Flowers brighten every landscape and garden. While we love exotic and unusual varieties, we also like to plant native plants of our state. So should you be in the mid-eastern US, you may also enjoy this list of popular North Carolina native flowers.
Native Flowers of North Carolina and Beyond
Naturally, flowers don’t recognize state boundaries and so can grow throughout other states as well give the optimum climate conditions. So while these are NC native flowers, they may grow well beyond this USDA zone 7 state.
Annual Native Flowers of North Carolina
Black Cohosh (Actaea racemosa)
- Hardiness zone 3-8
- Blooms in summer
- Partial shade
- Also native to other parts of the eastern United States.
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta)
- Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms from summer through fall
- Full sun
Blanketflower (Gaillardia pulchella)
- Hardiness zone 3-10
- Blooms from spring through fall
- Full sun
- Also native to parts of Texas and other southern and western states.
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)
- Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis)Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms in summer
- Partial shade to full sun
Wild Four O’clock (Mirabilis nyctaginea)
- Hardiness zone 7-11
- Blooms in the afternoon and evening during summer
- Full sun
Perennial Native Flowers of North Carolina
Bee Balm (Monarda fistulosa)
- Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms from summer through fall
- Full sun
- Also native to parts of the central and eastern United States.
You may also enjoy this article on bee balm.
Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
- Hardiness zone 4-9
- Blooms in summer
- Fragrant
- Full sun
Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
- Hardiness zone 3-8
- Blooms in spring
- Partial shade
Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea)
- Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms from summer through fall
- Full sun
Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata)
- Hardiness zone 4-9
- Blooms from summer through fall
- Full sun
Gayfeather (Liatris spicata)
- Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms in summer
- Full sun
- Also native to other parts of the eastern and central United States.
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
- Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms from summer through fall
- Full sun
- Also native to other parts of the eastern and central United States.
Iris (Iris cristata)
- Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms in spring
- Partial shade
- Also native to other parts of the eastern and central United States.
Phlox (Phlox divaricata)
- Hardiness zone 3-8
- Blooms in spring
- Partial shade
- Also native to other parts of the eastern and central United States.
Biennial Flowers Native to North Carolina
Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis)
- Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms in summer
- Fragrant
- Full sun
- Also native to other parts of the eastern and central United States.
You may also enjoy our article on Primula.
Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea)
- Hardiness zone 4-8
- Blooms in spring
- Partial shade
- Also naturalized in other parts of North America.
Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
- Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms in summer
- Full sun
- Naturalized throughout parts of North America.
Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota)
- Hardiness zone 4-9
- Blooms in summer
- Full sun
- Naturalized in most parts of North America.
Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)
- Hardiness zone 3-9
- Blooms in summer
- Fragrant
- Full sun
- Also native to parts of the eastern and central United States.
I’m LeAura Alderson, a garden, herb and plant enthusiast with a passion for discovering the many edible and medicinal benefits of the plants all around us, including the weeds, while transforming the land through regenerative permaculture practice. I am also a writer, editor and media publisher (now mostly retired due to replacement by AI), but which now allows more time to build our regenerative permaculture homestead farm.