing reputation.

21. Massachusetts

Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

Why the Prettiest: It’s an herbaceous perennial known for its nodding, two-toned red and yellow spurred flowers that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Its dainty, downward-facing red and yellow blooms with backward-pointing spurs holding nectar. While its foliage consists of deeply lobed, fern-like leaves that are semi-evergreen.

Location: Native to eastern and central North America, from New Brunswick to Florida as west as from Saskatchewan to Texas. Sole native columbine from eastern North America.

Environment: Inhabits woodlands, forest edges, rocky slopes, and shaded bluffs. But can live in a wide range of habitats. Can grow up to 6-35 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from mid-spring to early summer such as from April to July. Primary pollinator is the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird but also attracts bees, bumblebees, and hawk moths. While the rusty-patched bumblebee has been known for nectar robbing by cutting holes in the spurs. Host plant for the common duskywing butterfly and columbine borer moth.

Color Varieties: Available in red and yellow.

Gardening Conditions: Commonly kept as an ornamental plant. Has a mixed mating system where it can self-pollinate and outcross. Is self-compatible and can produce seeds without a pollinator but doesn’t fully compensate. Reproductive success is also reliant on population size with larger and more densely populated areas producing more seeds. Resistant to deer and rabbit browsing. Susceptible to leaf miner activity that only creates a serpentine trail among the leaves and has a low susceptibility to disease in its native range. Grows best in light to moderate shade and prefers well-drained sandy loams, thriving in limestone-based or circumneutral soils. Plants grown in soils too moist or rich may produce weak plants with shorter lifespans. Seedlings generally flower in second year. Mature plants are highly resistant to drought. Perfect for woodland gardens, rock gardens, shady borders, and native pollinator spaces.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Has a chemical defensive system in which it releases hydrogen cyanide when plant tissue is damaged. Used by several Native American communities as a love charm by crushing its seeds and rubbed on hands like the Pawnee. Seeds also used by Omaha, Pawnee, and Ponca as perfume. Used by Pawnee and Cherokee as medicine as well.

Other Candidates: Pink Lady’s Slipper, New England Aster, and Cardinal Flower.

22. Michigan

Michigan Lily (Lilium michiganense)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a striking bulbous perennial in the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi known for its bright orange, heavily spotted downward-facing flowers with petals curving sharply backward. While its leaves are lance-shaped and arranged in distinct whorls around the stem’s middle.

Location: Native to the Great Lakes and Upper Mississippi Valley regions of the United States and Canada, from South Dakota through Ontario to New York, south to Georgia to Oklahoma.

Environment: Inhabits wet meadows, fens, moist woodland edges, bottom lands and prairies. Can grow up to 5 x 2 ft.

Bloom Season: Blooms during the summer from June to August. Attracts hummingbirds, large butterflies, and sphinx moths.

Color Varieties: Available in red-orange with purple-brown spots.

Gardening Conditions: Needs full sun or partial shade. Prefers rich, deep, moist, and cool organic soils. Though adapts well to average, well-drained garden loam or clay. Ideal for native plant gardens, perennial borders, cottage gardens, or naturalized damp areas along ponds or streams. But know that voles, chipmunks, and deer love to eat the foliage or dig up the bulbs.

Conservation Status: Listed as Secure but is endangered in New York and threatened in Tennessee.

Trivia: Is often confused for the Asian Tiger Lily.

Other Candidates: Large-Flowered Trillium, Dwarf Lake Iris, Blazing Star, Prairie Smoke, and Marsh Marigold.

23. Minnesota

Showy Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium reginae)

Why the Prettiest: For one, it’s Minnesota’s state flower as well as a rare native orchid in North America. It features brilliant white petals paired with a large, bulbous pouch suffused with deep pink and magenta.

Location: Native to northern North America. Can be found from as north as Saskatchewan to as south as Arkansas and Tennessee. Has a strong presence in the Great Lakes region.

Environment: Grows in wetlands such as fens, wooded swamps, and riverbanks. Most likely found in mossy hummocks. Can grow up to 0.7-3ft tall, making it the tallest native northern orchid.

Bloom Season: Blooms in early to midsummer such as from June to July. Attracts and depends on pollinators like syrphid flies, beetles, and Megachile bees. Occasionally eaten by white-tailed deer.

Color Varieties: Available in white with a pouch that can be purple, pink, and white.

Gardening Conditions: Thrives in neutral to basic soils but can grow in slightly acidic conditions. Prefers very loose soil when growing in fens. Can tolerate full sun but prefers partial shade for part of the day. Since full sun exposure can bleach its lip and less deeply colored. A single seed pod can produce 50,000 seeds but there’s low seed to flowering germination. Thus, vegetative reproduction is far more common. Foliage hairs contain oils that can cause a rash similar to poison ivy or dermatitis.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Least Concern. Although it’s quite rare due to its habitat destruction and exploding deer population. So its critically imperiled and vulnerable in various states and Canadian provinces.

Trivia: Forms in clumps by branching of underground rhizomes. Roots are typically within a few inches of soil’s top. Was known to Charles Darwin who unsuccessfully tried to cultivate the plant. Provincial flower of Prince Edward Island. Has been used in native remedies for dermatitis, toothaches, anxiety, headaches, and as an antispasmodic stimulant and sedative.

Other Candidates: Large-Flowered Trillium, Purple Coneflower, Bee Balm, and Butterfly Weed.

24. Mississippi

Plains Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria)

Why the Prettiest: This annual and biennial forb is a fast-growing, cheerful native wildflower featuring bright, yellow petals and rich maroon or brown centers.

Location: Native in Canada, northeastern Mexico, and most of the United States.

Environment: Grows in disturbed areas such as roadsides, ditches, pastures, and cultivated fields. Often found in prairies, savannas, and plains at elevations up to 6,562 ft above sea level. Can grow up to 12-40 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from June to September or by the first frost. Attracts long- and short-tongued bees, wasps, butterflies, and beetles. Is larval host to various insects.

Color Varieties: Available in yellow and deep red or brown.

Gardening Conditions: Grows well in many types of soil. But prefers sandy or well-drained loam types. Though prefers full sun, it can grow in partial shade. Though often said to be an annual, it can sometimes produce a better bloom in its second year. Self-seeds in open, bare soil. Cultivated as an ornamental plant for gardens and as a native plant for wildlife gardens and natural landscaping.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Zuni used blossoms to make a mahogany red dye for yarn, a hot beverage before coffee, and female fertility treatment.

Other Candidates: Giant Blue Iris, Yellow Jessamine, Black-Eyed Susan, Purple Coneflower, Butterfly Weed, and Cardinal Flower.

25. Missouri

Missouri Evening Primrose (Oenothera macrocarpa)

Why the Prettiest: This tough, low-lying perennial blooms showy, giant, fragrant bright yellow flowers opening in the evening. Foliage is narrow, lance-shaped, gray-green to deep green leaves on reddish trailing stems.

Location: Native to northeastern Mexico and the south-central United States.

Environment: Found in calcareous prairies, limestone outcrops, glades, bluffs, quarries, and roadsides. Can grow up to 18 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from late spring to late summer such as from May to August. Typically open in late afternoon or evening and glow through the night before fading the next morning. Pollinated by sphinx and hawk moths.

Color Varieties: Available in canary yellow.

Gardening Conditions: Suitable for ground cover in poor, sandy soil that doesn’t become waterlogged during the winter, in full sun. But tolerates partial shade. Dislikes wet, poorly-drained soils and rich, crowded environments. Has low water needs and can resist drought due to a deep taproot. Offers good moderate resistance against deer and rabbits.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Produces distinct, 4-ridged seed pods that turn burgundy and sienna in the fall. Seed pods are often used in flower arrangements.

 Best Viewing: Best seen at night during the summer.

Other Candidates: Purple Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Prairie Blazing Star, Virginia Bluebell, and Dutchman’s Breeches.

26.Montana

Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva)

Why the Prettiest: It’s Montana’s state flower since 1895 and has many geographical features with its name within its borders like the Bitterroot Mountains, the Bitterroot Valley, and the Bitterroot River. It’s a small, low-growing perennial that rarely exceeds 2 inches in height. Its fleshy rosette of succulent leaves in early spring usually wither away before the flower blooms. Blossoms are star-shaped flowers can range from deep pink to white or lavender.

Location: Native to the western North America from as north as British Columbia to as south as southern California and as east as western Montana.

Environment: Inhabits low to moderate elevations on grassland, open bushland, and forest. Can grow up to an inch.

Bloom Season: Blooms from April to July.

Color Varieties: Available in pink, white, and lavender.

Gardening Conditions: Can survive extremely dry conditions. Prefers dry rocky or gravelly soils.  

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: If collected early enough, its roots can be peeled, boiled, and made into a jelly-like food. Used by Native Americans as food and for ceremonies before harvest. Merriwether Lewis ate it during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Can regenerate from dry and seemingly dead roots.

Other Candidates: Indian Paintbrush, Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Glacier Lily, and Silvery Lupine.

27. Nebraska

Purple Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrate)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a tough, low-lying native perennial of the Great Plains that features vibrant, cup-shaped magenta blooms with white centers.

Location: Native to the US Great Plains and adjacent areas of northern Mexico.

Environment: Found in upland prairies, roadsides, pastures, and other open, disturbed areas. Grows 6-12 in and spreads 3ft.

Bloom Season: Blooms late spring through summer and into fall. Attracts bees, bumblebees, and butterflies.

Color Varieties: Available in bright magenta or wine-red.

Gardening Conditions: Prefers dry, sandy, or loamy, well-drained soils. Dislikes wet, soggy roots, which can cause crown rot. Prefers full sun. Makes a good water thrifty ground cover, making it excellent for rock gardens, borders, and cascading over retaining walls. Due to a deep tap root, it’s very drought resistant once established. But it’s difficult to move or transplant so choose a permanent spot carefully. Generally deer resistant though rabbits may graze on young growth.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Used by Native Americans as a pain reliever.

Other Candidates: Western Prairie Fringed Orchid, Purple Coneflower, Prairie Coneflower, Carolina Puccoon, Black-Eyed Susan, Scarlet Globemallow, and Blue False Indigo.

28. Nevada

Desert Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)

Why the Prettiest: This is a perfect flower for a mostly desert state since it’s a tough, drought-tolerant perennial shrub with bright apricot-orange, bowl-shaped, hollyhock like blooms. While its fuzzy, whitish-green or green leaves have scalloped edges.

Location: Native to the southwestern United States and northwest Mexico.

Environment: Found in Mojave, Great Basin, and Sonoran Desert ecoregions. Grows well in alkaline soils, both sandy and clay, usually near creosote bush or desert chaparral habitats at 490-8,200ft in elevation. Can grow up to 2-4ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from spring to summer but could last for months. Attracts numerous bee pollinators, including the specialist ground-dwelling bee. Also attracts hummingbirds and butterflies. Provides food and habitat for other species.

Color Varieties: Available in orange.

Gardening Conditions: Can be used in native, pollinator, or drought resistant gardens and as a buffer against invasive species. Requires full sun with natural rainfall, though you can increase flowering with supplemental watering. Prefers sandy, desert soil with good drainage but can tolerate some clay. But hates heavily wet soil. Still, it can be trimmed back after heavy blooming to encourage neat shape and fresh flowers.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Used by the Shoshone people as a medicinal plant.

Other Candidates: Desert Peach, Indian Paintbrush, Lupine, Desert Marigold, and Palmer’s Penstemon.

29. New Hampshire

Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule)

Why the Prettiest: For one, it’s New Hampshire’s state wildflower. It’s also a striking orchid for its unique pouch-shaped pink flower. Its single pink or magenta pouch resembles a moccasin shoe.

Location: Native to eastern North America, particularly in the Great Lakes region, the Northeast, along the Appalachian Mountains, and every Canadian province save for British Columbia.

Environment: Found in pine forests with sandy soil, where it’s often seen in large colonies. Also grows in deciduous woods. Though mature well-shaded forests are preferred. Can grow up to 1ft 4 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from mid-spring to early summer such as from May to July. Attracts bees but they eventually stop visiting because it doesn’t produce nectar and offers no food but still gets pollinated through deception, usually by queens.

Color Varieties: Available in pink, magenta, and white.

Gardening Conditions: Takes many years to go from seed to plant that gathering seed-bearing specimens is presently unsustainable. Since tiny seeds need a special soil fungus to germinate and feed the young plant. Requires highly acidic soil and tolerates a range shade and moisture. Though prefers partial shade and well-drained slopes. Highly sensitive to shade and soil disturbances and environmental changes. Due to its fragile relationship with soil fungi, it usually dies if you dig it up and move it to a home garden. Not as common as other flowers in garden stores due to the extra care involved should the growing site not be suitable for its cultivation. Though germination labs have increased its availability.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Least Concern but has experienced substantial population decline due to habitat loss, deforestation, and development. Considered vulnerable in New York, endangered in Illinois and Tennessee, and unusual in Georgia.

Trivia: Provincial flower of Saint Edward Island. Used by Native Americans as medicine. Used by Algonquin for treating menstrual disorders. Can live up to 20 years in its natural habitat.

Other Candidates: Wild Lupine, Painted Trillium, Mountain Avens, Blue Flag Iris, and Cardinal Flower.

30. New Jersey

Common Blue Violet (Viola sororia)

Why the Prettiest: It’s New Jersey’s state flower as well as that of Illinois, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. It’s a low-growing, herbaceous perennial with glossy, heart-shaped leaves with scalloped edges and blue-purple flowers with white throats.

Location: Native to eastern North America from southern Canada to northern Mexico.

Environment: Native habitats are moist, rich woods and swamps. But often found in lawns and gardens or pretty much anywhere. Can grow up to 4-6 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from April to June. Larval host for fritillary butterflies. Attracts mason bees, sweat bees, and specialist mining bees. Serves as food for wild turkeys, rabbits, deer, livestock, mourning doves, bobwhites, and white-footed mice. Seeds are dispersed by ants.

Color Varieties: Available in bluish purple, white, pink, and blue-and-white.

Gardening Conditions: Grows best in well-drained and shady habitats, likely on forest floors. But can adapt to sunny or partly shady conditions. Prefers soil that’s moist, rich, and well-drained. Has no known toxicities nor insect or disease problems and is safe around pets. Reproduces by seed and vegetatively. Can be a soft, living carpet in shade gardens and woodland edges.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Secure.

Trivia: Used as a medicine by Europeans and Native Americans. Can be eaten raw or cooked, or brewed for tea. May also work as an anti-inflammatory and used for topically skin conditions. Yet, many consider it as a weed. Can self-fertilize and shoot seeds as far as 9ft away. Used to decorate waterways and park areas. Known as a symbol of love and modesty by Sappho, Shakespeare, and Christina Rossetti. A 1920s play in France called The Captive also established it as a “lesbian flower.”

Other Candidates: Virginia Bluebell, Black-Eyed Susan, Butterfly Weed, and Spotted Beebalm.

We’re off to a good start. When it comes to selecting what wildflowers to use, it must meet two criteria, it must be wild and it must be native. Sure, you may see plenty of flowers in gardens and at the garden store. But many of them are often cultivated varieties that couldn’t survive in the wild or in local conditions. While there are plenty of flowers growing in the wild that were introduced overseas, either naturalizing or becoming an invasive species. Some of these introduced species have become so invasive that they’re considered a noxious weed. In this post, we’ll see a tropical flower from Hawaii, a western lily from the Rocky Mountains, a couple of garden favorites from the Midwest, Maryland, and New England, a roadside favorite from Iowa, two irises, and an iconic phenomenon from Kansas.

11. Hawaii

Yellow Hibiscus (Hibiscus brackenridgei)

Why the Prettiest: For one, it’s the state flower of Hawaii. It’s a striking tropical shrub featuring vibrant yellow blooms. In Hawaii, this flower represents beauty, hospitality, and aloha.

Location: Native to the Hawaiian Islands.

Environment: Grows in lowland dry forest and shrubland up to 350 m elevation. Can grow up to 5-8ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from spring to fall but its bloom only lasts for a single day. Nonetheless, the plant itself always produces blooms continuously.

Color Varieties: Available in yellow.

Gardening Conditions: Needs full sun to partial shade during the day. Prefers well-drained, neutral to acidic fertile soil. Must be grown indoors in more temperate areas and treated as a tropical annual. Requires regular watering and annual early spring pruning. Popular as a patio pot plant, garden accent, and colorful outdoor hedge.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Critically Endangered due to habitat loss and degradation as well as introductions of invasive plants and animals. There are 7 populations with a total less than 60 plants.

Trivia: Has 3 subspecies.

Other Candidates: White Ginger Lily, Pua Kala, Beach Morning Glory, Naupaka, Flowering Maple.

12. Idaho

Common Camas Lily (Camassia quamash)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a perennial plant with an herbaceous character with grass-like, strap-like basal leaves and upright spikes of light blue or violet-blue flowers. Known for its striking, violet-blue, star-shaped flowers and importance as a traditional indigenous food source.

Location: Native to western North America from southern Canada to the Northwestern United States.

Environment: Can be found in shaded forest areas, rocky outcrops, open meadows and prairies, alongside streams and rivers, and marshes. Can grow up to 2.6 ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms in the late spring and could cover an entire meadow in blue.

Color Varieties: Available in deep blue, light blue, and blue-violet.

Gardening Conditions: Can be grown as an ornamental plant and naturalizes well in gardens. Grows best in well-drained soil high in humus or heavy clay that remains wet in the winter and spring. But dries out after blooming. Plant spreads by seed. However, it looks similar to death camas which is a highly toxic and potentially fatal plant that often grows in the same areas. So don’t forage or eat wild bulbs unless you have expert verification.

Conservation Status: Classified as Secure, although it’s been diminished from its native range due to modern development and agriculture.

Trivia: Has 8 subspecies. Used as food by the Nez Perce and other indigenous tribes, often roasting and boiling the bulbs. Cultivated by the Lekwungen peoples since precolonial times. Bulb is considered edible and nutritious when roasted or boiled as well as contributed to the survival of several members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Other Candidates: Idaho Trillium, Arrowleaf Balsamroot, Camas Lily, Lupine, and Indian Paintbrush.

13. Illinois

Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)

Why the Prettiest: This is a hardy, drought-resistant perennial that produces a vibrant, pink-purple, daisy-like flowers with prominent spiky central cones. Helps that it’s a year-round magnet for wildlife.

Location: Native to parts of eastern North America and present to some extent in the easter, southeastern, and midwestern United States as well as in Ontario. Most common in the Ozarks, the Mississippi Valley, and Ohio Valley.

Environment: Can be found in dry open woods, prairies, and barrens. Grows to 47 in tall and 10 in wide.

Bloom Season: Blooms from June to September or until the first frost. Attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds during the summer. While its dried winter seed heads feed goldfinches. Slugs and rabbits also eat foliage when young or shortly after emerging.

Color Varieties: Usually available in pinkish purple.

Gardening Conditions: Grown as an ornamental plant in temperate regions. Ideal for curbs, walkaways, and beds. Thrives in either dry or moist soils and tolerates drought. As long as the dirt is well-drained, it doesn’t care. But best to keep it moist while it’s young. Prefers full sun but tolerates light shade. Propagated either vegetatively with division, root cuttings, and basal cuttings or by seeds. Seed germination does best with daily temperature fluctuations. Roots can be damaged or eaten by gophers. Dead head spent summer flowers to encourage re-blooming and cut back dead stalks each early spring.

Conservation Status: Classified as Apparently Secure.

Trivia: Used by Native Americans as a traditional medicine to treat many ailments.

Other Candidates: Butterfly Weed, Dense Blazing Star, and Virginia Bluebell.

14. Indiana

Virginia Spring Beauty (Claytonia virginica)

Why the Prettiest: An early spring ephemeral, it’s a low-lying perennial wildflower with small, star-shaped blooms comprising of 5 petals that look pale pink in a distance but close ups show white petals with dark pink stripes. While its foliage consists of narrow, grass-like, dark green leaves growing halfway up the thin stem.

Location: Native across eastern and midwestern United States and parts of Canada. Range from Nova Scotia down to Georgia and west Texas.

Environment: Found in temperate deciduous forests as well as lawns, city parks, woodlands, roadsides, wetlands, bluffs, and ravines. Can grow from 4-10 inches tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms in early spring to summer. Attracts native bees, honey bees, and bumblebees, providing a critical source for early season pollen and nectar. Some specialized bees rely almost exclusively on its pink pollen.

Color Varieties: Available in pale pink and yellow.

Gardening Conditions: All parts of the plant are safe for human consumption but the leaves aren’t known for tasting good. Planted in woodland gardens, rock gardens, or naturalized lawns. Does best in rich, moist, well-drained soil high in organic matter. But can adapt to clay, sand, or loam. Prefers partial shade but tolerates full sun.

Conservation Status: Listed as Secure.

Trivia: Used as a traditional medicine by the Iroquois as a cold infusion or decoction of the powdered roots to children suffering from convulsions. Also ate the roots raw as a birth control method and as food. Roots cooked by the Algonquin like potatoes. Corm like tubers were eaten by colonists as a survival food.

Other Candidates: Virginia Bluebell, Cardinal Flower, Butterfly Milkweed, Wild Bergamot, and Dwarf Larkspur.

15. Iowa

Showy Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a striking perennial wildflower producing dense, upright, pyramid-shaped clusters of bright golden-yellow flowers. While its smooth, rigid stems are often reddish near the base.

Location: Native to eastern North America from the Atlantic Coast to the Great Plains from as north as southern Canada to as south as Georgia.

Environment: Found in many open areas such as fields, roadsides, hedges, and other habitats. Grows up 2-5 ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from July to October or November. Major food source for bees, butterflies, and beneficial insects late in the season.

Color Varieties: Available in yellow.

Gardening Conditions: Thrives in full sun but accepts partial shade. Adapts to sand, loam, or clay as long as it drains well. Prefers dry to medium moisture and handles drought well once established. But space individual plants 2-3ft apart.

Conservation Status: Listed as Secure.

Trivia: Forms neat clumps with a fibrous root system instead of spreading aggressively like other goldenrods. In addition, due to heavy, sticky pollen that’s often carried by insects instead of the wind, doesn’t cause hay fever.

Other Candidates: Michigan Lily, Purple Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Wild Bergamot, and Virginia Bluebell.

16. Kansas

Common Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)

Why the Prettiest: For one, it’s the state flower of Kansas and an iconic one with a major cultural footprint in the Americas and around the world. Painters like Van Gogh have painted it. There are even whole industries behind this flower for its uses, particularly in Russia and former eastern bloc countries, particularly Ukraine. This annual forb in the daisy family features bright yellow ray petals surrounding a brown, yellow, or maroon central disc often measuring 2-5 in across wild varieties.

Location: Native to southern Canada, central and western United States, and Northern Mexico.

Environment: Often appears in dry open areas and foothills. Outside cultivation, it’s found in clay-based soils that are typically wet in the spring but dry out in the summer. Can grow as tall as 2-10 ft.

Bloom Season: Blooms during the late summer to early fall. Acts as a virtual habitat providing nectar to bees and butterflies as well as seeds for birds like goldfinches, doves, and quail.

Color Varieties: Available in Yellow. But cultivated varieties have all kinds of colors.

Gardening Conditions: Grows best in fertile, moist, well-drained soil with heavy mulch. Thrives best in full sun. Susceptible to the Fusarium fungus, downy mildew, broomrapes, as well as other diseases.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Least Concern.

Trivia: First domesticated by Native Americans. One of the first plants brought from the Americas to Europe during the 16^th century. Domesticated form is harvested for its edible seeds for oil, confectionary, fertilizer, livestock feed, birdseed, natural dyes, or as a snack food. National flower of Ukraine and city flower of Kitakyushu, Japan. Has served as symbol of green ideology, protest movements, and indigenous tribe emblems. Subject to much of Native American mythology.

Other Candidates: Butterfly Milkweed, Purple Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Missouri Evening Primrose, and Purple Prairie Clover.

17. Kentucky

Dwarf Crested Iris (Iris cristata)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a charming, low-growing perennial that produces delicate light blue, lavender, or white flowers with distinctive gold or white-and-purple crested ridges.

Location: Native to the eastern to central United States.

Environment: Grows in calcareous soils, oak woodlands (or forests), rocky hillsides, ravines, mountain ledges (and bluffs), and along streams. Can grow from 3-9 inches tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms in mid-spring such as April and May. Attracts bees and hummingbirds. Famously resistant to deer and rabbits.

Color Varieties: Available in pale lavender, light blue, purple, and white.

Gardening Conditions: Prefers to grow in well-drained soils that are neutral or slightly acidic. Also prefers high fertile soils containing humus but will tolerate loamy soils. Can tolerate full sun but prefers cool, semi-shaded positions. Has above average water needs during the growing season. Can be naturalized as well as grown in a mixed flower border, rock garden, or create ground cover in a woodland garden. Can also grow on peat banks. Best recommended to add peat and sharp sand when planting new plants. Once planted, can be surrounded with leaf mulch for water retention. Can suffer from damage from snails, slugs, deer, iris borer, verbena bud moth, whiteflies, iris weevil, thrips, aphids, and nematodes. Susceptible to bacterial leaf blight, crown rot, rhizome rot, rust, viruses, and scorch. Can be propagated through seed or by division. Grown in ideal conditions, it can live for 10 years. Nonetheless, as with most irises, most parts of the plant are poisonous. Ingesting it can cause stomach pains and vomiting. Handling the plant without gloves can cause skin irritation or an allergic reaction with a risk of dermatitis.

Conservation Status: Listed as Secure but considered endangered in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Trivia: Has many different cultivars. Used by Cherokee Indians for herbal medicines treat ulcers and other ailments. Used as a thirst aid by 19^th century hunters in Virginia.

Other Candidates: Virginia Bluebell, Showy Goldenrod, Fire Pink, and Yellow Lady’s Slipper.

18. Louisiana

Giant Blue Iris (Iris giganticaerulea)

Why the Prettiest: Given that Louisiana is known for its bayous, this is a wetland-loving perennial has sword-like green leaves up to 30 in long as well as massive 6 in blooms in shades of sky blue, violet, and indigo featuring a distinct yellow or white central signal. Commonly found around the city of New Orleans and is one of the few areas where a native population still exists. And it’s the most recognizable Louisiana Iris species.

Location: Native to southern United States near the Gulf of Mexico in states like Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and eastern Texas.

Environment: Grows in shallow freshwater, within roadside ditches, clearings within swamps, wet meadows, and marshes. Tolerates brackish water. Grows up to 3-6ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from March to April.

Color Varieties: Available in pale blue, bright blue, dark blue, lavender, violet, and white.

Gardening Conditions: Needs full sunlight or partial shade and moist, acidic soils with a high organic and high fertility content. For best flowering, moisture is essential in late autumn, winter, and spring times when the plant begins growing new leaves. If using fertilizer, sprinkle around plant in January or February before the plant is in flower. Propagation is best carried by rhizome division since raising a seed is a very slow process.

Conservation Status: Listed as Vulnerable due to habitat destruction and climate change. The Greater New Orleans area is one of the few areas where you can see in its native range.

Trivia: Available at aquatic garden centers.

Other Candidates: Coreopsis, Indian Blanket, Purple Coneflower, Passion Flower, and Swamp Milkweed.

19. Maine

Heart-Leaved Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)

Why the Prettiest: This hardy, shade tolerant perennial has small, daisy-like pale blue to lavender-purple flowers with yellow or pinkish centers that darken to violet. While foliage comprises of distinctive heart-shaped basal leaves.

Location: Native to eastern and central North America.

Environment: Grows primarily in mesic sites with soils that are rocky but generally rich ranging from sea level to 3,900 ft in the Appalachian Mountains. Can be found on open wooded slopes, along stream banks, on moist ledges, in swampy woods, along the borders of deciduous forests, as well as in clearings, thickets, and along ditches and roadsides. Can even be seen in urban areas where it’s considered a weed. Grows 2-4ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from August to October. Attracts bees, wasps, and butterflies. Acts as a larval host for caterpillars of the pearl crescent butterfly and the wavy-lined emerald moth.

Color Varieties: Available in pale blue, lavender, and purple.

Gardening Conditions: Reproduces by seed or vegetatively via short rhizomes. Susceptible to brown rust and red rust. Prefers partial shade to full shade but can tolerate full sun with enough moisture. Adapts well to average, dry, or moist well-drained soils but dislikes being consistently wet.

Conservation Status: Listed as Secure but seen as imperiled and vulnerable in some states. Seen as an introduced species in the UK and Norway.

Trivia: Used by the Ojibwe to make incense to attract deer.

Other Candidates: Black-Eyed Susan, Pink Lady’s Slipper, Trout Lily, and Bunchberry.

20. Maryland

Black-Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)

Why the Prettiest: For one, it’s Maryland’s state flower since 1918. Is often used in gardens and ceremonies to celebrate, memorialize, and show affection for the state and its people. Known for its bright yellow petals and deep brown center.

Location: Native to eastern and central North America.

Environment: Often found in roadsides and old fields where soil has been disturbed as well as in the woods. Grows 1-3ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms during the summer through fall. Attracts butterflies. Larval host to the bordered patch, gorgone checkerspot, and silvery checkerspot.

Color Varieties: Available in yellow.

Gardening Conditions: Self-seeds to return each year, making it difficult to classify it as either an annual or short-lived perennial. Needs full sun for the best blooms. Prefers well-drained loam, clay, or sandy soil but tolerates poor soil conditions. Water deeply when first planted but can be very drought tolerant once established. Yet, leave dead heads and seed heads through the winter to feed birds, insulate roots before cutting back in the spring.

Conservation Status: Listed as Secure.

Trivia: Has 4 varieties. Used as Native American medicine for various ailments.

Other Candidates: Virginia Bluebell, Butterfly Weed, Cardinal Flower, Wild Bergamot, and Eastern Red Columbine.

              In my country, the United States of America, wildflowers are often part of the American landscape but often don’t receive the recognition they deserve. Yes, many appear in gardens for their ornamental value. But so often we don’t think of these flowers existing in a wild setting. While those we see growing in the wild are often seen as either part of the scenery and those in our lawn are often seen as weeds to mow over or else face the wrath of the local HOA. However, these flowers are part of our heritage and in this series, I’ll highlight the prettiest wildflower from each state. In this post, we’ll look at a rare aquatic plant from the south, a hardy lupine in the far north, a couple red flowers in the southeast, a pink flower in the desert, a poppy and columbine in the west, a marsh flower in New England, a butterfly flower in Delaware, and an aquatic flower in Florida.

1. Alabama

Cahaba Lily (Hymenocallis coronaria)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a rare aquatic perennial flower with one of its largest populations in the state’s Cahaba River in 3 places including the Cahaba River Wildlife Refuge and Buck Creek. Also present in the Black Warrior, Coosa, Tallapoosa, and Chattahoochee river systems. Its flowers are showy, fragrant blossoms about 3 in wide with a central cup-like structure called a corona. While its leaves are long, green, flat, and strap-like.

Location: Found only in the southeastern United States such as in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina.

Environment: Lives near rocky shoals of rivers and other fresh waterways within the southeast. Grows 3-4 ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from early May to late June with each fragrant flower opening overnight and lasting for a day. Visited and possibly pollinated by the plebian sphinx moth and pipevine swallowtail butterfly.

Color Varieties: Available in white.

Gardening Conditions: Requires a swift, shallow water current and direct sunlight to flourish. Develops from bulb lodging in rocky shoal cracks. Gardeners sometimes grow them in consistently moist garden soil.

Conservation Status: Classified as Vulnerable due to entire populations being wiped out thanks to dam construction, chemical runoff, sewage, and industrial waste threatening fragile river ecosystems. There are approximately only 50 extant populations that only exist in Alabama, Georgia, and South Carolina. A conservation project in Georgia entails seeds being collected, germinated, and grown to establish hardy root systems. Before being planted along river areas where habitat is prime.

Trivia: Also known as a shoals lily or shoals spider lily.

Other Candidates: Pink Lady’s Slipper, Fire Pink, Yellow Trout Lily, Giant Blue Iris, and Purple Coneflower.

2. Alaska

Arctic Lupine (Lupinus nootkatensis)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a perennial flower with a strong native presence in Alaska and enjoys significant popularity in Europe. Sports palmately compound (hand-shaped) leaves with dark green 3-9 leaflets that are covered in fine hairs. Displays tall, showy racemes (spikes) of pea-like flowers.

Location: Native to the western coast of North America from the Aleutian Islands, South central Alaska, and along the Alaskan panhandle to British Columbia.

Environment: Grows along roadsides, gravel bars, open meadows, and forest clearings. Thrives in well-drained slopes, subalpine ridges, open tundra, and forest clearings. Grows up to 18-20 in tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from June to August. Attracts beneficial insects such as native bees, bumblebees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Color Varieties: Available in blue, purple, pink, and white.

Gardening Conditions: Is tolerant of cool, wet summers and seed sowing is preferable since its long tap root makes transplanting difficult. Fuzzy seed pods are attractive to children but speckled black seeds can be toxic. Though the toxins flush through the system, internal use isn’t advised naturally. Since ingesting large quantities can cause respiratory depression, sleepiness, and convulsions.

Conservation Status: Classified as Least Concern. Considered invasive in Iceland.

Trivia: Introduced to Europe in the 18^th century and is one of the species from which garden hybrids are derived. Valued in Britain and Northern Europe. Is a rigorous self-seeder and seeds can demonstrate extreme dormancy longevity.

Other Candidates: Fireweed, Wild Iris, and Chocolate Lily.

3. Arizona

Parry’s Penstemon (Penstemon parryi)

Why the Prettiest: This flower is native perennial to southern Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. Has bright pink to magenta tubular, bell-shaped blooms lining upper stems. Also sports bluish-green, lance-shaped leaves forming a low cluster (rosette) at the plant’s base.

Location: Native to the Sonoran Desert of southern Arizona and northern Mexico.

Environment: Lives in the lowland desert. Can grow 2-5 ft high in upright flowering stalks and blooms in its second year. Can survive average Sonoran rainfall but not prolonged drought.

Bloom Season: Blooms in from March to May. Major favorite of hummingbirds and large butterflies.

Color Varieties: Available in pink, magenta, and red.

Gardening Conditions: Flowering is only achieved in its first year if planted in autumn. Thrives in full sun and part shade. Has low water needs and tolerates cold from 10-20 º F depending on growth stage. Needs dry, well-drained soil.

Conservation Status: Classified as Apparently Secure but faces threats of climate change.

Trivia: Finches and other small birds eat its dry seeds on stalks. While rabbits rarely chew its foliage.

Other Candidates: California Poppy, Desert Globemallow, Owl’s Clover, and Brittlebrush.

4. Arkansas

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a perennial herbaceous but short-lived plant known for its brilliant, vivid red spikes attracting hummingbirds and butterflies. Sports tubular, bright red blooms with a split lower lip, opening from bottom to top on a spike. Foliage comprises of dark green, lance-shaped and finely-toothed leaves.

Location: Native to southeastern Canada, eastern and southwestern United States, Mexico, Central America, and northern Colombia.

Environment: Found primarily in wet places like riparian zones, riverbanks, bogs, and swamps. Sometimes found in damp or semi-flooded or shaded forest areas. Tends to occupy locations near a water source, providing its roots with consistent hydration via groundwater from saturated soil. Could even be found growing away from or closer to the water and growing aquatically but often with the foliage submerged and flowers at the surface. Can grow up to 2-4 ft tall. Relies on profligate self-seeding.

Bloom Season: Season runs from July through September. Favorite of hummingbirds and butterflies.

Color Varieties: Available in red.

Gardening Conditions: Requires fairly deep soils that remains reliably moist yet sufficiently aerated year-round. May be grown as an accent plant in or along ponds, fountains, or other garden water features. If not planted in or around a water source, it prefers its roots to stay cool, something achieved when grown in dappled sun or part shade. Easily propagated by seed or dividing out young plants forming around the older, mature plants each year. Contains a number of naturally occurring toxic alkaloids such as lobelanine and lobeline, rendering it harmful upon ingestion even in small to mid-sized quantities. Negative symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, excessive salivation, fatigue/exhaustion, weakness, pupil dilation, convulsions, and even a coma.

Conservation Status: Currently classified as Least Concern.

Trivia: Used frequently in aquariums and aquascaping hobbies. Used by the Zuni as an ingredient for “schumaakwe cakes” and externally for rheumatism and swelling. Penobscot people dried and smoked (and maybe even chewed) its leaves as a tobacco substitute.

Other Candidates: Purple Coneflower, Black-Eyed Susan, Butterfly Weed, Indian Pink, and White Bergamot.

5. California

California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

Why the Prettiest: For one, this short-lived perennial or annual plant is California’s official state flower since 1903. Los Angeles County has the Antelope California Poppy Reserve that covers all 1,745 acres of the place during blooming season. Other prominent locations are Bear Valley and Point Buchon. Foliage comprises of distinctive, delicate blue-green leaves with a feathery, lacy texture.

Location: Native to the Pacific Northwest to the Sonora.

Environment: Grows in areas with sunny weather with poor, sandy, or rocky well-drained soil. Grows 1-2ft tall with a compact spread.

Bloom Season: Blooms from February to September. However, flowers can close at night or in windy, cold, and cloudy weather. Attracts native bees, butterflies, and other beneficial insects.

Color Varieties: Available in orange and yellow in the wild. Available in a wide range of flowers as a garden plant.

Gardening Conditions: Best grown as an annual and is easy to tolerate due to being drought tolerant and self-seeding. Ideal setting is full sun and well-draining sandy or loam soil. Water sparingly.

Conservation Status: Classified as Apparently Secure although it’s been threatened by climate change. Has been sold and naturalized throughout Australia, New Zealand, Chile, and Argentina.

Trivia: Has 90 synonyms and 4 varieties. Leaves are often used as a food or garnish and seeds are used in cooking. Petals can be used to create a syrup or dried and added to water to make an infusion or boiled for tea. Used by the some of the state’s ingenious peoples as traditional medicine and cosmetics.

Other Candidates: Matiljia Poppy, Baby Blue Eyes, Arroyo Lupine, Dahlia, California Fuschia, Coyote Mint.

6. Colorado

Colorado Blue Columbine (Aquilegia coerulea)

Why the Prettiest: For one, it’s Colorado’s official state flower since 1899. Features large, showy flowers with pale blue or violet sepals/spurs and creamy white petals and delicate grayish green foliage.

Location: Found in the Rocky Mountains in the western United States from southern Montana to northern New Mexico.

Environment: Grows in mountainous areas from foothills to above timberline in the alpine tundra. Prefers moist areas and often found in quaking aspen groves. Can also grow in open coniferous forests, meadows, and in clearings. Can grow up to 6-31 inches.

Bloom Season: Usually as early as April and as late as September. But typically no earlier than May. Mainly pollinated by bumblebees, hummingbirds, and hawkmoths who can’t resist its nectar rich blooms.

Color Varieties: Available in blue, purple, and white in the wild. Cultivated varieties have a wide range of colors.

Gardening Conditions: Grows poorly in heavy soils without good drainage. Most successful in average and medium garden soil that’s well drained and even moisture as well as regular watering within its first year. Can be grown in full sun or partial shade, but does best in light to moderate shade. Used as an ornamental plant in gardens for cut flowers, informal gardens, with roses and other shrubs, and in wildlife gardens. Vulnerable to powdery mildews, particularly when its leaves are regularly watered by overhead irrigation. Susceptible to infestation by aphids, leaf-miner flies, and saw flies. Seeds treated in gibberellic acid and planted in 70 º F results in 93% germination within 3 weeks.

Conservation Status: Classified as Apparently Secure yet faced threats due to overgrazing by cattle and sheep.

Trivia: Frequent garden plant and used in breeding columbine hybrids. A perennial plant that lives 4-6 years. Said to have 6 synonym species, 7 subspecies, 5 varieties, and 2 botanical forms. Seeds have been used by the Goshute people as traditional medicine.

Other Candidates: Indian Paintbrush, Lupine, Western Pasqueflower, and Elephant’s Head.

7. Connecticut

Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris)

Why the Prettiest: This is a prevalent wild flower in many areas of the eastern United States. Displays showy, buttercup-like yellow flowers with 5-9 petal-like sepals. While its leaves are glossy, dark-green heart- or kidney-shaped.

Location: Native to temperate regions in Northern Hemisphere. Can be found in most of northeastern United States.

Environment: Found in marshes, fens, ditches, and waterway edges in wet woodland or meadow. Grows in oxygen-rich water near the soil’s surface. Can grow to 4-31 in.

Bloom Season: Blooms between April and August depending on altitude and latitude. When it blooms, it dominates the landscape. Attracts beetles, thrips, bugs, butterflies, sawflies, bees, ants, and flies.

Color Varieties: Available in yellow, white, and pink.

Gardening Conditions: Likes rich soil but dislikes application of fertilizer since it avoids high concentrations of ammonium, phosphate, and brackish water. This may be due to seepage that’s rich in iron due to iron ions reacting with phosphate, making it unavailable for plants. This results in insoluble mineral appearing as rusty “flocs” on the water soil and the surface on marsh plants’ stems. Affected by rust species Puccinia calthea and P. calthicola. Contain several active substances with the most important being protoanemonin. Large quantity consumption can cause convulsions, throat burning, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, dizziness, and fainting. Skin or mucus membrane contact with its juices can lead to blistering, inflammation and gastric illness if ingested. Although the toxins could be neutralized and made edible if cooked. Recommended for low-maintenance wildlife gardens, rain gardens, pond edges, stream banks, and bog gardens.

Conservation Status: Currently listed as Least Concern.

Trivia: Has a variety of vernacular names. Is adapted for rain pollination. Each flower can produce up to 200 seeds.

Other Candidates: Cardinal Flower, Purple Trillium, Wild Columbine, Mountain Laurel, and Black-Eyed Susan.

8. Delaware

Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a perennial species of milkweed that’s a stunning clump of perennial flower prized for its flat-topped clusters of bright orange blossoms. Not to mention a host flower for many species of insects including the monarch butterfly.

Location: Can be found in most of the contiguous United States as north as South Dakota to as south as Texas and Mexico and to as west as Utah.

Environment: Found in dry to medium moist soils, clearings, meadows, and open areas. Can grow up to 1.5-3ft tall.

Bloom Season: Blooms from April to September. Primary pollinators are bees and wasps but also attracts butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. Is the larval food plant of the monarch butterfly, the queen butterfly, dogbane tiger moth, milkweed tussock moth, and the unexpected cycnia. Not a preferred host plant for the monarch butterfly but caterpillars can be reared successfully since it’s a poor source of protection from bird predation and parasite virulence.

Color Varieties: Available in orange, yellow, and red.

Gardening Conditions: Favors dry, sand, or gravel soils and requires full sun. Most easily propagated by seed. Sow it after a frost, it will flower and produce seed within its third year. Water regularly until mature but don’t fertilize. Has deep, woody taproot so it’s difficult to transplant. Has few pest and disease problems but is susceptible to crown rot if planted in poorly drained or too constantly moist locations. Resistant to deer and drought. Contains toxic progesterone-like steroids can cause weakness, seizures, or corneal injuries. Don’t use as a herbal remedy if you’re pregnant or nursing.

Conservation Status: Classified as Secure though its importance to the life of the monarch butterfly makes it an important plant in conservation.

Trivia: Has been found to be largely unaffected by prescribed burns. Roots boiled and used by Native Americans and European settlers as a remedy for diarrhea and respiratory illness. Young seed pods were used as food. Seed pod down was used to make candle wicks. While ethanol extract from roots was used to treat pleurisy.

Other Candidates: Cardinal Flower, Black-Eyed Susan, and Wild Bergamot.

9. Florida

American Lotus (Nelumbo lutea)

Why the Prettiest: It’s a perennial aquatic plant that’s absolutely perfect for a state known for the Everglades. Sports fragrant pale yellow blooms that are often 7-11 in across and stand high above water. While its blue-green leaves can exceed 2 ft in diameter which attach right to the middle giving the foliage rising straight out of the water like an inverted umbrella.

Location: Native throughout North America with range covering as north as Minnesota to as south as Honduras. Although it’s said that indigenous communities likely expanded its distribution northward and eastward since they used it as a valuable source of food and medicine.

Environment: Grows in lakes and swamps as well as areas subject to flooding. Thrives in shallow freshwater wetlands, quiet lakes, slow rivers, and backwaters with muddy bottoms. Roots are anchored in mud but leaves and flowers emerge on water’s surface. Can grow as tall as 2.6-4.9 ft.

Bloom Season: Season is late spring into the summer. Opens in the morning and closes late afternoon. Larval host plant of the American Lotus borer. Provides food to waterfowl and muskrats. Attracts native bees.

Color Varieties: Available in pale yellow and white.

Gardening Conditions: Spreads via creeping rhizomes and seeds. Widely planted in ponds as an ornamental plant. Propagation seeds can be achieved through scarifying the seed’s pointed tip and soaking it in water or division of established plants. Very cold-hardy as well as helps stabilize mud and keep water clear.

Conservation Status: Classified as Least Concern but has experienced recent population declines due to habitat destruction and have a low level of diversity within its numbers.

Trivia: Has been crossed to create many hybrids as an ornamental plant. Seeds and fruit used by various Native Americans as food and roots as medicine.

Other Candidates: Black-Eyed Susan, Bright Yellow Coreopsis, Scarlet Rosemallow, Blazing Star, and Meadow Beauty.

10. Georgia

Flame Azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceum)

Why the Prettiest: This native Appalachian deciduous shrub stands out with its showy flowers. Has clusters of vibrant fiery red, orange, and yellow blossoms.

Location: Native to the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States from southern Pennsylvania and Ohio to northern Georgia.

Environment: Typically found in woodlands slopes and mountain balds, preferring dry rocky mountain woods and mixed deciduous forests. Can grow from 4-8 ft tall and 8-10 ft wide.

Bloom Season: Blooms in late spring into early summer, typically from May to June. Visited by many animals including bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and small mammals.

Color Varieties: Available in red, orange, pink, and yellow.

Gardening Conditions: Is a popular cultivated plant due to its showy flowers. Requires minimum soil depth of 14 in., a pH range of 4.3-5.8, and at least a 200 day growing season. Prefers soil that’s well-drained, mesic to moist, medium to fine texture, and with partial shade. Can tolerate full sun if soil is consistently moist since afternoon sun can scorch the leaves. In fact, always keep the shallow root systems cool and moist by applying a thick layer of mulch. Doesn’t like “wet feet” or standing water, which causes root rot. Susceptible to fungus Exobasidium vaccinii. All parts are toxic to humans and pets through ingestion.

Conservation Status: Classified as Secure but could be extirpated from Pennsylvania and Alabama.

Trivia: Has several hybrid varieties.

Other Candidates: Cahaba Lily, Pink Lady’s Slipper, Yellow Colic Root, Butterfly Weed, and Fire Pink.