Native plants · Georgia

Native plants of Fayette County

34 plant species are recorded as native to Georgia in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Fayette County by USDA PLANTS. 13 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Fayette County, Georgia

PLANTS records only 13 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Georgia list is a useful second check.

Native species: 34 Typical Georgia county: 129 (median of 159 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 13 Typical Georgia county: 58
Share by type (all 34 native species): Percent of the 34 native species in each growth type

Tree 21% (7)
Shrub 6% (2)
Wildflower (forb) 24% (8)
Grass or grass-like 12% (4)
Fern 38% (13)

Ferns make up the largest share of the native list (38%), followed by wildflowers (24%).

Recorded native ranges can include long-established populations that spread from gardens; check your state’s native plant society list for local guidance. How native status is decided.

ZIP codes mainly in this county fall in USDA hardiness zone 8a (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 13

Native species with PLANTS growing records (height, light, moisture, minimum temperature). “—” means PLANTS has no value.

Garden-ready native plants of Fayette County, Georgia
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
blackgum Nyssa sylvatica	Tree	95 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 5b
blackjack oak Quercus marilandica	Tree	25 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 6a
cinnamon fern Osmunda cinnamomea	Fern	4.9 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4a
common buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis	Tree	15 ft	Shade-tolerant	High	Zone 4a
common evening primrose Oenothera biennis	Wildflower (forb)	5 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
New York fern Thelypteris noveboracensis	Fern	1.5 ft	Shade-tolerant	Low	Zone 4b
possumhaw Ilex decidua	Tree	33 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 5b
rattlesnake fern Botrychium virginianum	Fern	1.4 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 3b
silky dogwood Cornus amomum	Shrub	10 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
swamp rose Rosa palustris	Shrub	8.2 ft	Shade-tolerant	Medium	Zone 4a
sweetbay Magnolia virginiana	Tree	60 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 9a
tuliptree Liriodendron tulipifera	Tree	120 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 5b
water oak Quercus nigra	Tree	90 ft	Sun	High	Zone 5a

Other native species recorded here 21

PLANTS has no growing records for these, so light, moisture, height and zone filters cannot include them. Many are wild species seldom sold by nurseries.

bearded flatsedge Cyperus squarrosus
bluntlobe cliff fern Woodsia obtusa
Christmas fern Polystichum acrostichoides
cutleaf grapefern Botrychium dissectum
densetuft hairsedge Bulbostylis capillaris
ebony spleenwort Asplenium platyneuron
Elliott's bentgrass Agrostis elliottiana
false aloe Manfreda virginica
fan clubmoss Lycopodium digitatum
hairy lipfern Cheilanthes lanosa
largeflower tickseed Coreopsis grandiflora
meadow spikemoss Selaginella apoda
Michaux's croton Croton michauxii
netted chainfern Woodwardia areolata
northern selaginella Selaginella rupestris
silvery everlasting Gamochaeta argyrinea
smallflower phacelia Phacelia dubia
southern twayblade Listera australis
sparselobe grapefern Botrychium biternatum
tinted woodland spurge Euphorbia commutata
witchgrass Panicum capillare

Compared with Georgia

The typical county is the median of the 159 Georgia counties with PLANTS county records; the statewide figure counts every species native anywhere in the state. More species is not better or worse: counties differ in size, habitat and how thoroughly they have been surveyed.

Native species counts, Fayette County and Georgia
Measure	Fayette County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	34	129	1,750
Garden-ready natives	13	58	608
Tree	7	—	202
Shrub	2	—	91
Wildflower (forb)	8	—	908
Grass or grass-like	4	—	403
Vine	0	—	78
Fern	13	—	68

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Fayette County.

Clayton County, GA 25 garden-ready
Coweta County, GA 17 garden-ready
Fulton County, GA 104 garden-ready
Spalding County, GA 118 garden-ready

Source & data date

Source: USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).; Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.; USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
Citation: USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.; Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
Data date: Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
Zones: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map (2023) ZIP table: PRISM Group, Oregon State University, https://prism.oregonstate.edu, accessed November 3, 2026. Plant zones on this site are our estimate, not the official map.
Scope: Fayette County (county FIPS 13113), Georgia. 34 native species from PLANTS county distribution records; garden-ready = species with a PLANTS characteristics record.
Method: A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources

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