Native Plant Starter Kit

Only available through Conservation District Plant Sales for spring. Find a plant sale near you on our Happenings page at https://www.upnativeplants.com/happenings. 
Available on the website after July 1, 2025; click the Notify When Available button if you want to order directly in summer.
 
A garden kit is a collection of plants pre-selected by our nursery to make gardening goals easy. They can be used as a quick way to start gardening native without having to research everything under the sun. This kit contains 38 beautiful native plant essentials beneficial to bees, butterflies, and birds.
 
The Starter Kit is designed for average garden soil and full to part sun. It will contain 5+ species of native plants, 4 to 8 each of a spring bloomer, summer favorites, and fall color, plus 2 to 4 decorative grasses or sedges and other species as available. A typical kit will contain the following mix of plants, but one way we keep the per plant costs low on garden kits is by reserving the right to select specific plants based on our current inventory. If you need specific plants for your garden goals, you can supplement your garden kit with quarts. 
 
One or more spring bloomers, such as Hairy Beardtongue, Columbine, Pussytoes, or others as available. 
Milkweed for Monarch butterflies, either Rose, Common, or Butterfly Milkweed.
Coneflower; coneflowers are people favorites, but also support caterpillars, pollinators, and birds. Likely options are Purple, Pale Purple, or Showy Coneflower, or others as available.
Aster; colorful daisy-like blooms are pollinator favorites and provide seeds for birds.
Goldenrod; goldenrods are keystone host plants, meaning without them, whole sections of the food chain collapse. They are also among the most essential fall plants for gardne color and pollinators, and the graceful seed heads add winter garden interest.
Grasses & Sedges; often overlooked in new native plant gardens, native grasses and sedges host butterfly and moth caterpillars. Birds feed on the insect buffet and also the later season seeds. The structure of grasses and sedges adds both visual interest to a garden and supports pollinator overwintering.
May include a small shrub for additional chrysalis support, caterpillar real-estate, early-season blooms, and architectural interest.
 
If available, we may add a few favorites like double coneflowers, cardinal flower, lupine, or others.
 
This economical kit includes 38 plugs that fill 50 square feet at 1-foot spacing (assumes an 8" border) - a 5'x10' bed; or up to 84 square feet at 1.5 sq. ft. spacing - a 6'x14' bed. If you need to buy two kits to fill your space, check out our "buy one, get the second identical kit for 25% off" deal (deal may not be available through plant sales).
 
Each kit comes with a planting guide. The plants are individually tagged for identification and all tags include height so you can alter the layout to suit your space.  Because species may vary depending on inventory, your actual kit may differ from the picture.