I have just moved to the country this past year. We have land that is wooded, alot I would love to do it with native plants. I know I have alot to learn, but any help you can offer would really be appreciated. I have been trying to clean it up . so that I can plant some native plants in the woods.Any advice would be helpful

Thanks
Maryann

Maryann,

The Nature Conservancy has good info on their website. A visit to a local native plant society might also give you good info for your particular area.

Some more advice:
Start by learning to reliably identify your non-native invaders and spend a lot of time and energy during the first few years combatting those. Hold off on killing trees until you have made a dent in the invasives in the understory - the shade from the trees will help to suppress the germination of the millions of invasive seeds you might have. I would start with attacking the invasive vines since you need to get rid of them before they kill off your mature trees which took decades to grow. Getting rid of invasives with thorns (like multiflora rose) would also be high on the priority list too since getting rid of those will make you more likely to be able to work comfortably (I do however sometimes prune back but not totally kill some thorny stuff around young saplings to protect them from deer). Some paths in really crowded areas might make work and enjoyment of your land easier and safer as well. However, if you clear out a lot of the invasives, there will be more room for you to move about and paths will not be as necessary. Also, take note of what pops up over a two or three year period. With luck, some desireable natives are lurking in there and just waiting for you to provide a little breathing room. Many invasives are still active or easy to identify in late fall and winter when many natives are dormant so that is a good time to go a little crazier with mowers and herbicides, etc. I would not go hog wild with plant and seed purchases until you have some relatively well-weeded areas to add to. However, if you are like me you wont want to wait for too long and will start putting things in here and there even where you haven't really haven't sufficiently beat back the invaders yet.

I've still got some bloodroot and maybe some mayapple to share with the community yet this fall before the ground freezes up. Contact me for details.

Rod A. of Loess Roots

Hi Rod. I'm new to the Woodland Native forum, but a long time GW'er. Just emailed you!

Rod,
How kind of you to offer to share. If you are interested in sharing with a lurker, I would love to have bloodroot in my woodland garden.

Squirrel Girl

Hi,

I would love some if there is any left. We just went through our first spring in the Blue Ridge Mountains and I didn't find any on our property, although we had a beautiful carpett of dog tooth violets, along with solomon's seal, violets, ferns, etc.

Thanks!

BRMG

I love bloodroot! My I have some please?

thanks,
Annette

Rod, I was looking at some of the posts about woodland plants, and saw your post. Do you think you will have any woodland plants in the spring? I would be interested in trading if you have any. Thanks. Betty