Native Plants & The Monarch Project | Suburban Lawn & Garden

Monarch Mariposa Project

Kansas City Southern is proud to have partnered with the Kansas City Downtown Rotary Club and Suburban Lawn & Garden to help save the Monarch Butterfly (Mariposa) population. Monarch butterflies are among the most recognizable animals in North America. In addition to being an international symbol of the environment, the beautiful monarch butterflies contribute to the health of our planet. While feeding on nectar, they pollinate many types of wildflowers. Monarch butterflies are also an important food source for birds, small animals, and other insects. Monarchs only travel during the day and need to find a roost at night where they gather together at “waystations” to rest and refuel along the way. Many of these locations are used year after year. The more prominent and well-known eastern migration travels south from States and travel along the I-35 corridor, known as the “Monarch Highway,” in the central United States. This Monarch Highway in the US and through Mexico to Michoacán is directly along the KCS network route. Although the Mexican Government recognized the importance of Oyamel forests to monarch butterflies, deforestation throughout Michoacán over the past decades has fragmented the habitat. People have illegally harvested Oyamel trees for wood fuel and timber. The disappearance of the Oyamel forest is not only affecting the monarch butterfly, whose population has decreased by 80% in just 20 years, but also the local communities that own the forest who rely on it for their livelihoods, water, healthy soil, and erosion control.

Native Species

Native gardening is very important to the ecosystem. Pollinators rely on the blooms for a food source, just as insects and caterpillars need to eat the foliage of certain plants to survive. True natives (often referred to as “species” plants) can add beauty to the landscape. Some gardeners prefer to use cultivars of native species, or “Nativars.” Each has its value, depending on the goals of each gardener. The following is a list of plants that we commonly carry. We have the “straight species” of some, while others are available as a “Nativar.”

Annuals
Bidens
Coreopsis
Rudbeckia (Black Eyed Susan)

Ferns
Christmas Fern
Cinnamon Fern
Lady Fern
Maidenhair Fern
Ostrich Fern
Royal Fern

Grasses
Big Bluestem (Andropogon)
Horsetail Rush (Equisetum)
Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus)
Sedge (Carex)
Soft Rush (Juncus)
Switch Grass (Panicum)

Perennials
Arrow Arum (Peltandra virginica) *Water Plant
Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)
Bee Balm (Monarda ssp.)
Blazing Star (Liatris spicata, Liatris scariosa)
Blue Star (Amsonia ssp.)
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
Cattail (Typha spp.) *Water Plant
Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata & C. palmata)
Eupatorium (Eutrochium purpureum)
False Indigo (Baptisia australis)
False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides)
Goldenrod (Solidago ssp.)
Jacob’s Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)
Pickerel (Pondteria cordata) *Water Plant
Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale)
Solomon’s Seal (Polygonatum odoratum)
Spiderwort (Tradescantia spp.)
Tall Garden Phlox (Phlox paniculata)
Turtlehead (Chelone glabra)
Verbena (Glandularia canadensis)
Water Lily (Nymphaea ssp.) *Water Plant
Woodland Phlox (Phlox divaricata)
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Yucca (Yucca filamentosa)

Shrubs
Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
Buckthorn (Rhamnus caroliniana)
Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis)
Ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius)
Serviceberry (Amalanchier arborea)
St. John’s Wort (Hypericum prolificum)
Sumac (Rhus spp.)
Sweetspire (Itea virginica)
Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata)
Witch Hazel (Hamamelis vernalis)

Trees
American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana)
American Smoketree (Cotinus obovatus)
Baldcypress (Taxodium distichum)
Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica)
Buckeye (Aesculus glabra, A. pavia)
Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa)
Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)
Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana)
Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Fringetree (Chinanthus virginicus)
Kentucky Coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus)
Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)
Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana)
Pin Oak (Quercus palustris)
Red Maple (Acer rubra)
River Birch (Betula nigra)
Shumard Oak (Quercus shumardii)
Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum)
Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor)
Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
White Oak (Quercus alba)
Yellowood (Cladrastis kentukea)

The following are native species plants whose proceeds go to help the Monarch Mariposa project to restore the Oyamel trees. Find them in purple quart-sized pots in the perennials department. Suburban will donate 50% of the proceeds to Monarch Mariposa

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Weed)
Asclepias syriaca (Common Milkweed)
Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed)
Asclepias verticillata (Whorled Milkweed)
Asclepias viridis (Green Milkweed)
Baptisia australis (Blue False Indigo)
Carex amphibola (Creek Sedge)
Carex vulpinoidea (Fox Sedge)
Carex albicans (White Tinged Sedge)
Carex eburnea (Bristle Leaf Sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Oak Sedge)
Echinacea pallida (Pale Coneflower)
Liatris scariosa (Eastern Blazing Star)
Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower)
Monarda fistulosa (Bee Balm)
Oenothera macrocarpa (Missouri Primrose)
Penstemon digitalis (Beardtongue)
Pycnanthemum tenuifolium (Mountain Mint)
Salvia azurea (Blue Sage)
Solidago speciosa (Showy Goldenrod)
Sporobolus heterolepis (Prairie Dropseed)
Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (Aster)
Vernonia arkansas (Curlytop Ironweed)