NIU Grounds is embracing sustainable landscaping designs through the implementation of native perennial garden beds.
Native perennial plants featuring plants tolerant of full to partial sunlight, drought, and salt spray. Plants in this bed were seeded, using a mix specifically designed to attract insects and other pollinators. Seeds were spread in the winter of 2025/2026. This bed has a mix of wildflowers and grasses, including:
- Achillea millefolium (Yarrow)
- Agastache foeniculum (Anise Hyssop)
- Allium stellatum (Prairie Onion)
- Anemone canadensis (Canada Anemone)
- Apocynum cannabinum (Dogbane)
- Asclepias incarnata (Rose Milkweed)
- Asclepias syriaca (Common Milkweed)
- Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed)
- Asclepias verticillata (Whorled Milkweed)
- Bouteloua curtipendula (Side-oats Grama)
- Ceanothus americanus (New Jersey Tea)
- Chamaecrista fasciculata (Partridge Pea)
- Coreopsis lanceolata (Lance-leaf Coreopsis)
- Coreopsis palmata (Prairie Coreopsis)
- Dalea candida (White Prairie Clover)
- Dalea purpurea (Purple Prairie Clover)
- Drymocallis arguta (Prairie Cinquefoil)
- Elymus canadensis (Canada Wild Rye)
- Eryngium yuccifolium (Rattlesnake Master)
- Euthamia graminifolia (Grass-leaved Goldenrod)
- Helianthus helianthoides (Early Sunflower)
- Helianthus pauciflorus (Showy Sunflower)
- Koeleria macrantha (June Grass)
- Liatris pycnostachya (Prairie Blazing Star)
- Lobelia siphilitica (Great Blue Lobelia)
- Monarda fistulosa (Wild Bergamot)
- Monarda punctata (Spotted Bee Balm)
- Oligoneuron riddellii (Riddell's Goldenrod)
- Parthenium integrifolium (Wild Quinine)
- Pycnanthemum virginianum (Mountain Mint)
- Ratibida pinnata (Yellow Coneflower)
- Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan)
- Schizachyrium scoparium (Little Bluestem)
- Scrophularia lanceolata (Early Figwort)
- Solidago speciosa (Showy Goldenrod)
- Sporobolus heterolepis (Prairie Dropseed)
- Symphyotrichum laeve (Smooth Blue Aster)
- Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (Aromatic Aster)
- Tradescantia ohiensis (Ohio Spiderwort)
- Verbena stricta (Hoary Vervain)
- Veronicastrum virginicum (Culver's Root)
- Zizia aurea (Golden Alexanders)