Native plants · Idaho

Native plants of Jerome County

22 plant species are recorded as native to Idaho in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Jerome County by USDA PLANTS. 14 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Jerome County, Idaho

PLANTS records only 14 garden-ready natives here (under 30). County records are thin in some places; the Idaho list is a useful second check.

Native species: 22 Typical Idaho county: 302 (median of 44 counties)
Garden-ready natives: 14 Typical Idaho county: 211
Share by type (all 22 native species): Percent of the 22 native species in each growth type

Tree 14% (3)
Shrub 18% (4)
Wildflower (forb) 64% (14)
Grass or grass-like 5% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (64%), followed by shrubs (18%).

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 6b (2023 map).

The native plant list

Garden-ready natives 14

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

Garden-ready native plants of Jerome County, Idaho
Plant	Type	Height	Light	Water use	Hardy to
big sagebrush Artemisia tridentata	Tree	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3a
Canadian milkvetch Astragalus canadensis	Wildflower (forb)	6 in	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
foothill deathcamas Zigadenus paniculatus	Wildflower (forb)	1.6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4a
golden currant Ribes aureum	Shrub	10 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 3b
Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus	Wildflower (forb)	9.8 ft	Sun–part shade	Low	Zone 3a
lambstongue ragwort Senecio integerrimus	Wildflower (forb)	1.1 ft	Sun–part shade	Medium	Zone 3b
narrowleaf willow Salix exigua	Tree	10 ft	Sun–part shade	High	Zone 3b
Rocky Mountain juniper Juniperus scopulorum	Tree	50 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
rubber rabbitbrush Ericameria nauseosa	Shrub	4 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 3b
silvery lupine Lupinus argenteus	Wildflower (forb)	1.5 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3a
thickspike wheatgrass Elymus lanceolatus	Grass or grass-like	2.3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 3b
wax currant Ribes cereum	Shrub	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a
western goldentop Euthamia occidentalis	Wildflower (forb)	6 ft	Sun	Medium	Zone 4b
yellow rabbitbrush Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus	Shrub	3 ft	Sun	Low	Zone 5a

Other native species recorded here 8

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.

common starlily Leucocrinum montanum
entireleaved thelypody Thelypodium integrifolium
flatspine stickseed Lappula occidentalis
Pennsylvania pellitory Parietaria pensylvanica
slender phlox Microsteris gracilis
spreading fleabane Erigeron divergens
stream orchid Epipactis gigantea
veiny dock Rumex venosus

Compared with Idaho

The typical county is the median of the 44 Idaho 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, Jerome County and Idaho
Measure	Jerome County	Typical county	Statewide
Native species	22	302	975
Garden-ready natives	14	211	591
Tree	3	—	65
Shrub	4	—	97
Wildflower (forb)	14	—	552
Grass or grass-like	1	—	206
Vine	0	—	14
Fern	0	—	41

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Jerome County.

Gooding County, ID 137 garden-ready
Lincoln County, ID 96 garden-ready
Minidoka County, ID 35 garden-ready
Twin Falls County, ID 216 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: Jerome County (county FIPS 16053), Idaho. 22 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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