What to plant in your yard?
The first thing you need to do is determine the conditions in the area you want to plant:
Roughly how much sun does it get? Less than 4 hours per day is considered shade, 4-6 is partial sun, and 6+ is considered full sun.
What are the soil moisture conditions? Does it stay wet well into the spring? Does it reaaaallly dry out in late summer? Note that if you are planting beneath a tree it will likely be drier than areas nearby because large trees take up so much water.
Soil texture? Clay soil tends to hold moisture longer than sandy soil, but can be too compact for many species. Choose species with taproots versus fibrous roots that can penetrate heavy clay soil.
So what should you plant? When selecting a mix of species, it’s nice to have a range of bloom colors and plant heights. Most importantly (for bees) look for a range of bloom times so that there is something to nourish insects throughout the entire season.
Here are four lists for common soil and light conditions with variation in bloom time, flower color, and plant size:
Rain Garden, Full-Partial Sun
Blue Flag Iris, Swamp Milkweed, Joe-pye Weed, Boneset, Ironweed, Sneezeweed, Red-Stemmed Aster
Medium-Dry Soil, Full to Partial Sun
Golden Alexander, Purple Coneflower, Common Milkweed, Rattlesnake Master, Purple Prairie Clover, Stiff Goldenrod
Shade (Medium Soil)
Eastern Red Columbine, Pearly Everlasting, Brown-eyed Susan, Early Figwort, Blue Wood Aster, ZigZag Goldenrod
Clay Soil (sun)
Nodding Onion, Early Sunflower, Purple Prairie Clover, Rattlesnake Master, Prairie Blazing Star, Stiff Goldenrod