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Native plants · Nebraska

Native plants of Hayes County

71 plant species are recorded as native to Nebraska in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in Hayes County by USDA PLANTS. 38 of them have growing records you can filter by light, moisture, height and estimated cold hardiness.

County summary · USDA PLANTS and Kew WCVP

Hayes County, Nebraska

Native species
71 Typical Nebraska county: 169 (median of 93 counties)
Garden-ready natives
38 Typical Nebraska county: 81
Share by type (all 71 native species)
Percent of the 71 native species in each growth type
Tree 10% (7)
Shrub 7% (5)
Wildflower (forb) 49% (35)
Grass or grass-like 30% (21)
Vine 3% (2)
Fern 1% (1)

Wildflowers make up the largest share of the native list (49%), followed by grasses and grass-like plants (30%).

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 5b (2023 map).

The native plant list

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

Garden-ready natives 38

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

Garden-ready native plants of Hayes County, Nebraska
PlantType HeightLight Water useHardy to
American water horehound Lycopus americanus Wildflower (forb) 1.8 ft Shade-tolerant High Zone 3b
awlfruit sedge Carex stipata Grass or grass-like 3.5 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b
blue grama Bouteloua gracilis Grass or grass-like 1 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
Canada goldenrod Solidago altissima Wildflower (forb) 5 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 4b
Canada wildrye Elymus canadensis Grass or grass-like 3 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3a
chokecherry Prunus virginiana Tree 25 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
cloaked bulrush Scirpus pallidus Grass or grass-like 5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
clustered field sedge Carex praegracilis Grass or grass-like 2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
common hackberry Celtis occidentalis Tree 60 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 2b
ditch stonecrop Penthorum sedoides Wildflower (forb) 2.6 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 4b
eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides Tree 190 ft Sun High Zone 3a
fox sedge Carex vulpinoidea Grass or grass-like 3.2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
giant goldenrod Solidago gigantea Wildflower (forb) 8.2 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 4a
golden currant Ribes aureum Shrub 10 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3b
golden tickseed Coreopsis tinctoria Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12b
hardstem bulrush Schoenoplectus acutus Grass or grass-like 9.8 ft Sun High Zone 3b
Illinois bundleflower Desmanthus illinoensis Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 5b
jewelweed Impatiens capensis Wildflower (forb) 4.9 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 10b
leadplant Amorpha canescens Shrub 4 ft Shade-tolerant Low Zone 3b
marsh muhly Muhlenbergia racemosa Grass or grass-like 3 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 3b
Missouri goldenrod Solidago missouriensis Wildflower (forb) 3 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 3b
Nebraska sedge Carex nebrascensis Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun High Zone 3b
nodding beggartick Bidens cernua Wildflower (forb) 3.2 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 12a
peachleaf willow Salix amygdaloides Tree 60 ft Sun High Zone 4a
Pennsylvania smartweed Polygonum pensylvanicum Wildflower (forb) 3.9 ft Sun Medium Zone 10b
prairie sandreed Calamovilfa longifolia Grass or grass-like 4.5 ft Sun Medium Zone 3b
redosier dogwood Cornus sericea Tree 12 ft Sun High Zone 3b
sandbar willow Salix interior Tree 30 ft Sun — Zone 1a
scarlet globemallow Sphaeralcea coccinea Wildflower (forb) 1.5 ft Sun Low Zone 5a
showy milkweed Asclepias speciosa Wildflower (forb) 6 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
sideoats grama Bouteloua curtipendula Grass or grass-like 3 ft Sun Medium Zone 3a
silver buffaloberry Shepherdia argentea Tree 18 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3b
skunkbush sumac Rhus trilobata Shrub 4 ft Sun–part shade Low Zone 2a
smallspike false nettle Boehmeria cylindrica Wildflower (forb) 3.9 ft Shade-tolerant Medium Zone 4a
softstem bulrush Schoenoplectus tabernaemontani Grass or grass-like 9 ft Sun High Zone 3b
spotted joe pye weed Eutrochium maculatum Wildflower (forb) 6 ft Sun–part shade High Zone 4b
strawcolored flatsedge Cyperus strigosus Grass or grass-like 3.2 ft Sun Medium Zone 4a
Woods' rose Rosa woodsii Shrub 3 ft Sun–part shade Medium Zone 3a

Other native species recorded here 33

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.

  • annual buckwheat Eriogonum annuum
  • aridland goosefoot Chenopodium desiccatum
  • bald spikerush Eleocharis erythropoda
  • Baldwin's ironweed Vernonia baldwinii
  • bigbract verbena Verbena bracteata
  • blue skullcap Scutellaria lateriflora
  • bottlebrush sedge Carex hystericina
  • climbing false buckwheat Polygonum scandens
  • common boneset Eupatorium perfoliatum
  • cutleaf evening primrose Oenothera laciniata
  • fragrant sumac Rhus aromatica
  • fringed willowherb Epilobium ciliatum
  • Great Plains flatsedge Cyperus lupulinus
  • hairy four o'clock Mirabilis hirsuta
  • hairy waterclover Marsilea vestita
  • heavy sedge Carex gravida
  • hoary verbena Verbena stricta
  • lanceleaf sage Salvia reflexa
  • long-stolon sedge Carex inops
  • longleaf groundcherry Physalis longifolia
  • Nuttall's sensitive-briar Mimosa nuttallii
  • prairie groundcherry Physalis hispida
  • purple meadow-rue Thalictrum dasycarpum
  • ribseed sandmat Chamaesyce glyptosperma
  • rough barnyardgrass Echinochloa muricata
  • scarlet beeblossom Oenothera suffrutescens
  • shortbeak sedge Carex brevior
  • silverleaf Indian breadroot Pediomelum argophyllum
  • snow on the mountain Euphorbia marginata
  • spotted water hemlock Cicuta maculata
  • white vervain Verbena urticifolia
  • wild cucumber Echinocystis lobata
  • woolly sedge Carex pellita

Compared with Nebraska

The typical county is the median of the 93 Nebraska 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, Hayes County and Nebraska
MeasureHayes CountyTypical countyStatewide
Native species 71 169 1,131
Garden-ready natives 38 81 452
Tree 7 — 68
Shrub 5 — 48
Wildflower (forb) 35 — 687
Grass or grass-like 21 — 253
Vine 2 — 46
Fern 1 — 29

Neighboring counties

Counties that share a ZIP code with Hayes 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
Hayes County (county FIPS 31085), Nebraska. 71 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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