EPA Level III Ecoregion
Western Allegheny Plateau
1050 native plants for the Western Allegheny Plateau ecoregion (Pittsburgh area).
The Western Allegheny Plateau covers the hill country of western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and West Virginia, centered on Pittsburgh and reaching toward Columbus and Charleston. Steep wooded slopes, narrow valleys, and acidic soils shape what grows, and a lot of this region is shaded rather than open. Natives like flame azalea, sweet azalea, twinleaf, and creeping phlox are woodland plants that do their best work in part shade, which suits yards sitting under mature trees.
Conditions: Acidic soils on steep wooded slopes, 38–45 inches of rain, cold winters and humid summers, and a great deal of shade.
Cities and areas: Pittsburgh, Columbus, Charleston, Wheeling, Zanesville, Steubenville.
1050 Native Plants for the Western Allegheny Plateau
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
Cardinal Flower
Lobelia cardinalis
Wild Red Columbine
Aquilegia canadensis
Black-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia hirta
Butterfly Milkweed
Asclepias tuberosa
Dense Blazing Star
Liatris spicata
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
Nodding Onion
Allium cernuum
Drooping Prairie-coneflower
Ratibida pinnata
Mallow-rose
Hibiscus moscheutos
Purple Lovegrass
Eragrostis spectabilis
Brown-eyed Susan
Rudbeckia triloba
Blue Woodland Phlox
Phlox divaricata
Culver's Root
Veronicastrum virginicum
Narrowleaf Mountain Mint
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium
Smooth Aster
Symphyotrichum laeve
Inland Sea Oats
Chasmanthium latifolium
Smooth Spiderwort
Tradescantia ohiensis
Soft rush
Juncus effusus
Golden Groundsel
Packera aurea
Sevenbark
Hydrangea arborescens
Indiangrass
Sorghastrum nutans
Spicebush
Lindera benzoin
American Fox Sedge
Carex vulpinoidea
Michaelmas Daisy
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae
Scarlet Strawberry
Fragaria virginiana
Virginia Mountain-Mint
Pycnanthemum virginianum
Aromatic Sumac
Rhus aromatica
Spotted Geranium
Geranium maculatum
Narrowleaf Blue-eyed Grass
Sisyrinchium angustifolium
Red-osier Dogwood
Cornus sericea
Coral Honeysuckle
Lonicera sempervirens
Ninebark
Physocarpus opulifolius
Creeping Polemonium
Polemonium reptans
Northern Red Oak
Quercus rubra
River Birch
Betula nigra
Pennsylvania Sedge
Carex pensylvanica
Broombush
Hypericum prolificum
Showing 48 of 1050. Enter your ZIP for the natives matched to your yard.
Fall care in the Western Allegheny Plateau
What to do right now for plants commonly grown here. Each links to the full regional care guide for that species, with sources.
- Plantain leaf pussytoes
Fall is a good time to plant, divide and clean up.
- Symphyotrichum pilosum
Fall is when frost aster earns its name. It blooms from August into October, often right up to Pittsburgh's first frost.
- Common blue violet
Fall, before Pittsburgh's average first frost around October 20, is a good time to divide and spread common blue violet to new shady spots.
- Creeping phlox
Fall in Pittsburgh, cooling down toward the first frost around mid October, is a good time to divide the mat and settle it in before winter.
- Garden phlox
As Pittsburgh cools into fall, Garden Phlox finishes blooming and it is time to clean up stems before the first frost.
- Foxglove beardtongue
Fall calls for a light cleanup in the Pittsburgh area rather than a full cutback, since foxglove beardtongue's stems shelter pollinators through the cold months.
- Purple coneflower
Fall is a hold season for purple coneflower rather than a cutback season. Letting the flower heads dry and stand through fall gives seed eating birds a food source and starts the stems on their way to sheltering insects over winter.
- Common coreopsis
Bloom slows and eventually stops as nights cool in fall. This is a good time for a final cleanup, and it also works as an alternative window for dividing the plant.
- Blue mistflower
Fall is blue mistflower's showiest season, with powder blue to violet flower clusters blooming from late summer through the first frosts. It is a strong late nectar source for pollinators heading into fall.
- Shallow sedge
Fall fruiting spikelets on lurid sedge can be left standing for winter interest and bird food, and this is also a good time to divide or plant before the ground cools too much.
Build a plan for the Western Allegheny Plateau
The Pollinator Patch App turns plants like these into a front-yard plan tuned for the soil, climate, and HOA expectations of the Pittsburgh area.