As the common name suggests, Bushy Aster is an upright, bushier variety of native Aster.  Fast growing and easy going, will tolerate most soil conditions as it is found in both grasslands and bordering wetlands.

Tupelo, or Black Gum, is a deciduous tree that is often found around ponds, lakes and swampy areas.  Tupelo flowers are an important source of nectar for bees, honeybees make tupelo honey from it.  Tupelos produce blue-black fruits that support birds.   During the Fall, its shiny leaves are striking reds and purples.  

These evergreen trees are very adaptable and can tolerate heat, cold, dry, wet, salt and windy conditions. The scale-like needles are attractive in all seasons.  In late summer and fall, female junipers have blue-green berry-like fruits, actually modified cones, that attract birds.

Easy growing light purple flowers bloom later in the season providing pollen sources for many bees and other insects.  Smooth Aster will flourish in mediocre and poor quality, rocky soils.  Works well in garden borders and neglected areas.

This plant is prized for its long bloom season, and is good for naturalizing or in a rain garden. Has a minty aroma when crushed.  Can spread aggressively.

An easily grown, attractive, deciduous vine. In the fall, the leaves turn  bright red and make a showy contrast with its blue berries. Unlike some climbing vines, it adheres via adhesive discs rather than penetrating rootlets. Will easily climb deer netting. May be grown as a ground cover.

The leaves have a bluish cast in the summer, with finely-textured, pink-tinged, branched flower seed heads that hover over the foliage like a cloud. Leaves turn a bright yellow in the fall.

Super easy to grow and tolerant of most conditions.  Bright yellow flowers open at dusk and close by noon, hence the common name.  While each plant will only live 2 years, they will readily self-seed to create clusters of plants in successive years.  

This easy going shrub is semi-evergreen and its attractive leaves turn reddish during the fall. Its waxy yellow-green fruits are bird magnets and have been used traditionally to make candles.

Yes, Long Island has a native cactus! The Prickly Pear Cactus is a mounding, low-growing perennial found closer to the shoreline in sandy patches.  Easy to grow, hard to kill, and great for containers, too.  Be careful of the tiny hairlike spines when handling!  The paddles (nopales) and fruit (tuna) are edible and feature in Mexican cuisine.