Why Native Plants?

At Blue Water Baltimore, we take our native plants seriously. Native plants can help reduce polluted runoff, by reducing the need for fertilizer and watering. They also have many other benefits: cooler summers, cleaner air, and more habitat for birds, butterflies, and bees.

Native plants have adapted to local conditions, and wildlife that lives here or migrates through our area have adapted to the native plants. Fertilizers needed to maintain non-native species can run off lawns and gardens in rain storm, eventually ending up in our streams and Harbor, causing fishkills and other damage to the environment.

the herring run nursery logo

Keep it Local with Native Plants

Blue Water Baltimore’s Herring Run Nursery has been serving Baltimore’s gardeners, landscapers, and watersheds for 17 years. 

If you got one of our native wildflower seed packets from us, you can plant them by simply sprinkling the seeds in the dirt. Send us a picture once they bloom and follow us on Facebook for more gardening tips!

We use a mix of native wildflower seeds from Ernst Conservation Seed:

  • Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
  • Tall White Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis )
  • Verbena hastata, PA Ecotype
  • Blue Vervain, PA Ecotype
  • Lanceleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata )
  • Blackeyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
  • Heliopsis helianthoides, PA Ecotype
  • Oxeye Sunflower, PA Ecotype
  • Lespedeza capitata, RI Ecotype
  • Roundhead Lespedeza, RI Ecotype
  • Zizia aurea, PA Ecotype
  • Golden Alexanders, PA Ecotype
  • Chamaecrista fasciculata, PA Ecotype
  • Partridge Pea, PA Ecotype
  • Senna hebecarpa, VA & WV Ecotype
  • Wild Senna, VA & WV Ecotype
  • Asclepias incarnata, PA Ecotype
  • Swamp Milkweed, PA Ecotype
  • Asclepias tuberosa, PA Ecotype
  • Butterfly Milkweed, PA Ecotype
  • Aster pilosus, PA Ecotype
  • Heath Aster, PA Ecotype
  • Baptisia australis, Southern WV Ecotype
  • Blue False Indigo, Southern WV Ecotype
  • Aster lateriflorus Calico Aster
  • Rudbeckia triloba, WV Ecotype
  • Browneyed Susan, WV Ecotype
  • Eupatorium perfoliatum, PA Ecotype
  • Boneset, PA Ecotype
  • Monarda fistulosa, Fort Indiantown Gap-PA Ecotype
  • Wild Bergamot, Fort Indiantown Gap-PA Ecotype
  • Pycnanthemum incanum, MD Ecotype
  • Hoary Mountainmint, MD Ecotype
  • Asclepias syriaca, PA Ecotype
  • Common Milkweed, PA Ecotype
  • Solidago bicolor, PA Ecotype
  • White Goldenrod, PA Ecotype
  • Solidago nemoralis, PA Ecotype
  • Gray Goldenrod, PA Ecotype
  • Solidago juncea, PA Ecotype
  • Early Goldenrod, PA Ecotype
  • Solidago rugosa, PA Ecotype
  • Wrinkleleaf Goldenrod, PA Ecotype