Best Native Plants for USDA Zone 4

Native plants you can actually buy that suit USDA hardiness zone 4 — ordered by how closely each one is matched to this zone rather than alphabetically.

40 plants, every one native to North America, routinely available from nurseries, and photographed. Ranked by cold limit, so the plants nearest the top are the ones zone 4 lets you grow and colder gardens do not. Traits are quoted from USDA PLANTS, never estimated — how we source this. The Plant Finder searches the full catalogue, including plants that miss this bar.

1. 
   alpine aster Aster alpinusZone 4+ · part shade · 0.3 ft · native
2. 
   American alpine speedwell Veronica wormskjoldiiZone 4+ · part shade · 1 ft · native
3. 
   American black elderberry Sambucus nigraZone 4+ · full sun · 7 ft · native
4. 
   American water-willow Justicia americanaZone 4+ · shade · 2.5 ft · native
5. 
   American witchhazel Hamamelis virginianaZone 4+ · part shade · 20 ft · native
6. 
   Atlantic camas Camassia scilloidesZone 4+ · shade · 2.5 ft · native
7. 
   bigleaf aster Eurybia macrophyllaZone 4+ · shade · 4.6 ft · native
8. 
   black oak Quercus velutinaZone 4+ · part shade · 80 ft · native
9. 
   black raspberry Rubus occidentalisZone 4+ · part shade · 6 ft · native
10. 
    black walnut Juglans nigraZone 4+ · full sun · 100 ft · native
11. 
    blunt broom sedge Carex tribuloidesZone 4+ · shade · 3 ft · native
12. 
    bristly locust Robinia hispidaZone 4+ · full sun · 7 ft · native
13. 
    Canada yew Taxus canadensisZone 4+ · shade · 5 ft · native
14. 
    cattail sedge Carex typhinaZone 4+ · shade · 2 ft · native
15. 
    chestnut oak Quercus montanaZone 4+ · part shade · 73 ft · native
16. 
    Chickasaw plum Prunus angustifoliaZone 4+ · full sun · 12 ft · native
17. 
    Colorado blue columbine Aquilegia coeruleaZone 4+ · shade · 2 ft · native
18. 
    Columbian monkshood Aconitum columbianumZone 4+ · part shade · 5 ft · native
19. 
    common blue violet Viola sororiaZone 4+ · part shade · 0.3 ft · native
20. 
    ditch stonecrop Penthorum sedoidesZone 4+ · part shade · 2.6 ft · native
21. 
    Drummond's willow Salix drummondianaZone 4+ · part shade · 12 ft · native
22. 
    eastern redbud Cercis canadensisZone 4+ · shade · 30 ft · native
23. 
    flowering dogwood Cornus floridaZone 4+ · shade · 30 ft · native
24. 
    greenleaf manzanita Arctostaphylos patulaZone 4+ · part shade · 6 ft · native
25. 
    jointleaf rush Juncus articulatusZone 4+ · part shade · 2 ft · native
26. 
    knotted rush Juncus nodosusZone 4+ · full sun · 2 ft · native
27. 
    leatherleaf Chamaedaphne calyculataZone 4+ · part shade · 4 ft · native
28. 
    longbeak buttercup Ranunculus longirostrisZone 4+ · shade · 1 ft · native
29. 
    mountain brome Bromus marginatusZone 4+ · full sun · 4 ft · native
30. 
    narrowleaf cottonwood Populus angustifoliaZone 4+ · full sun · 60 ft · native
31. 
    New Jersey tea Ceanothus americanusZone 4+ · shade · 3 ft · native
32. 
    New York fern Thelypteris noveboracensisZone 4+ · shade · 1.5 ft · native
33. 
    northern bayberry Morella pensylvanicaZone 4+ · full sun · 7 ft · native
34. 
    Nuttall's reedgrass Calamagrostis coarctataZone 4+ · full sun · 4.9 ft · native
35. 
    Pacific aster Symphyotrichum chilenseZone 4+ · part shade · 3.5 ft · native
36. 
    Pacific silver fir Abies amabilisZone 4+ · shade · 165 ft · native
37. 
    pawpaw Asimina trilobaZone 4+ · shade · 25 ft · native
38. 
    Pennsylvania buttercup Ranunculus pensylvanicusZone 4+ · shade · 3.9 ft · native
39. 
    Philadelphia fleabane Erigeron philadelphicusZone 4+ · part shade · 2.8 ft · native
40. 
    pinegrass Calamagrostis rubescensZone 4+ · shade · 3 ft · native

Every plant here is drawn from the USDA PLANTS database; the traits behind this list are quoted from it, not estimated. See data & sources.

Want plants matched to your exact zone and conditions? Use the Plant Finder.