EPA Level III Ecoregion
Ozark Highlands
1192 native plants for the Ozark Highlands ecoregion (Springfield area).
The Ozark Highlands cover southern Missouri and northern Arkansas, including Springfield, Branson, and Fayetteville. Thin rocky soil over chert and dolomite, steep hollows, clear spring-fed streams, and dry glades give this region a character all its own, and it holds plants found almost nowhere else. Natives such as Missouri primrose, sweet coneflower, and foxglove penstemon are adapted to that shallow rocky ground, where deeper-soil plants dry out first.
Conditions: Thin rocky soils over chert and dolomite, 42–48 inches of rain, hot humid summers, moderately cold winters, dry exposed glades.
Cities and areas: Springfield, Fayetteville, Branson, Rolla, Joplin, Harrison.
1192 Native Plants for the Ozark Highlands
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
Little Bluestem
Schizachyrium scoparium
Swamp Milkweed
Asclepias incarnata
Wild Bergamot
Monarda fistulosa
Wild Red Columbine
Aquilegia canadensis
Cardinal Flower
Lobelia cardinalis
Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta
Butterfly Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa
Dense Blazing Star
Liatris spicata
Rattlesnake Master
Eryngium yuccifolium
Blue Lobelia
Lobelia siphilitica
Common Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
Golden Alexanders
Zizia aurea
Common Sneezeweed
Helenium autumnale
Switchgrass
Panicum virgatum
Lanceleaf Coreopsis
Coreopsis lanceolata
False Sunflower
Heliopsis helianthoides
New Jersey-tea
Ceanothus americanus
Purple Lovegrass
Eragrostis spectabilis
Mallow-rose
Hibiscus moscheutos
Drooping Prairie-coneflower
Ratibida pinnata
Prairie Dropseed
Sporobolus heterolepis
Brown-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia triloba
Blue Woodland Phlox
Phlox divaricata
Sideoats Grama
Bouteloua curtipendula
Culver's Root
Veronicastrum virginicum
Narrowleaf Mountain Mint
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium
Whorled Milkweed
Asclepias verticillata
Inland Sea Oats
Chasmanthium latifolium
Smooth Aster
Symphyotrichum laeve
Smooth Spiderwort
Tradescantia ohiensis
Soft rush
Juncus effusus
Golden Groundsel
Packera aurea
Pale Purple Coneflower
Echinacea pallida
Spicebush
Lindera benzoin
Purple Prairie Clover
Dalea purpurea
American Fox Sedge
Carex vulpinoidea
Sevenbark
Hydrangea arborescens
Indiangrass
Sorghastrum nutans
Tall Blazing Star
Liatris aspera
Aromatic Sumac
Rhus aromatica
Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass
Sisyrinchium angustifolium
Scarlet Strawberry
Fragaria virginiana
Spotted Geranium
Geranium maculatum
Virginia Mountain-Mint
Pycnanthemum virginianum
Coral Honeysuckle
Lonicera sempervirens
Ninebark
Physocarpus opulifolius
Creeping Polemonium
Polemonium reptans
Showing 48 of 1192. Enter your ZIP for the natives matched to your yard.
Fall care in the Ozark Highlands
What to do right now for plants commonly grown here. Each links to the full regional care guide for that species, with sources.
- Wild quinine
Fall is when Wild Quinine finishes blooming and starts going dormant for the Springfield area's winter, and it is also when you decide how tidy you want the bed to look.
- Plantain leaf pussytoes
Fall in the Springfield area is a good time for light cleanup before winter sets in.
- Scarlet strawberry
Cooler September and October nights bring a second flush of growth before Springfield's average first frost around October 19, with foliage often turning red and maroon.
- Sideoats grama
As nights cool toward Springfield's mid October average frost, the clump shifts from blue green to reddish orange and then a tan straw color.
- Prairie onion
Bloom often stretches into early fall around Springfield, and this is also a good time to tidy the plant up before its mid-October average first frost.
- Stiff goldenrod
Fall is the main event for stiff goldenrod around Springfield, with bloom typically running from late August into October. It is an important late nectar source as other prairie flowers fade.
- Lyre leaf sage
As bloom finishes in late summer, lyreleaf sage settles into its low evergreen form for fall. First frost in the Springfield area typically arrives in mid to late October.
- Missouri primrose
Fall is when Missouri Primrose finishes its bloom cycle and moves into dormancy ahead of Springfield's first frost, typically in mid to late October. Foliage yellows and dies back, and the plant will disappear underground for winter.
- Prairie junegrass
Cooler, wetter fall weather brings a second flush of green growth, a good window for dividing.
- Narrow leaf coneflower
As flowers finish in fall, the spiky seed heads left behind are a real food source for goldfinches through the cold months, so it's worth leaving most of them standing rather than cutting the plant down right away. If you want a tidier front-yard look before winter, you can trim back the outer, most visible stems and leave the rest for the birds. This is also a fine time to divide an overcrowded clump if you didn't get to it in spring.
Build a plan for the Ozark Highlands
The Pollinator Patch App turns plants like these into a front-yard plan tuned for the soil, climate, and HOA expectations of the Springfield area.