Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

Because we're in Texas, you're in California and the question is about Connecticut, it gets a little complicated. To begin with, we deal only with plants native to North America and to the area in which the plants are being grown, in this case, Connecticut. We have a database that we can search on each category, but would have no idea which is common there.  The Connecticut Botanical Society has a website Gardening with Native Plants, all of which we are assuming are commonly grown there. This site lists Perennials (mostly herbaceous blooming plants), Vines, Ferns and Ornamental Grasses. Another site from the same Connecticut Botanical Society lists Trees and Shrubs. The University of Connecticut has a plant database, but I think the information will be more accessible on the first two databases we listed.

You can also, of course, use the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Native Plant Database. When you go to that site, go to COMBINATION SEARCH, click on Connecticut on the state drop-down menu, and what kind of plant you are interested in (shrubs, trees, vines) in the HABIT (general appearance) drop down menu, and click on Search. It will be faster, of course, to use the Connecticut lists, but we will list a few of each of those that also appear on our database. You can follow those plant links to the page on the individual plant and learn more about it. 

Herbaceous Blooming Plants:

Aquilegia canadensis (red columbine)

Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)

Vines:

Lonicera sempervirens (trumpet honeysuckle)

Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)

Ferns:

Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)

Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)

Grasses:

Andropogon gerardii (big bluestem)

Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem)

Shrubs:

Clethra alnifolia (coastal sweetpepperbush)

Ilex verticillata (common winterberry)

Trees:

Acer rubrum (red maple)

Amelanchier arborea (common serviceberry)