Interior Plateau

The Interior Plateau covers the limestone country of central Tennessee and Kentucky and southern Indiana, including Nashville, Louisville, Bowling Green, and the southern reach of Cincinnati. Thin soil over limestone, sinkholes, and cedar glades give it a character quite unlike the deeper farm soils to the north. Natives such as white wild indigo, eastern beebalm, and American smoketree are adapted to that shallow alkaline ground, where plants expecting rich loam tend to struggle.

Conditions: Thin soils over limestone with karst drainage, 45–52 inches of rain, hot humid summers and mild winters.

Cities and areas: Cincinnati, Nashville, Louisville, Bowling Green, Murfreesboro, Clarksville.