Selecting Plants
Plant Selection Guides from Red Oak Rain Garden: Brochures with plant recommendations and design plans for a variety of sites, including full sun, shade, wet, and dry conditions. Resources provide images of plants in all four seasons and information on which types of pollinators they attract.
Native Plants for Container Gardening: Learn how to grow native plants in containers - perfect if you have limited space!
Pollinator Plants for the Herb Garden: Find recommended plants to add to your herb garden to attract pollinators.
Salt-Tolerant Native Plants: Discover plants that can handle salt runoff from adjoining driveways, sidewalks, and roads.
Aggressive Native Plants: Not all native plants are recommended for new gardens, as some tend to dominate and out-compete other species. These plants are not invasive and certainly have a place in native landscapes, but require extra vigilance to curb rapid spreading.
Trees and Shrubs
Healthy Hedges: Chicago Region Tree Initiative’s recommended privacy screen replacements, following removal of invasive woody species.
Trees and Shrubs Native to Northeastern Illinois: Recommended trees and shrubs for the Cook County area of Illinois, provided by Openlands based on findings from The Chicago Wilderness Region Urban Forest Vulnerability Assessment and Synthesis.
Native Trees and Shrubs for Supporting Pollinators: Recommended trees and shrubs for the Midwest, provided by Heather Holm, pollinator conservationist.
Selecting and Planting Trees: This handbook from the Morton Arboretum will guide you through purchasing quality trees to plant, where to place them, and how to set them up for healthy growth.
Municipal Codes
Simplifying Municipal Codes for Gardeners: Municipal regulations can be difficult for gardeners to untangle. This resource provides basic vocabulary and common guidelines to help make them easier to understand.
What if my city doesn't like my native garden?: (blog and podcast episode) Is your yard compliant? Don't be fooled by the title - we have a fun time chatting about municipal codes and our native plant gardens during this episode of Everyday Environment with Brodie Dunn, Illinois Extension Wildlife & Pollinator Outreach Associate. Find out where to find the rules that may cover your native garden, learn best practices to apply within your own yard, and we even chat about some good and bad plant choices.
Webinar on Municipal Codes for Gardeners and Stewards: As the turf lawn falls further out of fashion and native plants surge in popularity, gardeners across Illinois have struggled to stay compliant with their municipality’s landscaping ordinances. These codes dictate everything from what kind of plants a homeowner can grow to where they can plant it and how it must be maintained. Tune in to this webinar for guidance on how to keep compliant with your city’s code, information about recent changes in state law, and how cities are trying to accommodate their residents' surge in interest in ecologically-friendly backyards.
