25 Years of Keeping Nature Near® with Grow Native!

In 2025, the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Grow Native! program is 25 years old. For a quarter century, this native plant education and marketing program has been a significant catalyst for the growth of the native landscaping movement in the lower Midwest and beyond.

Initiated in 1999 with the Conservation Federation of Missouri as the “Bring Nature Home” program, Grow Native! took root in 2000 under the auspices of the Missouri Department of Conservation and the Missouri Department of Agriculture. Through 2011, these agencies laid a strong foundation for increasing the supply of and consumer demand for native plant products and services, with the development of many native plant educational and marketing resources. 

MPF became the Grow Native! home in 2012. Since then, the program has expanded beyond Missouri state lines to serve the lower Midwest. Just a few of the many accomplishments of the program during this time period include

– Expansion of Grow Native! professional members, in membership and category of goods and services. For 2025, there are nearly 190 professional members.

– Expansion of the Grow Native! searchable Native Plant Database, with 370 plant species (and more to come!)

– Establishment of the Grow Native! Professional Certification Program, Grow Native! Gardens of Excellence, 30 Top Ten native plant lists, 13 native garden designs, Native Landscaping Toolkit for Municipal Professionals, a popular webinar and master class series reaching thousands of people annually, and much, much more.

A Special Edition Logo to Celebrate a Special Anniversary

To kick off our 25th-anniversary celebration, we share the vibrant illustration below by artist Melissa Bryant, commissioned to recognize this significant Grow Native! milestone.

“It was such an honor to be asked to create a celebratory wreath for the Missouri Prairie Foundation’s Grow Native! program,” said Bryant. “I was able to incorporate some faunal associations that highlight the interconnectedness and support systems of native species. This focus has been a driving factor in my own work recently, so any chance I can help get the message out through art, it’s a perfect partnership!”

Learn more below about each native plant and animal featured in the artwork (clockwise from center top):

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida) with spring azure (Celastrina ladon) larva and adult. Specific native plants, like dogwoods, provide vital food for thousands of insects. Learn about native plant host plants for butterflies here. 

Serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) is a small, spring-blooming native tree with white flowers and edible red berries that is ideal for small yards.

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) with black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) adult. The caterpillars of these striking butterflies feed on plants in the carrot family, including golden Alexanders, dill, and parsley.

Prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis) is a delicate but tough grass that grows in dense, arching tufts.

Copper iris (Iris fulva) with gray treefrog (Hyla versicolor). This native iris looks beautiful planted in rain gardens and around ponds.

American beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) with purple finch (Haemorhous purpureus) and green june beetle (Cotinis nitida). This small shrub offers visual interest spring through fall and is an excellent choice for formal landscapes.

Prairie coreopsis (Coreopsis palmata) with sweat bee (Agapostemon sp.). Native to the tallgrass prairie, this yellow-blooming species adds cheerful flowers to sunny gardens.

Coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens) vines provide nesting structure for songbirds and hummingbirds feed on nectar from its tubular flowers.

Eastern blazing star (Liatris scariosa) feeds monarch butterflies in late summer as they migrate south.

Sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) with Dakota skipper (Hesperia dacotae) larva. A beautiful grass for landscaping, it is also a drought-tolerant host plant for numerous skipper butterflies.

White oak (Quercus alba) and other oaks provide food for caterpillars of more than 500 species of butterflies and moths as well as acorns that provide food for wild turkey, mammals, and other animals. Oak wood products from the lower Midwest are exported worldwide. Illustrated here with white-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) and fourteen-spotted leaf beetle (Cryptocephalus guttulatus).

Wild plum (Prunus americana) with Henry’s elfin (Callophrys henrici) adult. Fruits from these small trees are relished by wildlife and are a treat for people.

Butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) with large milkweed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus). This monarch host plant adds brilliant orange blooms to sunny gardens and is a pollinator favorite.

Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica) thrives in dry shade and can be used a groundcover.

Purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata) produces showy, magenta flowers along trailing stems from June into the fall.

Blue sage (Salvia azurea) with prothonotary warbler (Protonotaria citrea) and bee. This dramatic prairie plant blooms in late summer.

Red buckeye (Aesculus pavia) is one of the first trees to bloom in spring, with tubular flowers that attract hummingbirds.

Arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum), and many other native shrubs, can be used as replacements for invasive bush honeysuckle.

Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) with leafcutter bee (Megachile sp.) and cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum). Native fruits like persimmons are important food for wildlife and a delicious ingredient in desserts.

Elm-leaf goldenrod (Solidago ulmifolia) with American copper (Lycaena phlaeas) adult. This is one of many beautiful, well-behaved goldenrods to include in home landscaping. Goldenrods serve as host plants for caterpillars of more than 100 butterfly and moth species.

Sky blue aster (Symphyotrichum oolentangiense) blooms in September and October, providing late-season beauty and nectar and pollen food sources.

Little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) with wrinkled grasshopper (Hippiscus ocelote). This warm-season grass provides nutritious, drought-tolerant forage for cattle as well as food for insects and shelter for animals.

Note: These resources on native edibles are intended as general information only. As with any foods, there is a potential for allergic reactions when consuming native edibles. Always seek the advice of a health professional with any questions about touching or eating any plant matter.