Native plants for Mills County, Iowa
240 native plants recorded in Mills County, Iowa
The USDA plant database has 377 plants recorded growing wild in Mills County. 240 of them are native to the lower 48, and 42 are introduced species that this page leaves out.
By type: 120 wildflowers and herbs, 50 grasses and sedges, 14 shrubs, 13 low woody plants, 36 trees, 7 vines. USDA has rated sun, soil and water needs for 107 of them (45%), and only those can be matched to a spot below. Biennial wormwood (Artemisia biennis), Common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) and 8 more are also recorded as introduced.
What fits each kind of spot in Mills County
| Spot | Rated to fit | Rated not to | Unrated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sun all day | 107 | 0 | 133 |
| Half shade | 84 | 23 | 133 |
| Under trees | 55 | 52 | 133 |
| Heavy clay | 70 | 37 | 133 |
| Sandy, drains fast | 72 | 35 | 133 |
| Never watered | 61 | 46 | 133 |
| Stays soggy | 43 | 63 | 134 |
Sun all day in Mills County: 107 rated natives
33 wildflowers and herbs, 30 trees, 29 grasses and sedges, 9 shrubs, 4 low woody plants, 2 vines. The first 8, ranked by how easy a start they make:
- American vetch (Vicia americana) vines
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1.3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis) low woody plants
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial - Panicledleaf ticktrefoil (Desmodium paniculatum) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Prairie fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Purple poppymallow (Callirhoe involucrata) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Wild mint (Mentha arvensis) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 2.6 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial
Half shade in Mills County: 84 rated natives
28 wildflowers and herbs, 24 grasses and sedges, 21 trees, 7 shrubs, 2 vines, 2 low woody plants. The first 8, ranked by how easy a start they make:
- American vetch (Vicia americana) vines
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1.3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high shade tolerance - Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis) low woody plants
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high shade tolerance - Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial · high shade tolerance - Prairie fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high shade tolerance - Purple poppymallow (Callirhoe involucrata) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high shade tolerance - Soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high shade tolerance - Common blue wood aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 5 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high shade tolerance - Sawtooth sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 5 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high shade tolerance
Under trees in Mills County: 55 rated natives
20 grasses and sedges, 15 wildflowers and herbs, 15 trees, 3 shrubs, 1 vines, 1 low woody plants. The first 8, ranked by how easy a start they make:
- American vetch (Vicia americana) vines
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1.3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis) low woody plants
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial - Prairie fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Purple poppymallow (Callirhoe involucrata) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Common blue wood aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 5 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Sawtooth sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 5 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial
Heavy clay in Mills County: 70 rated natives
23 wildflowers and herbs, 21 grasses and sedges, 20 trees, 3 low woody plants, 3 shrubs. The first 8, ranked by how easy a start they make:
- Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis) low woody plants
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial - Prairie fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Panicledleaf ticktrefoil (Desmodium paniculatum) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Wild mint (Mentha arvensis) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 2.6 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Sawtooth sunflower (Helianthus grosseserratus) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 5 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Allegheny blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis) low woody plants
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 6 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial - Black raspberry (Rubus occidentalis) low woody plants
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 6 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial
Sandy, drains fast in Mills County: 72 rated natives
23 wildflowers and herbs, 23 trees, 18 grasses and sedges, 5 shrubs, 2 vines, 1 low woody plants. The first 8, ranked by how easy a start they make:
- American vetch (Vicia americana) vines
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1.3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis) low woody plants
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial - Prairie fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Purple poppymallow (Callirhoe involucrata) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Common blue wood aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 5 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Jack in the pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1.5 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · toxicity: slight
Never watered in Mills County: 61 rated natives
16 wildflowers and herbs, 16 trees, 14 grasses and sedges, 9 shrubs, 4 low woody plants, 2 vines. The first 8, ranked by how easy a start they make:
- American vetch (Vicia americana) vines
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1.3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high drought tolerance - Soapweed yucca (Yucca glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high drought tolerance - Allegheny blackberry (Rubus allegheniensis) low woody plants
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 6 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial · high drought tolerance - Leadplant (Amorpha canescens) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 4 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · high drought tolerance - Illinois bundleflower (Desmanthus illinoensis) low woody plants
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca) shrubs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial - Panicledleaf ticktrefoil (Desmodium paniculatum) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Prairie fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial
Stays soggy in Mills County: 43 rated natives
16 grasses and sedges, 14 wildflowers and herbs, 12 trees, 1 vines. The first 8, ranked by how easy a start they make:
- Canada germander (Teucrium canadense) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 3.3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · takes saturated soil - Wild mint (Mentha arvensis) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 2.6 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial - Common buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) trees
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 15 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · takes saturated soil - Jack in the pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · conspicuous flowers · photo available · about 1.5 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · toxicity: slight - Crested sedge (Carex cristatella) grasses and sedges
USDA growing data on file · photo available · about 3 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · takes saturated soil - Tapertip flatsedge (Cyperus acuminatus) grasses and sedges
USDA growing data on file · photo available · about 1.3 ft mature · rapid growth · perennial · takes saturated soil - Water knotweed (Polygonum amphibium) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · photo available · about 0.1 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · takes saturated soil - Broadfruit bur-reed (Sparganium eurycarpum) wildflowers and herbs
USDA growing data on file · photo available · about 4.9 ft mature · moderate growth · perennial · takes saturated soil
Natives Mills County has that most of Iowa does not
24 natives here are on file in no more than 5 of Iowa's 99 counties. A few of them:
- Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca): only here
- Hogwort (Croton capitatus): only here
- Field pansy (Viola bicolor): only here
- Sand lovegrass (Eragrostis trichodes): 2 counties
- Nuttall's sensitive-briar (Mimosa nuttallii): 2 counties
- Virginia plantain (Plantago virginica): 2 counties
- Smoothcone sedge (Carex laeviconica): 3 counties
- Purple poppymallow (Callirhoe involucrata): 4 counties
- Ravenfoot sedge (Carex crus-corvi): 4 counties
- White ash (Fraxinus americana): 4 counties
Where to start in Mills County
If you have only one spot to fill, sun all day is where Mills County gives you the most rated choice (107 plants), and American vetch (Vicia americana) is the easiest start on that list. Stays soggy is the hard one here: 43 rated plants, so for that spot it is worth asking a local native-plant society about the 134 unrated natives too.