Wondering what to plant in your yard? Start here, for our landscape design teams top picks for virtually any St. Louis garden. 

Best Plants for Any St. Louis Garden 

Taylor Junipers 

Love it or hate it, St. Louis experiences every season in a major way. That’s why evergreens in a landscape design are so important. Not only do they provide year-round color, they serve as visually important “foundational” plantings that provide structure and dimension to a yard. They can also be cleverly planted in places you might desire more privacy, which is why we frequently feature Taylor Junipers in landscape designs. Taylor Junipers are known for providing a dramatic vertical element to a landscape, which can be useful in smaller spaces. In the photo below, they are strategically placed to provide beautiful year-round color while gently screening an entertaining area from the upstairs windows of the home just next door. 

Coneflowers (Echinacea) 

As much as we love these perennial beauties, we’re surprised at how few people have them in their yard. Coneflowers are quintessential for almost every St. Louis garden, with so many varieties and colors to choose from. They are a landscape designer favorite because they are low maintenance and very prolific bloomers. Most have a long flowering season, lasting from late spring until November. See several varieties in full bloom here. 

Butterfly Weed 

Rarely will you meet someone who doesn’t want beautiful butterflies visiting their garden. Attract them by providing exactly what they need to survive by planting butterfly weed in your garden. You’ll enjoy vivid pops of orange that grow bigger every year, like the photo above. It does take a bit of patience to enjoy large bouquets like you see here. Most new plants start out as just a few branches with just a small speck of color before they get establish and bloom out. 

Hardy Hibiscus 

If you have a full sun area in your yard, or a pool that could use some tropical vibes, this is the perennial plant for you! The vivid colors and giant flowers make every summer day at home feel like a staycation. Most people rely on tropical annuals to get these vibrant colors in their landscape, but these come back bigger and better each year. 

Bee Balm 

Another exotic garden stunner we love to see in a St. Louis landscape design is Bee Balm. This plant deserves to be planted with extra emphasis because it’s a Missouri native perennial plant. It’s also featured on Grow Native’s Pollinator Buffet plant tag list and is pretty low maintenance for the average home gardener. It grows in clusters and features unique flowers that add interest to garden beds. 

Planted featured here are common recommendations we love using in landscapes because they are low maintenance, and thrive well under typical conditions in St. Louis. However, all yards and homes are different. A shady yard in Park View is going to be best suited for different plants than a sunny, open garden in Creve Coeur or Chesterfield. Drainage, soil, and already existing plants play an important piece in selecting plants that will do grow best in your yard. No matter how good they look in a catalog or grown at MoBOT, they will look different in your yard based on conditions. See plants and other landscape design in our project gallery. Or, see even more of our favorite types of plant here!