EPA Level III Ecoregion
Driftless Area
1037 native plants for the Driftless Area ecoregion (Galena area).
The Driftless Area is the corner of Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Illinois that the glaciers went around, leaving steep bluffs, deep valleys, and cold spring-fed streams instead of flat till. Galena, La Crosse, Dubuque, and Decorah sit in that terrain, and its dry south-facing bluff prairies hold plants found nowhere else in the upper Midwest. Natives like prairie dropseed, sweet coneflower, and Short’s aster suit those bluff prairies and the thin soil sitting on top of them.
Conditions: Thin soils over limestone bluffs with deep loess ridges, 32–36 inches of precipitation, cold winters, warm summers, steep slopes.
Cities and areas: Galena, La Crosse, Dubuque, Decorah, Viroqua, Prairie du Chien.
1037 Native Plants for the Driftless Area
HOA-friendly picks listed first. Pet-safety status varies by species; each plant page shows its sourced ASPCA status. Native range data from vouchered herbarium specimen records and regional native plant society lists.
Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias incarnata
Little Bluestem
Schizachyrium scoparium
Wild Bergamot
Monarda fistulosa
Wild Red Columbine
Aquilegia canadensis
Cardinal Flower
Lobelia cardinalis
Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta
Butterfly Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa
Common Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
Blue Lobelia
Lobelia siphilitica
Rattlesnake Master
Eryngium yuccifolium
Common Sneezeweed
Helenium autumnale
Switchgrass
Panicum virgatum
Golden Alexanders
Zizia aurea
False Sunflower
Heliopsis helianthoides
Lanceleaf Coreopsis
Coreopsis lanceolata
New Jersey-tea
Ceanothus americanus
Purple Lovegrass
Eragrostis spectabilis
Nodding Onion
Allium cernuum
Drooping Prairie-coneflower
Ratibida pinnata
Brown-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia triloba
Prairie Dropseed
Sporobolus heterolepis
Blue Woodland Phlox
Phlox divaricata
Showy Goldenrod
Solidago speciosa
Sideoats Grama
Bouteloua curtipendula
Culver's Root
Veronicastrum virginicum
Smooth Aster
Symphyotrichum laeve
Whorled Milkweed
Asclepias verticillata
Golden Groundsel
Packera aurea
Soft rush
Juncus effusus
Smooth Spiderwort
Tradescantia ohiensis
Michaelmas Daisy
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
American Fox Sedge
Carex vulpinoidea
Purple Prairie Clover
Dalea purpurea
Indiangrass
Sorghastrum nutans
Scarlet Strawberry
Fragaria virginiana
Spotted Geranium
Geranium maculatum
Aromatic Sumac
Rhus aromatica
Red-osier Dogwood
Cornus sericea
Virginia Mountain-Mint
Pycnanthemum virginianum
Tall Blazing Star
Liatris aspera
Creeping Polemonium
Polemonium reptans
Ninebark
Physocarpus opulifolius
Prairie Junegrass
Koeleria macrantha
Northern Red Oak
Quercus rubra
Broombush
Hypericum prolificum
Pennsylvania Sedge
Carex pensylvanica
Southern Blue Flag Iris
Iris virginica
Showing 48 of 1037. Enter your ZIP for the natives matched to your yard.
Fall care in the Driftless Area
What to do right now for plants commonly grown here. Each links to the full regional care guide for that species, with sources.
- White sage
Fall move-in timing for potted white sage in Galena.
- Wild quinine
Fall seed heads and cleanup for wild quinine in Galena.
- Joe pye weed
Fall seed heads, division, and mulch for sweet Joe Pye weed in Galena.
- Plantain leaf pussytoes
Fall cleanup and planting for plantain-leaf pussytoes in Galena.
- Field pussytoes
Fall care for field pussytoes in Galena.
- Smooth aster
Fall is peak bloom, covered in blue-violet flowers that pollinators rely on late in the season.
- Prairie dropseed
Fall brings the best color of the year, an orange-copper glow that holds up into winter.
- Rough stem goldenrod
Fall is peak bloom, a key late nectar source before frost.
- Little bluestem
Fall is little bluestem's showcase season in the Driftless Area, when the blue-green blades turn copper and mahogany.
- Black eyed susan
Fall brings seed set and the tail end of bloom around Galena.
Build a plan for the Driftless Area
The Pollinator Patch App turns plants like these into a front-yard plan tuned for the soil, climate, and HOA expectations of the Galena area.