The cover of Native Plants of Wisconsin

Guides Wisconsin

Native Plants of Wisconsin

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 Wisconsin pages actually look like

From the Wisconsin edition

Some of what is actually in it

61 native species are profiled for Wisconsin, chosen for hardiness zones 3a–5b. 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 Wisconsin year breaks down

Counted, not claimed

Something in the Wisconsin list is in bloom from March through November, and June is the peak — 28 of the 61 species are flowering then.

18 of them are caterpillar host plants and 23 support specialist bees — the ones that do the most work in Wisconsin yards.

In the box

Exactly what you receive

Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin files are yours to keep.

  3. Use it through the year

    Print the Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin pages here stay free. Here is what the edition adds.

The free Wisconsin pagesNative Plants of Wisconsin
What it coversThe month Wisconsin is in, free and alwaysAll twelve Wisconsin months, planned before they arrive
Garden timingThe notes for your zone, once the site knows itEvery Wisconsin zone from 3a–5b, side by side on the page
Where you can read itOn a screen, wherever Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin planting for pollinators rather than for a catalogue
  • Anyone replacing lawn with something that belongs here
  • New Wisconsin gardeners who want the timing decided for them

Not for

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

Everything here describes typical timing across Wisconsin, drawn from long-run records — weather, elevation and how close you are to water all move the real dates around. So the Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin edition, and which figures are measured rather than modeled, is set out in the methodology.

Questions

Before you decide

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

It is built from Wisconsin's own data. The 61 species in it were filtered to those with verified occurrence records in Wisconsin and to hardiness zones 3a–5b.

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

All of them. Wisconsin runs 3a–5b, and the guide carries each zone's timing rather than picking one and hoping it fits your garden.

How accurate is the timing for Wisconsin?

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

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

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

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

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

What format is the Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin pages are made to be carried outside.

What if the Wisconsin guide is not what I expected?

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

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

The rest of the Wisconsin shelf

Also for Wisconsin