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Native plants · Georgia

Native plants of Jefferson County

58 plant species are recorded as native to Georgia in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Jefferson County by USDA PLANTS. 36 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Jefferson County, Georgia

Native species
58 Typical Georgia county: 129 (median of 159 counties)
Garden-ready natives
36 Typical Georgia county: 58
Share by type (all 58 native species)
Percent of the 58 native species in each growth type
Tree 41% (24)
Shrub 7% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 31% (18)
Grass or grass-like 16% (9)
Fern 5% (3)

Trees make up the largest share of the native list (41%), followed by wildflowers (31%).

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 8b (2023 map).

The native plant list

Cold hardiness is estimated from each plant’s PLANTS minimum temperature. How we estimate it.

Garden-ready natives 36

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

Garden-ready native plants of Jefferson County, Georgia
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
American beech Fagus grandifolia Tree 80 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3a
American holly Ilex opaca Tree 40 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 5a
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
coastal doghobble Leucothoe axillaris Shrub 6.5 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 7b
common buttonbush Cephalanthus occidentalis Tree 15 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 4a
common sweetleaf Symplocos tinctoria Tree 20 ft Shade-tolerant — Zone 5a
crimsoneyed rosemallow Hibiscus moscheutos Wildflower (forb) 6.6 ft Sun High Zone 6a
devil's walkingstick Aralia spinosa Tree 20 ft Sun High Zone 4b
dwarf palmetto Sabal minor Tree 9 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 8a
eastern baccharis Baccharis halimifolia Tree 10 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 7a
fox sedge Carex vulpinoidea Grass or grass-like 3.2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
greater bladder sedge Carex intumescens Grass or grass-like 3 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 4a
greenwhite sedge Carex albolutescens Grass or grass-like 3.9 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
highbush blueberry Vaccinium corymbosum Shrub 12 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4a
laurel oak Quercus laurifolia Tree 70 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 7a
lesser creeping rush Juncus repens Grass or grass-like 6.8 ft Sun High Zone 8b
mountain azalea Rhododendron canescens Shrub 14 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 6a
narrowleaf evening primrose Oenothera fruticosa Wildflower (forb) 3.3 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 4a
needle spikerush Eleocharis acicularis Grass or grass-like 8 in Sun Medium Zone 5a
pickerelweed Pontederia cordata Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun High Zone 5a
purplehead sneezeweed Helenium flexuosum Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun Low Zone 4b
red buckeye Aesculus pavia Tree 25 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 5a
red mulberry Morus rubra Tree 70 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4a
redbay Persea borbonia Tree 70 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 8a
shallow sedge Carex lurida Grass or grass-like 3.2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 4a
slash pine Pinus elliottii Tree 100 ft Sun Medium Zone 5b
smallspike false nettle Boehmeria cylindrica Wildflower (forb) 3.9 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4a
southern magnolia Magnolia grandiflora Tree 100 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 8a
southern sugar maple Acer floridanum Tree 50 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 5b
sweetbay Magnolia virginiana Tree 60 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 9a
tuliptree Liriodendron tulipifera Tree 120 ft Sun Medium Zone 5b
turkey oak Quercus laevis Tree 40 ft Sun Medium Zone 7a
water oak Quercus nigra Tree 90 ft Sun High Zone 5a
willow oak Quercus phellos Tree 100 ft Sun High Zone 5a

Other native species recorded here 22

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.

  • American bluehearts Buchnera americana
  • axilflower Mecardonia acuminata
  • Carolina sedge Carex caroliniana
  • creeping eryngo Eryngium prostratum
  • dwarf hackberry Celtis pumila
  • giant sedge Carex gigantea
  • gum bully Sideroxylon lanuginosum
  • little floating bladderwort Utricularia radiata
  • lowland rotala Rotala ramosior
  • manyflower marshpennywort Hydrocotyle umbellata
  • marsh mermaidweed Proserpinaca palustris
  • Maryland goldenaster Chrysopsis mariana
  • netted chainfern Woodwardia areolata
  • pink bogbutton Sclerolepis uniflora
  • poorjoe Diodia teres
  • seedbox Ludwigia alternifolia
  • sensitive fern Onoclea sensibilis
  • southern crab apple Malus angustifolia
  • southern jointweed Polygonella americana
  • spring lady's tresses Spiranthes vernalis
  • tall horned beaksedge Rhynchospora macrostachya
  • yankeeweed Eupatorium compositifolium

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, Jefferson County and Georgia
MeasureJefferson CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 58 129 1,750
Garden-ready natives 36 58 608
Tree 24 — 202
Shrub 4 — 91
Wildflower (forb) 18 — 908
Grass or grass-like 9 — 403
Vine 0 — 78
Fern 3 — 68

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Jefferson County.

Look up another ZIP

Matches your ZIP to the county it mostly lies in, then lists the plants recorded as native to your state (Kew’s World Checklist and USDA PLANTS) and recorded in that county by USDA PLANTS.

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
Jefferson County (county FIPS 13163), Georgia. 58 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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