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 these beds were grown in the Montgomery Greenhouse, Grounds Greenhouse, and outside using the milk jug method. This bed has a mix of wildflowers and grasses, including:
- Aquilegia canadensis (Columbine)
- Camassia scilloides (Wild hyacinth)
- Agastahe foeniculum (Anise hyssop)
- Amemone cylindrica (Thimbleweed)
- Asclepias syriaca (Common milkweed)
- Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly weed)
- Enchinacea pallida (Pale purple coneflower
- Eragrostis spectabilis (Purple love grass)
- Liatris pycnostachya (Prairie blazing star)
- Lupinus perennis (Wild lupine)
- Monarda fistulosa (Wild bergamot)
- Monarda punctata (Spotted beebalm)
- Penstemon hirsutus (Hairy beardtongue)
- Phlox pilosa (Prairie Phlox)
- Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed Susan)
- Schizachyruim scoparium (Little bluestem)
- Silene regia (Royal catchfly)
- Symphyotrichum lateriforum (Calico aster)
- Tradescantia ohienis (Ohio Spiderwort)