I'm still fairly new to gardening. I've researched native plants that should do well in the conditions of my yard, will attract birds and butterflies, and are native to my area but I don't know when to get them. I actually tried to get them last fall, but the nurseries said then that they wouldn't carry most of the plants I'm interested in till spring. Now I'm wondering when in spring to get and put out native plants.

I live in zone 6a and the frost date is April 14th. Should I not put any plants out before April 14th? Or should I get them before or after that? I'm planning to keep them in pots outside where they would get a southern exposure.

Plants I'm interested in include: Swamp Milkweed, Whorled Milkweed, Prairie Blazing Star, Great Blue Lobelia, Foxglove Beardtongue , Missouri Ironweed, Virginia Strawberry, Common Boneset, Azure Blue Sage, Common Yarrow, Spotted Horsemint, and Aster.

I am just now seeing your message. Hopefully someone has contacted you privately, otherwise this post looks really bad.

If not, my advice is this: you're not going to have much luck with your local nurseries, because not all are carry straight species of plants. Your best bet are online nurseries. Do a search for "nurseries native plants" and see what populates.

Edited to add this: most online nurseries don't start shipping until after a certain date, in spring and fall. It's typically recommended to plant them right away so they become accustomed and their roots take hold. Native plants are sturdy champs. Now veggies and annuals, that's an entirely different story.🙃

I like using the native plant finder at https://www.nwf.org/NativePlan... the National wildlife federation web site as reference.

I do not receive compensation in any way for that last paragraph.

Best of luck to you.