Hi Kaylee,
do you happen to know what zone you are? Michigan, like many states, has different conditions [soil, temperature high/lows, and amount of snow cover] depending on where you live. I do my gardening mainly up at my folks' place in Traverse City. I have overwintered glads and calla lilies for quite a number of years there w/o ever lifting them. HOWEVER, that area of the state [which happens to be zone 5]generally gets a goodly amount of snow fall which usually stays most of the winter and helps to insulate the ground. That could be very different from your conditions depending on where you live.

: )

Hey Kaylee,
Lots of stuff grows well here in Michigan. If you need specifics, try MSU. I have gotten loads of great information from them regarding bird house specs to build, meadow restoration, and stuff like that. They also have wonderful gardens if you are close enough to visit them. I used to go once a month and jot down what was blooming and what had bees on it. They have a weed garden too- so you may be able to identify some at your place. Frederick Meijer Gardens is also a good place to go if you are out near GR. They also have loads of info on local gardening clubs- lots to chose from so you can meet up with other local garden fans and chat. One thing I know for sure- its too early to plant anything today outside, but I started my tomatoes from seed.. won't be long now!!

Biting at the chops to get out where I have seen native plants in the past and put a marker down to find them again.

I have seen:
pitcher plant
poison oak
swamp rose
currants/goose berry
elderberries thickets
raspberries
club mosses
jack in pulpit
lady slippers
wild columbine
etc

compost hugger...have you been mucking around in my beds?

I've got everything but the pitcher plant....I didn't know they were hardy here.

....ya know, I really don't need anything else to strike my interest..

~Chills

For native plants, try talking with your local Soil Conservation district. Many have a plant sale in the Spring and often they will organize/offer native plant tours.

Here is a link that might be useful: Conservation Districts

I've also found a wonderful book on MI wildflowers...
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1882376560?v=glance
There's a book titled Michigan Gardener's Guide by Timothy Boland, Laura E. Coit, and Marty Hair.
There's a beautiful book by McPeek and Adams (if you're interested) "The Birds of Michigan."
Good reads, all.
Tanya

Kaylee:

I will concur with the response so far and again emphasize that (1) it will be very helpful to note what zone you're gardening in; (2) I will second the suggestion to obtain and/or read the Michigan Gardener's Guide; (3) contact the folks at MSU or your local county extension service; and (4) visit some of the public gardens within the state, such as the Dow Gardens in Midland, the Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids; and a few others.

In addition to the books noted in one response, I would also highly recommend the reading and/or purchase of both "The Fragrant Year"by Helen van Pelt Wilson & Leonie Bell and "Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden" by Eleanor Perenyi. The former is a little dated, but still one of the best books on fragrant plants in the garden and it is the only book that I've found to date that sensibly discusses the making of both the dry and moist form of pot-pourri.

The later book is a gardening treasure and should be in every gardener's library. The chapter on "Failure" in a real gem and is a must read.

The former book, "The Fragrant Year" is, unfortunately, out of print, but copies in excellent condition can be found at either abe.com or alibris.com - both excellent sources for books; the later book, "Green Thoughts" is still available in paperback, but hardbound copies can be found at either or the bookseller sites previously noted.

In addition to these sources, I would highly recommend that you make use of the "PlantFinder" section of one of the most beautiful gardens in the Midwest - the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, MO. The Meijer Garden pales in comparison!

You can access their home web site at this address:

http://www.mobot.org.

and then search for their PlantFinder section.

However, if you wish to have a direct link, I listed the PlantFinder link below.

Once you arrive at this gem of a site, you can search by botanical names; by common names; you can search for plants in a particular zone and then for height, width, bloom time, foliage, suitable for butterflies, hummingbirds, etc. and so on and so forth.

So that you and other reading this post will have an idea of what's there and what information can be obtain, I'll provide you with a few example below.

One of the more interesting plants that I "discovered" while meandering through a rural, small, but exceptionally wonderful garden place north of Manistee was

Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei'

What caught my eye was the color of the fall foliage on this plant. During my late spring through mid summers to this unique garden center, my eye's didn't note much of anything - mostly because, I suspect that the flower wasn't in bloom during my visits and/or had been deadheaded to produce additional bloom.

Since this Geranium is hardy throughout all of Michigan, I decided to add it to our garden. Of course, this prompted a search for other varieties that had interesting fall colors and I found another variety and also added it to our garden.

So for you and others reading this post, here's the link to Max Frei

http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=B466

And here is the link to the other Geranium that I found, which also had a nice fall color, but is only hard to zone 4.

Geranium sanguineum 'Album'

http://www.mobot.org/gardeninghelp/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=C880

The unique features of the "PlantFinder" section of the Missouri Botanical Garden came to fore a few weekends ago when Sue and I stayed at one of the most wonderful B & B we've "discovered" not to far from our neck of the woods.

It the "Hoods in the Woods" B & B in the general Gaylord, MI area. Here's the link for those so interested.

http://www.hoodsinthewoods.com/

In our visit/stay with this most interesting couple, we found out that they were originally from the State of Ohio where they grew a variety of roses and have been rather disappointed in not being able to grow roses in their neck of the woods due to the fact that they are essentially in zone 3/4 - confirm by the "fact" that when we arrived they still have a nice pile of snow that was about 4/5 or more feet tall and the lake/large pond on which they reside was still largely frozen over with only the edges having open water.

So I introduced Jan to the PlantFinder section at the Missouri Botanical Garden, bookmarked it for her and briefly showed her how to search for plants suitable for a zone 3 area. She was amazed at what was available.

Well, I do hope that this small dissertation is most useful in your gardening endeavors.

Best wishes!

Bill & Sue

Here is a link that might be useful: PlantFinder Search page at the MBO

Springfield Township (in Oakland County?) in Southeastern Michigan has made up a very nice CD about landscaping with native plants. Here is a link to info about the CD:

http://www.springfield-twp.us/comm_nativeplants.htm

The CD includes a database of native plants which you can see here:

http://www.epa.gov/ecopage/springfieldtwp/plantlist.html

When I got the CDs they also included some fact sheets, which you can see here:

http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/ecopage/springfieldtwp/index.html