The cover of Native Plants of Tennessee

Guides Tennessee

Native Plants of Tennessee

The native plants that belong in your yard — what to plant for pollinators, by zone, with bloom timing and a species table.

  • Native species grouped by sun, soil, and wildlife value
  • Bloom windows and pollinator host-plant pairings
  • What belongs in your USDA zone
  • A full species table you can take to the nursery
  • Typical planting windows, month by month

$9.99one-time

Instant download · yours to keep, with no account and no renewal · full refund within 30 days

A look inside

What the Tennessee pages actually look like

From the Tennessee edition

Some of what is actually in it

59 native species are profiled for Tennessee, chosen for hardiness zones 6a–8b. A dozen of them:

  • Purple Coneflower
  • Black-Eyed Susan
  • Butterfly Weed
  • Common Milkweed
  • Swamp Milkweed
  • Wild Bergamot
  • Scarlet Beebalm
  • New England Aster
  • Aromatic Aster
  • Showy Goldenrod
  • Stiff Goldenrod
  • Wild Columbine

How the Tennessee year breaks down

Counted, not claimed

Something in the Tennessee list is in bloom from March through November, and June is the peak — 26 of the 59 species are flowering then.

19 of them are caterpillar host plants and 17 support specialist bees — the ones that do the most work in Tennessee yards.

In the box

Exactly what you receive

Tennessee pages10 pages — the species table, bloom windows and planting calendar
FormatPDF, laid out for both Letter and A4
DeliveryAn instant download link, plus a link you can re-open for 72 hours
AccessYours to keep — no expiry, no account, no subscription
RefundsFull refund within 30 days, no questions

How it works

From checkout to the field

  1. Buy it

    Checkout takes a card and an email address — no account to create.

  2. Open it straight away

    The download link appears immediately and the Tennessee files are yours to keep.

  3. Use it through the year

    Print the Tennessee pages you want and take them outside; they are laid out with room to write on as the season moves.

Free and paid, side by side

The Tennessee pages here stay free. Here is what the edition adds.

The free Tennessee pagesNative Plants of Tennessee
What it coversThe month Tennessee is in, free and alwaysAll twelve Tennessee months, planned before they arrive
Garden timingThe notes for your zone, once the site knows itEvery Tennessee zone from 6a–8b, side by side on the page
Where you can read itOn a screen, wherever Tennessee has signalOn paper, in the field, with no signal at all
PriceFree, and staying that way$9.99 once — no renewal, no account

Before you buy

Who this is for

Made for

  • Gardeners in Tennessee planting for pollinators rather than for a catalogue
  • Anyone replacing lawn with something that belongs here
  • New Tennessee gardeners who want the timing decided for them

Not for

  • Anyone wanting exotic ornamentals; every species here is native to Tennessee
  • Precise planting dates — Tennessee timing is given as windows

Everything here describes typical timing across Tennessee, drawn from long-run records — weather, elevation and how close you are to water all move the real dates around. So the Tennessee pages say "usually early May" and never "May 4th", which is not hedging but the most the data can honestly carry.

Where it comes from

Compiled from

USDA PLANTS Database · GBIF occurrence records · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center · USA National Phenology Network · The Xerces Society · Cooperative Extension (land-grant directory). How each of these is used in the Tennessee edition, and which figures are measured rather than modeled, is set out in the methodology.

Questions

Before you decide

Is this specific to Tennessee, or a national guide with the name swapped in?

It is built from Tennessee's own data. The 59 species in it were filtered to those with verified occurrence records in Tennessee and to hardiness zones 6a–8b.

Tennessee spans several hardiness zones — which one does this cover?

All of them. Tennessee runs 6a–8b, and the guide carries each zone's timing rather than picking one and hoping it fits your garden.

How accurate is the timing for Tennessee?

It describes typical timing across Tennessee drawn from long-run records, and because weather, elevation and habitat move real Tennessee dates around it says "usually early May" rather than "May 4th".

Is it worth paying when the Tennessee pages here are free?

The free Tennessee pages are the month you are in; this is the whole Tennessee year, planned before it arrives and printable, so you are not holding a screen in the garden.

Will it work for my part of Tennessee, or just the big cities?

It is written at state resolution — Tennessee as a whole, with regional notes where Tennessee genuinely differs end to end, and nothing behind it is recorded finely enough to honestly promise more than that.

What format is the Tennessee edition, and can I print it?

A PDF laid out for both Letter and A4, one page per sheet — printing it is the point, since the Tennessee pages are made to be carried outside.

What if the Tennessee guide is not what I expected?

Email hello@birchcompass.com within 30 days for a full refund on the Tennessee edition, and keep the files either way — asking for them back would be theatre.

Prefer to read online first? The free Tennessee native plants reference covers the same ground on screen.

The rest of the Tennessee shelf

Also for Tennessee