The third one looks like a Sabatia, probably Sabatia campestris, Texas Star. WW Here is a link that might be useful: Sabatia campestris, Texas Star.

Thank you so much for the quick responses! Now that I have an idea, I can research Lonicera further and see which it might be, and which variety would work best in my own garden. I'll have to check it out again later in the spring to see what kind of blooms it has.

I personally think that the best part of native plant gardening is finding native plants in your area, figuring out what these plants are, and propagating some for your yard. This will not only help you plant a great garden, but will help you become familiar with the native plants of your area. This is also the best way to make sure you are growing plants that actually occur in your region. I recommend you do this: Take a careful look at your yard and decide which areas you want to use for native plants. Identify the characteristics of the areas you want to plant. Look at the exposure (south facing, north facing, all day sun, etc.), the types of trees you have, the type of soil (do you have really rocky or sandy soil, is it a clay soil that seems to be wet much of the time?). You don't need to get too scientific about this step, just be aware of the conditions in your yard. Go on walks around your neighborhood, woodlands, forests, etc. in your area and look for native plants that interest you. Be aware of the environments your plants are growing in, and try to focus on plants that grow in areas similar to your yard. This is particularly important if your yard leans toward the extreme in one respect or another. For example, if you are looking for a plant to grow in a really wet part of your yard, look for plants growing in really wet places. Identify the plants that interest you. I think Newcomb's Wildflower Guide is great for identifying flowers. You'll need a different guide to help with trees and shrubs. Once you have found a plant and want to grow it, you can either find a place to buy it, collect seeds, perhaps collect a division or seedlings if you can obtain permission. Some plants can be grown from cuttings, so you won't actually have to remove a plant from the wild in order to have one. How to propagate the plants you want could fill books, so I won't try to tell you too much here. Once you have decided what you want to grow you can look for information on how to grow it. At first it will seem like you'll never get your garden planted, but within a year or two I think you'll start worrying about running out of space to grow new things you discover. I know I never have enough space, but keep seeing new native plants I want to try. One step that you can start as soon as the weather permits is preparing places to plant. The first step is usually removing the non-native plants that are already there. If you have low vegetation (a lawn, for instance) you can start by covering the lawn with a think layer of fallen leaves. This will smother the grass and start building the soil. Good Luck.

"I've had no experience with queen snakes." I understand, and I think that this is also true of the others who are calling it a Queen Snake. For Mike and I, who have each seen many, many Queen Snakes and many, many Gartersnakes, it is painfully obvious that this is a Gartersnake. "that lighting and color in photography can be misleading" I see your point very well. But...the camera is not playing tricks here. It shows a dorsal stripe and red banding because they do indeed exist. "...and never seen such a patternless species whether in shed or not" But which is more likely, a Gartersnake with some pattern lacking? or a Queen Snake with a Garter-esque head, dorsal stripe, red-banding, and found far from water? "That being said, I can't be sure of the species." That's really great to hear someone say. I'm glad that someone can admit that they're not "100% sure" it's a Queen Snake, because it is not. This is a Gartersnake. -Todd ...oh, and to keep it interesting, here's a real Queen Snake found a few days ago in western Indiana.