Native plants · Iowa
Native plants of Fayette County
36 plant species are recorded as native to Iowa 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, Iowa
PLANTS records only 13 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Iowa list is a useful second check.
- Native species
- 36 Typical Iowa county: 44 (median of 99 counties)
- Garden-ready natives
- 13 Typical Iowa county: 24
- Share by type (all 36 native species)
-
Percent of the 36 native species in each growth type
Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (61%), followed by ferns (22%).
The native plant list
Garden-ready natives 13
Native species with PLANTS growing records (height, light, moisture, minimum temperature). “—” means PLANTS has no value.
| Plant | Type | Height | Light | Water use | Hardy to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| arctic brome Bromus kalmii | Grass or grass-like | 3 ft | Shade-tolerant | Low | Zone 4a |
| common reed Phragmites australis | Shrub | 13 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 3b |
| devil's beggartick Bidens frondosa | Wildflower (forb) | 4 ft | Sun–part shade | Medium | Zone 12a |
| Drummond's rockcress Arabis drummondii | Wildflower (forb) | 2 ft | Sun–part shade | Medium | Zone 3b |
| field horsetail Equisetum arvense | Fern | 11 in | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 3a |
| fringed brome Bromus ciliatus | Grass or grass-like | 4 ft | Shade-tolerant | Medium | Zone 7a |
| nodding beggartick Bidens cernua | Wildflower (forb) | 3.2 ft | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 12a |
| northern maidenhair Adiantum pedatum | Fern | 1.3 ft | Shade-tolerant | Medium | Zone 3b |
| pale purple coneflower Echinacea pallida | Wildflower (forb) | 1.2 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 4a |
| prairie blazing star Liatris pycnostachya | Wildflower (forb) | 3.5 ft | Sun | Medium | Zone 4a |
| purplestem beggarticks Bidens connata | Wildflower (forb) | 3.2 ft | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 12a |
| rattlesnake fern Botrychium virginianum | Fern | 1.4 ft | Shade-tolerant | Medium | Zone 3b |
| threelobe beggarticks Bidens tripartita | Wildflower (forb) | 3.5 ft | Sun–part shade | High | Zone 12a |
No garden-ready natives match these filters. Try clearing one.
Other native species recorded here 23
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.
Hidden while “Garden-ready only” is on.
- Adam and Eve Aplectrum hyemale
- big devils beggartick Bidens vulgata
- blue skullcap Scutellaria lateriflora
- bog yellowcress Rorippa palustris
- earlyleaf brome Bromus latiglumis
- eastern marsh fern Thelypteris palustris
- fire on the mountain Euphorbia cyathophora
- hairy woodland brome Bromus pubescens
- lesser yellow lady's slipper Cypripedium parviflorum
- longbract frog orchid Dactylorhiza viridis
- marsh skullcap Scutellaria galericulata
- meadow willow Salix petiolaris
- prairie groundsel Packera plattensis
- purple cliffbrake Pellaea atropurpurea
- sensitive fern Onoclea sensibilis
- showy lady's slipper Cypripedium reginae
- showy orchid Galearis spectabilis
- small skullcap Scutellaria parvula
- smooth cliffbrake Pellaea glabella
- walking fern Asplenium rhizophyllum
- western silver aster Symphyotrichum sericeum
- white lady's slipper Cypripedium candidum
- yellow pimpernel Taenidia integerrima
Compared with Iowa
The typical county is the median of the 99 Iowa 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.
| Measure | Fayette County | Typical county | Statewide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native species | 36 | 44 | 1,374 |
| Garden-ready natives | 13 | 24 | 496 |
| Tree | 1 | — | 110 |
| Shrub | 1 | — | 72 |
| Wildflower (forb) | 22 | — | 779 |
| Grass or grass-like | 4 | — | 298 |
| Vine | 0 | — | 55 |
| Fern | 8 | — | 60 |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a ZIP code with Fayette County.
- Allamakee County, IA 37 garden-ready
- Bremer County, IA 5 garden-ready
- Buchanan County, IA 2 garden-ready
- Chickasaw County, IA 7 garden-ready
- Clayton County, IA 24 garden-ready
- Winneshiek County, IA 64 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 19065), Iowa. 36 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