The plants listed here include those having an overall vertical form, with or without spiky flowers, and those with only spiky flowers.
| Common Name | Botanical Name |
| Beardtongue | Penstemon |
| Bear’s breech | Acanthus |
| Big betony | Stachys grandiflora |
| Blazing star | Liatris |
| Bugbane | Cimicifuga |
| Cardinal flower | Lobelia cardinalis |
| Delphinium | Delphinium |
| False indigo | Baptisia |
| False lupine | Thermopsis |
| Foxglove | Digitalis |
| Golden groundsel | Ligularia dentata |
| Iris | Iris |
| Japanese primrose | Primula japonica |
| Lupine | Lupinus |
| Meadowsweet | Astilbe |
| Olympic mullein | Verbascum olympicum |
| Red-hot poker | Kniphofia |
| Salvia | Salvia |
| Speedwell | Veronica |
| Grasses | |
| Eulalia grass | Miscanthus |
| Little bluestem | Schizachyrium scoparium |
| Pampas grass | Cortaderia |