Low growing flowering perennials can add a range of benefits to a meadow garden from aesthetic appeal and biodiversity to soil stabilization and weed suppression. Both flowers and foliage enhance the garden with a variety of colors and textures while roots hold the soil against the forces of erosion and the leaves help retain soil moisture. In addition, both flowers and leaves provide food and shelter for wildlife and attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The plants in the list below thrive or tolerate full sun, although some prefer shade in the afternoon when growing in hot climates. They like cool temperatures and bloom in a wide variety of months from early spring to fall. Specific water requirements vary. Photo Credit: Sten, Wikimedia Commons
Nodding Onion (Allium cernum)
Native Range: Eastern and Western US
Height: 14″
Width: 4″
Bloom time: Mid to late spring
Bloom Color: Pink
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-8
Photo Credit: Patrick Alexander, Wikimedia Commons
Small -leaf pussytoes (Antennaria parvifolia)
Native Range: West and central North America
Height: 4″
Width: 8″
Bloom time: Late summer to early fall
Bloom Color: Grayish-white
USDA Hardiness Zones: 5-7
Photo Credit: Matt Lavin
Rosy Pussytoes (Antennaria rosea)
Native Range: Mountainous areas of the western United States, the northern Great Plains, and Alaska
Height: 8″
Width: 10″
Bloom time: Mid to late summer
Bloom Color: Red, pink, yellow, white
USDA Hardiness Zones: 2-8b
Photo Credit: Thayne Tuason, Wikimedia Commons
Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia)
Native Range: Temperate North America
Height: 12″
Width: 9″
Bloom time: Early summer to fall
Bloom Color: Blue
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-9
Photo Credit: Robert Flogaus-Faust, Wikimedia Commons
Cutleaf Daisy (Erigeron compositus)
Native Range: Pacific Coast as far east as the Dakotas, Colorado, and New Mexico
Height: 6″
Width: 8:
Bloom time: Late spring to mid summer
Bloom Color: White, pink, blue
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-7
Photo Credit: Matt Lavin, Wikimedia Commons
Sulfur-flower Buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum)
Native Range: Western US from California to Colorado and central Canada, south to Arizona
Height: 10″
Width: 24″
Bloom time: Late spring to mid summer
Bloom Color: Yellow, cream
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-8
Photo Credit: Stan Shebs, Wikimedia Commons
Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum)
Native Range: Southern Canada and the central and northern U.S
Height: 12″
Width: 8″
Bloom time: Late spring to mid summer
Bloom Color: Reddish pink, purple
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-7
Photo Credit: Walter Siegmund, Wikimedia Commons
Little Flower Penstemon (Penstemon procerus)
Native Range: Western US from Alaska to California to Colorado
Height: 12″
Width: 8″
Bloom time: Early to late summer
Bloom Color: Blue-purple
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-7
Photo Credit: Matt Lavin, Wikimedia Commons
Blue Mist Penstemon (Penstemon virens)
Native Range: Medicine Bow Range in southeastern Wyoming south to Culebra Range in southeastern Colorado.
Height: 8″
Width: 12″
Bloom time: Late spring to early summer
Bloom Color: Blue-purple
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-8
Photo Credit: Dave Powell
Moss Phlox (Phlox subulata)
Native Range: Eastern US from Maine to Minnesota and south from Georgia and Louisiana.
Height: 4″
Width: 18″
Bloom time: Early to mid spring
Bloom Color: Pink, white, purple, violet, red-purple
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-9
Photo Credit: Opioła Jerzy, Wikimedia Commons
Eastern Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla patens)
Native Range: Western andnorthern North America
Height: 8″
Width: 4″
Bloom time: Early to mid spring
Bloom Color: Blue Violet
USDA Hardiness Zones: 4-8
Photo Credit: Jerzy Strzelecki, Wikimedia Commons
Scarlet Globemallow (Sphaeraicea coccinea)
Native Range: From British Columbia and Oregon east to Manitoba, Minnesota and Iowa and south to Texas and Mexico
Height: 10″
Width: 10″
Bloom time: Mid spring to late fall
Bloom Color: Orange-pink
USDA Hardiness Zones: 6-8
Photo Credit: Vehelik, Wikimedia Commons
Aromatic Aster (Symphytrichum oblongifolium)
Native Range: Northeastern and central US
Height: 24″
Width: 24″
Bloom time: Late summer to fall
Bloom Color: Blue, purple
USDA Hardiness Zones: 3-8
Photo Credit: Ulimw, Wikimedia Commons