Native plants · Iowa
Native plants of Franklin County
3 plant species are recorded as native to Iowa in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Franklin County by USDA PLANTS. 3 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.
County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP
Franklin County, Iowa
PLANTS records only 3 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Iowa list is a useful second check.
- Native species
- 3 Typical Iowa county: 44 (median of 99 counties)
- Garden-ready natives
- 3 Typical Iowa county: 24
- Share by type (all 3 native species)
-
Percent of the 3 native species in each growth type
Ferns make up the largest share of the native list (67%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (33%).
The native plant list
Garden-ready natives 3
Native species with PLANTS growing records (height, light, moisture, minimum temperature). “—” means PLANTS has no value.
| Plant | Type | Height | Light | Water use | Hardy to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| big bluestem Andropogon gerardii | Grass or grass-like | 6 ft | Sun | Low | Zone 2b |
| northern maidenhair Adiantum pedatum | Fern | 1.3 ft | Shade-tolerant | Medium | Zone 3b |
| rattlesnake fern Botrychium virginianum | Fern | 1.4 ft | Shade-tolerant | Medium | Zone 3b |
No garden-ready natives match these filters. Try clearing one.
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 | Franklin County | Typical county | Statewide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native species | 3 | 44 | 1,374 |
| Garden-ready natives | 3 | 24 | 496 |
| Tree | 0 | — | 110 |
| Shrub | 0 | — | 72 |
| Wildflower (forb) | 0 | — | 779 |
| Grass or grass-like | 1 | — | 298 |
| Vine | 0 | — | 55 |
| Fern | 2 | — | 60 |
Neighboring counties
Counties that share a ZIP code with Franklin County.
- Butler County, IA 2 garden-ready
- Cerro Gordo County, IA 24 garden-ready
- Grundy County, IA 1 garden-ready
- Hancock County, IA 13 garden-ready
- Hardin County, IA 18 garden-ready
- Wright County, IA 13 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
- Franklin County (county FIPS 19069), Iowa. 3 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