Native plants are becoming increasingly popular with gardeners. Natives provide pollen and nectar for pollinators, seeds for birds and habitat for wildlife while adding color and texture to the garden.

But native plant gardens don’t always look like the gardens people are used to, and sometimes visitors dismiss them as weed patches. It takes a different eye to see their beauty.

The large beds in front of the Whetstone Park Shelter House are dedicated to plants native to the Midwest. This year they are being reimagined to showcase plants that look as beautiful in a home garden as they do in their natural settings.

The reimagined native beds were designed by Master Gardener Jeanne Borden and planted and maintained with the help of some of the CPOR’s terrific volunteers.

The native plant beds include a variety of drought-tolerant natives that do well in Central Ohio, including flowering plants, grasses and ferns — 56 different species in all.

The grasses and ferns keep the garden interesting even when other plants are not in flower. All the plants will work as well in home gardens as they do at the CPOR.

They will need to be watered the first year or two to become established, but after that will be content with normal rainfall. Compost to enrich the soil and mulch to keep it moist will make them happy.

In spring we enjoy wild geraniums and golden Alexander. Summer is when the native beds really shine. Coneflowers, wild quince, bee balm, anise hyssop and blazing star are in bloom. Bees and butterflies love all these flowers. And in fall we look forward to goldenrod, asters and mist flower.

Most of the plants in our native plant beds came from Leaves for Wildlife in Sunbury, OH: http://www.leavesforwildlife.com/shop and Natives in Harmony in Marengo, OH: http://www.nativesinharmony.com