You’ve decided you want a rain garden. It’s important to pick the right plants that can live through large rain storms and just the general conditions of your yard. There are a lot of plant choices for both shaded and sun rain gardens but here are five of our favorite perennials in no particular order!

1. Lobelia cardinalis Cardinal flower

This beautiful perennial will look great in a shade or sun rain garden. It has red blooms from July to September. This plant looks beautiful and will attract hummingbirds and butterflies. It’s tolerant of rabbit, deer and wet soil (key-for a rain garden).  Cardinal flower is a clumping perennial so it will fill in garden space over time, providing a nice mass effect. One of our favorite varieties is ‘Black Truffle’ which has dark red foliage.

Cardinal Flower

2. Chelone glabra Turtlehead

If you’re planning on planting a shaded rain garden on your property you should consider using the perennial turtlehead. It has white to pink blooms from August to October.  Turtlehead attracts butterflies, tolerates wet soil and erosion making it a great rain garden pick! Since the bloom time is in the late summer to fall you might consider painting this with other perennials that bloom during the spring and summer to ensure you have color in your garden throughout different seasons. This plant is a source of food for many butterflies but also is one of the few that supports the Baltimore checkerspot. Butterflies go from flower to flower for nectar but what is so special about this plant is that it’s a host plant for Baltimore checkerspots because the young caterpillars can eat it. For more information on the Baltimore checkerspot and turtlehead check out the linked report that Maryland Department of Natural Resources put out.

Turtlehead with pink blooms

3. Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly weed

Butterfly weed will bring a pop of color to your sun rain garden from June to August with its yellow to orange blooms. The bright blooms will attract butterflies and the plant tolerates dry, shallow and rocky soil as well as drought and deer. This plant is not to be confused with Butterfly Bush! Butterfly weed attracts many species of butterflies but can also be used as a host plant for monarchs! Monarch butterflies are endangered and their population has declined 90% in the past two decades  for reasons linked to climate change as well as habitat loss, it has become increasingly harder for monarchs to find plant hosts. Planting Butterfly weed or other host plants could help keep the Monarchs around !

Butterfly weed

4. Liatris Blazing Star

Blazing star is another sun perennial that will be a great addition to your rain garden. The perennial’s red-purple blooms appear from July to August.  It will attract both birds and butterflies to your garden! You may want to consider blazing star if you’re looking for a little height in your garden as it gets from 2 to 4 feet tall!

Blazing star

5. Asclepias syriaca Common Milkweed

Milkweed is another perennial that would be a great addition to your sun rain garden.  It has pink, mauve or white blooms from June to August that are fragrant. It is deer resistant and also attracts butterflies!  This species of milkweed is great for early generations of monarchs and provides a nectar for many butterfly species. If your interested in planting milkweed it’s important to keep in mind that it can be difficult to transplant because of their roots.

Common milkweed

We hope that you found this blog post helpful, look out for more posts from us coming soon. Good luck with your gardening!