Use the resources below to begin planning your space. There is a lot of information on this page and it can be at bit overwhelming at first. But, spending the time to research plants will ultimately bring you the most success! No one can do the work for you. Being a (successful) DIY gardener means putting in the time to learn your site conditions, study plants, and dig deep on the fundamentals of nature based gardening principles. If that doesn't sound like it is for you then you may want to hire a professional to work for or with you. Contact us for recommendations for your area or to discuss ways to go about finding and hiring a professional to help you.
Our preferred perennial grower, Glover Perennials has a wonderful searchable plant database on their website. You can search by your special growing conditions, by plant height, bloom time and even bloom color to find the right plant for your place! Be sure to include "Northeast Native" in your search criteria. We also sell the very popular American Beauties line of native plants grown by Pride's Corner Farms in nearby Connecticut. American Beauties has many very helpful tools and resources on their website to make the process of including native plants in your gardens easier. We encourage you to use these resources and make good plans! If you have your heart set on a specific plant or need large quantities of any varieties be sure to outreach to us to discuss special order options - note that all of the fabulous growers that we source from are wholesale only, they do not sell to the general public.
Click the image to explore the plant library.
Click on the image to explore the tools available on the American Beauties website.
Use this site to search by zip code to find plants that host the highest numbers of butterflies and moths to feed birds and other wildlife where you live.
Enter your 5-digit zip into Audubon’s native plants database and explore the best plants for birds in your area, as well as local resources and links to more information. By entering your email address, you'll receive an emailed list of the native plants you've selected and get additional tips on creating your bird-friendly habitat.
The link below will take you to an online tool designed to help you find the native plants best-suited for specific sites that provide the greatest ecological function and benefit, and that will also complement your landscape design. The tool allows you to find plants based on these six criteria: Plant Type, Sunlight, Soils, Bloom Month, Size, and Nature Benefits. Designed for Cape Cod Landscapes, this tool is well suited to the areas where most of our customers gardens - especially those in coastal communities.
At this site you will find a series of tools for developing pollinator friendly landscapes. This includes a searchable and printable list of native plants readily available in MA.
Grow Native Massachusetts offers a wonderful array of plant lists and landscape guides designed for homeowners in our region on their website. Visit and dig in!
The Rhode Island Native Plant Guide was developed by the URI Cooperative Extension in collaboration with the Rhode Island Natural History Survey and their Rhody Native Initiative.
Jersey Friendly Yards is a remarkable website filled with user-friendly interactive tools to help you plan an environmentally friendly, bay sensitive outdoor space. Although focused on New Jersey, our similar coastal location, population density and climate make this toolkit perfect for our location as well.
Explore this great starter list for your growing native plant garden. The resource also includes a planting guide. Though developed for Northern New Jersey, nearly all plants are well suited and native to our region as well. The majority of plants on the list are regularly stocked at Prickly Ed’s.
This is a very helpful resource that includes great native plant lists and planting guides. Written for coastal NJ but nearly all plants are well suited to our region and most are native here as well. Nearly all plants on the list are regularly in stock at Prickly Ed’s!
The plant list resources at this site are based on years of research at the Gegear Lab at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Use these lists to help support specific species of at risk pollinators in your garden.
The team at the Pollinator Pathway has compiled their favorite plant lists and guides into one place. We think you’ll find these resources to be very helpful in planning your buzzing space and picking beneficial plants.
Providing wildflower-rich habitat is the most significant action you can take to support pollinators. Adult bees, butterflies, and other pollinators require nectar as their primary food source, and female bees collect pollen as food for their offspring. Native plants, which are adapted to local soils and climates, are usually the best sources of nectar and pollen for native pollinators. Incorporating native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees into any landscape promotes local biological diversity and provides shelter and food for a diversity of wildlife. Most natives require minimal irrigation, flourish without fertilizers, and are unlikely to become weedy. The Xerces fact sheet features regionally native plants that are highly attractive to pollinators and are well-suited for small-scale plantings in gardens, urban greenspaces, and farm field borders, and on business and school campuses.
Landscapes built along conventional standards of beauty, such as the pristine American lawn, are typically ecological dead zones, and often maintained with chemicals that are harmful to humans as well as wildlife. Given catastrophic declines in biodiversity, it is imperative that we make room for nature in our neighborhoods. But habitat-rich native landscapes are still commonly read as “messy,” a barrier to the widespread cultural embrace of this movement. Edwina von Gal discusses how we can change the perception of what a “good” garden is, where healthy habitat is not disparaged as untidy but appreciated for its richness, complexity, and life-giving magic.
Award-winning designer Edwina von Gal has been the Principal of her eponymous landscape design firm since 1984. In 2013 she founded the Perfect Earth Project, promoting nature-based, toxin-free landcare practices for the health of people, their pets and the planet.
At the button below you can download a set of sample planting plans from Conserve PA in collaboration with the mid-Atlantic Audubon. Nearly all of the plants utilized are well suited to our region too and will give you ideas for how to group, layout, and select plans that are well suited to particular site conditions.
All native plants play an important role in ecosystem building, but some do a better job than others of attracting the beneficial bugs that are essential to effective organic vegetable gardening. Click on the image to explore more.
Planting native flowering plants near vegetable gardens provides two essential services, beneficial pest control and pollination. Click on the image to learn more about the beneficial bugs you want in your yard.
When we think of growing food it is often the non-native agricultural crops that we have become accustomed to. But many of our wonderful and beneficial native plants have a rich history of culinary uses. Explore more in this 14-page guide.
Native plants have developed something of a bad rap among some homeowners and even garden professionals as messy and hard to manage plants that do not fit in with the neighborhood. We vehemently disagree! But, we are also sensitive to the fact that some people are not fully ready to embrace their wild side and want a more subtle transition. Fortunately there are many beautiful native plants that not only fit well into a residential yard, but also provide multiple benefits. The book "Native Plants for Small Yards" features ideas and recommendations for these native plants that will work well in a flower garden or home landscaping project, especially for the resident with the small yard. Just click on the button below to download and start reading.
Explore the amazing plant trials, research studies and educational resources from the Mt. Cuba Center. Learn more about the horticultural and ecological benefits of a wide variety of native plants and their cultivars.
Now that you have planted the perfect pollinator paradise be sure to nurture your new habitat in a way that also nurtures life. Learn more about Leaving the Leaves and Saving the Stems from the Xerces Society at the link below.
Learn more about the harmful effects of pesticides at the link below. Many of these pesticides are lurking in commonly used lawn and garden products, please use extra caution when caring for your pollinator patch.
Founded by iconic landscape designer Edwina von Gal, Perfect Earth Project aims to educate, engage and inspire homeowners, land care professional, and decision makers to adopt land care practices that are toxic free, nature b and climate responsible.
New Directions in the American Landscape was founded by Larry Weaner, a talented, well known ecological landscape designer. Throughout the year you can sign up for workshops and courses to help you up your resilient landscaping game. Click on the image above to visit the site.
Many of you may know Bristol resident Heather Evans who along with her daughter Zoe created Design Your Wild. Through the website which can be accessed by clicking the image above you can sign up for her informative and inspirational newsletters, read articles, explore resources and sign up for DIY courses. Prickly Ed's Customers receive a discount on the subscription fee by using the discount code https://www.designyourwild.com/pricklyeds
Healthy Yards promotes the growth of landscaping practices that are sustainable and good for the environment and for you. Explore their work and rich library of resources.
This is the website of Benjamin Vogt ("Milk the Weed" / "New Garden Ethic"). The site is full of how to guides, online courses, tools and resources to help you plan an ecologically sound garden. Click on the image above to visit the site.
Note that our articles also run monthly in East Bay Life, a regional publication here in East Bay, Rhode Island.
Dealing with salt water inundation in your backyard? Need plants for a hot, dry, streetscape? Building a rain garden to help mitigate flooding? Doing an urban community planting? We have a whole page dedicated to planting in touch spots. Be sure to visit and explore the resources!