You will notice that in the woods, mosses and evergreen native plants only grow where leaves don’t accumulate. Bottlebrush and cardinal flower are good examples. Some plants that aren’t considered evergreen do have evergreen basal foliage, and this also needs to be protected. This includes lawn, moss, or evergreen natives like Christmas fern and golden groundsel. The evergreens photosynthesize during the winter, and a blanket of leaf litter will kill them. You will want to remove leaves covering evergreen plants you’d like to keep. One aspect of gardening under trees is deciding what to do with the thousands of leaves that blanket the ground each fall. Maintaining a native shade garden: leave the leaves Allegany pachysandra is native to the cool mountains of the southern Blue Ridge. Yellow wood poppy, in addition to being non-native, can be quite aggressive. This unique quality offers you, the gardener, the option of double planting with plants that offer more interest later in the season, for example bottlebrush grass or garden phlox.Ī few woodland species are mistakenly advertised as native, but are not native anywhere in Maryland. Some disappear so completely, you would do well to mark their location so that you don’t accidentally dig them up. After the trees leaf out, they are done flowering and they go dormant. These woodland wildflowers have evolved to emerge before trees leaf out, allowing them to get in a few weeks of good sunshine. Is some light being filtered through the trees? Or is it just shady part of the day and sunny the rest? In the summer, morning shade and afternoon sun can be hard on woodland plants, consider tough species that are native to the forest edge rather than the interior.Īnother aspect of native gardening that is unique to shade gardens is the spring ephemeral. Is it the full shade cast by the north side of a building? Then look for native plants that can tolerate deep shade. With shade gardens, you also need to ask yourself what type of shade your garden has. Selecting native plantsĪs with any type of garden you must take growing conditions (moisture, soil texture, pH, deer) into consideration. The Virginia bluebells, shown above, are naturally found in floodplains, but are quite happy in the dry shade garden. In ecology there are exceptions to almost every rule and this is one. You might prefer to plant species you saw on the hilltop instead, to have a lower maintenance landscape, and settle for a look that’s a little less lush. If you purchase and plant these species in dry shade in your home landscape, you may need to irrigate to get the same lush appearance you saw in nature. ![]() Many trees, shrubs, and perennials are adapted to higher moisture levels. ![]() You’ll probably notice that there is a lot more vegetation in the valley. Pay particular attention to what grows on hilltops vs. If you live near a park that controls deer overpopulation and removes invasive plants, go there to see what kind of native plants occur naturally in the woods near you. The layering of canopy, understory, shrub, and herbaceous species, underlain by leaf litter, provides habitat for the insects and birds that call the Eastern Deciduous Forest home. ![]() Research shows that this helps to support insect and songbird biodiversity. One aspect of native gardening that is unique to shade gardens is the opportunity to mimic the natural structure of a forest. Recent research suggests that if biodiversity is your motive, you’d do well to use at least 80% natives by cover, rather than just planting a few. You can support plant biodiversity as well as pollinators and songbirds by planting locally native plants in your shade garden. How to select and care for shade-loving native plants Planning your native garden
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