Thank you for this information. I've gotten rid of all the day lilies that I know, and I don't think I have nepata, so I'm not sure what this is in reference to. Although, yes, I do have a couple non native plants.

This page from the National Wildlife Foundation should give you some good ideas for native plants in your location:

Native plant finder

Natives are very regional. which state or region of the country are you in? Prairie Nursery has an an on line catalogue with great information about native plants including native ranges and prefered growing conditions. Another big factor to consider is your local critter population. Do you havd deer? Rabbits? If so, you’ll want to plan accordingly.

My last bit if advice… It is always tempting to pick aggressive plants that can fill in the area quickly, but it is better to start with less aggressive plants and allow them to get established before forcing them to compete with super aggressive neighbors.

There were a couple comments suggesting daylilies and Nepeta. They must have deleted their comments before you viewed it? I also grow some non native plants. The only 2 species that are agressive out of the species I mentiined are Wild Ginger and Virginia Waterleaf. They are groundcovers that don't spread at a rapid pace.

Thank you, and that explains the day lilly issue!

any auggestions in a low geoundcover for a heavily shaded area that is also wet? i have a vwry different spot in the yard that needa something! and you seem to know many different plants, thank you!

I think Virginia Waterleaf would be great for a wet, shaded area. Ive been growing it for years and it spreads quickly, but I like that fact, it's never been a problem. My Waterleaf has begun to colonise a shady spot on my brick patio. The leaves can have white spots or be fully green. Hydrophyllum virginianum will grow alongside other precious natives without thugging them to death. If your shady area gets a few hours of sunlight, they should bloom well. Waterleafs might allow other natives like Dutchman's Breeches and Primula media to poke through. I'll have to investigate compatibility? Green and Gold, Chrysogonum and Wild Ginger Asarum/Hexastylis will be ground covers in wet shade. There are different Chrysogonum species of Green and Gold. I happen to grow Chrysogonum australis that has very dull looking flowers. Wild Ginger is slower spreading and it is so thick that no seed can penetrate the cluster.

Native Woodland Sedum, S. ternatum with Honewort, Cryptotaenia canadensis, and Oak Sedge, Carex?, and the non native Viola odorata.

As you can see my Virginia Waterleaf has broken through the stone border and is heading north. I love it's ferny folliage that blows so effortlessly in the breeze. And it keeps undesirable weeds from getting a foothold. They are forming flower buds now.

Part sun natives. Wild Columbine, Starry Solomon's Seal, Cream Violet, Aunt Lucy, Goatsbeard.

Primula meadii, Lobed Bloodroot foliage and Wild Geranium.

Starry Solomon's Seal, Maianthemum stellata. Rosey colored new foliage of Goatsbeard, Aruncus dioicus.

The native Clematis pitcheri. Locally native.

Virginia Bluebells with Dutchman's Breeches

Primula meadi

Native Tall Thistle, Cirsium altissimum and Cardinal Flowers, Lobelia cardinalis

Asarum reflexum, Wild Ginger. In the Dutchman's Pipe, Birthwort Family, Aristolochiaceae. The cute little brown jug flowers are pollinated by beetles, because they evolved prior to the appearance of flying insects. They are classified as primordial Magnoliads. Many plants in this family have flowers that look like pipes. Wild Ginger is more likely to thug out other more desirable plants. My Wild Ginger is encroaching on my Ginseng, Trillium and Green Dragons. Asarum roots form a thick network, and removing them must be done carefully.

Canada Waterleaf would do well in Pensylvania. Both species of waterleaf are equal in height. Above, Jacob's Ladder, Polemonium reptans. The ferny Aunt Lucy, Ellisia nyctelea is in the same Hydrophyllum subfamily of the Borage family Boraginiaceae. Aunt Lucy is a native spring annual that flowers, seeds, and dissapears within a few short weeks. A nice play on textures and colors with bluish Dicentra cucularia, palmate leaves of Callirhoe bushii. and Chelone obliqua, Pink Turtlehead. The little seedlings make the stones look lush now, but I'll be ripping most of them out later. Also Wild Phlox, Phlox divaricata.

wow so much thank you!

Where are you located? Every state has a native plant society and here in Virginia we also have an online Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora which is an incredibe resource which will show you on a map whether the plant you are considering is native to your county. I use it all the time. For instance, both types of Hydrophyllum virginianum are native here, but not in my county. It is always good to find plants that are native to your exact location.

Yay for going native!

The WildSeed Project of Maine has lots of resources. Like this planting plan for natives

Shady Native Perennial Pollinator Garden Bed Template — Wild Seed Project

thank you for all of the tips. I love all of the plant ideas , I struggle probably most with design. I do have rabbits that eat everything so I will have to look at plants that can survive them. I am in illinois and they have resources but maybe not quite as good as some other states from the resources I am seeing from other places.

There are a bunch of ways to think about design. A classic prairie style has one or more matrix plants. This is probably a sedge (penn, rosy and palm are all decent options) or a fern. I like marginal wood fern, which is nominally evergreen, but often looks a bit ratty in winter. The matrix is basically a ground cover that looks decent all the time. You could do creeping Tiarella.

Then there are seasonal stars that you scatter. So, you'd pick some taller plants for different seasons to scatter around. You might have coneflowers for midsummer, asters for the fall and camassia and dicentra eximia for the spring. Then, you'd have one to three statement plants. These might be shrubs. A ninebark with interesting leaves, for example, like diabolo. A small dogwood, like red twig, which will give you flowers in the spring and red stems in winter. If you can find a variegated one, all the better.

Another way to look at it is by color and size. You could do pastels, you could do hots, a common scheme is two similar colors and a punch of a contrasting one.

Here's a matrix of sedge, with an allium as a seasonal star, with a hint of another pink plant in the bottom left corner.

Sagaponack, NY · More Info

Here's two shades of purple, with a punch of contrasting lime

Clamshell Alley · More Info

Here's a hot color scheme

Great Plant Combinations · More Info

Thank you for the “how” to do it!

Mother Nature is the best designer. I can only attempt to duplicate nature's perfection. My entire back yard is garden beds with a stone walkway encircling them. Im converting more of my front lawn into native beds. I don't smother or treat the turf areas with herbicide. I just did out the grass when I need more room. Its been a lot of trial and error. One big mistake that I make the most often is planting smaller plants alongside taller plants. Some smaller native plants like Prairie Smoke, Geum triflorum, and Phlox pilosella will dissapear if planted near taller competition. I think about the wildlife that depends on every unique species, so my goal is to duplicate nature all the way down to the smallest plants in an ecosystem. Plants like Aunt Lucy, Ellisia nyctelea and False Mermaid, Floerkea prosperpinicoides. I collected some scratched soil from an area where False Mermaid grew and scattered it around the woodland natives. I spotted 1 False Mermaid plant yesterday. FM is in the Brassica order of plants, but unlike other Brassicas FM has everything in 3s. 3 flower petals, 3 cotyledons, etc. I live 40 miles south of Chicago. If you can get on the mailing list and follow your local chapter of the Illinois Native Plant Society, and the Wild Ones, they can inform you about upcoming native plant sales, field trips, etc.. The closest native nurseries to me are Pizzo Native Nursery, The Growing Place, and Possibility Place Native Nursery. Pizzo and Possiblility Place usually supply the plants for the local native plant sales. My one conundrum is, if I do not deadhead some of my natives, so wildlife can eat the seeds, I end up with a lot of vollunteers that require a lot of time and effort to remove. My native asters seed themselves prolifically, but they are rather easy to pull out. Silphium and the Wingstem and Frostweed Verbesinas have vollunteers that require trowells or shovels to remove. The lesson Ive learned this year is to leave the leaves that are covering my woodland shade natives. I always have thought I was helping those plants to get more sunlight by raking the leaves covering them, but they all evolved with leaf cover, and they thrive in soil that's full of decomposing, leafy organic matter. Especially ferns. Much easier for ferns to spread when they are growing in moisture holding organic matter. It seems like gardening is becomming a lost art in this country. It's a shame that there are millions of acres of sterile, useless manicured lawns heavily treated with herbicides, insecticides, and chemical fertilizers, and it's acceptible as the status quo. Some yards may have a little planting of Hostas and Daylilies that thrive on neglect, and also many weeds that could be comepletely tidied up in 5 minutes, but yet they sit there, because of apathy, and distractions. Illinois must have been beautiful before the settlers turned most of it into farmland, and messed up the hydrology.

https://www.google.com/search?q=upcoming+native+plant+salrs+in+illionous&oq=upcoming+native+plant+salrs+in+illionous&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYqwIyBwgDECEYnwUyBwgEECEYnwXSAQkzMjM1NGowajeoAhSwAgE&client=ms-android-verizon&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8

Purple Milkweed at a local preserve, McKinley Woods.

Hepatica acutiloba blooming now. Im still trying to establish Hepatica. I think in the past I killed them by overwatering. Then, I realized I always see them thriving on steep hillsides, and I surmised they need moist soil, but sharp drainage.

thank you again jay.

You know a lot of these plants, it's overwhelming!! The pictures are beautiful!

Question, I'm going to start small here, but I want to start with an understory tree/shrub for the fence line and maybe a few smaller shrubs underneath. What are your thoughts on Nannyberry, vs serviceberry, vs. a rosebud, vs. carolina silverbell for the front there on the fence line? I want to get started digging and planting but I feel like I need to first choose some plants. I am north facing and the soil is clayy and medium wet. but drains well.

I had one person recommend the vibernum but this looks so bushy and like it may be difficult to shape as it ages. this person also recommended planting 4 of them in the front, and they can get huge, so I am hesitant to do this and not understanding why so many would be planted together.

I have two crimson maples one behind the fence and one at the sidewalk in front of the house. I know these are not native, but I also am not inclined to cut down mature trees until necessary.

Thank you again for your help!

My favorite of your list is the Carolina Silverbell. I've never grown it, but the flowers are beautiful.

My second favorite would be Redbud, because of it's lovely spring flowers and it's form, which I think looks better when allowed to grow with multiple trunks.

I grow Arrowwood Viburnum and Viburnum trilobum, (the native highbush cranberry), and I think with the lobed, red tinged leaves, Viburnum trilobum is more beautiful than V. lentago, and V. dentatum imo. The native Viburnum trilobum is often confused with the similar Eurasian Viburnum opulus, and was formerly called Viburnum opulus var. americanum.

There are several cultivars of Redbud, Forest Pansy, Rising Sun, etc.

A few other lower canopy shrubs/trees to consider are Spicebush, Lindera benzoin, Eastern Leatherwood, Dirca palustris, Cornus/Benthamidia floridus, And Paw Paw, Asamina triloba. I'm sure I'm leaving some out.

I have an old Serviceberry that suckers a lot and it often gets splotchy leaves like all Rose family fruit trees get. This Amelamchier suckers profusely because of stress, caused by lack of sufficiant sunlight. It's completely shaded on it's eastern side by a large oak. The previous owner should never have planted it. I'm growing two small Dirca palustris treelings in my back yard. They've been getting much sun, which burns their leaves, so Im moving them to my front yard, which also faces north. I would recommend researching the soil requirements for every shrub you seriously consider. They all, being understory plants naturally grow in leafy, organically rich soil, but some might do fine in clay soils while others may not. I can ammend the soil in my beds, but a backhoe would be needed to ammend soil for shrubs, There's a term for small dug out and ammended holes that people plop shrubs into, but it escapes me? Hydrangea arborescens is a bit smaller of a shrub, but very nice for shade. I'm going to plant my 2 Hydrangea arborescens together with my Viburnum trilobum in my front yard.

You might want to consider trying your hand at winter sowing. It won’t help you this year but it’s a fairly easy way to get plants. Prairie Moon nursery has a great website where you can find plants native to your location. Seed packets are $3.00 and with some empty milk jugs and some potting soil you can have a lot of plants cheaply. I’ve been winter sowing for three years and it has been quite successful. Just be sure to check the planting code, a lot of the spring ephemerals and shade plants are hard to start from seed, some take 2 or more years to germinate.

thank you for the ideas ill have to look a bunch of these trees up. i also really like the silverbell but i like the trunk groqth if the red bud and serviceberries. so ive been vacillating between them.

I have a silverbell.

However, as I was warned, the flowers are much less impressive from the side than they are from underneath.

The fancy leaved redbuds do not have a good reputation.

Another small tree/shrub to throw into the mix is witchhazel, Hamamelis virginiana. It's a bit different in that it blooms in the fall.

Wow, Jay! Your above post of suggested plants was terrific, and I have copied & sent it to myself. So many things to consider, and I already have some of them. THANK YOU!

You've gotta have some woodies in there, otherwise it's just going to be bare blah-ness during the winter.

A few terrific, attractive native shrubs for my area are fothergilla, winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata), silky dogwood (Cornus amomum), and gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa). And various conifers, of course.

Native gardens, to me, can include plants that are native to other countries with the same climate and mix well in a garden with local species. I'm not as strict in the definition and appreciate a natural look rather than scientific botanical correctness.

A mix of different height plants that are grouped, not lined up, and that have a change of color or foliage throughout the year. Leave meandering paths of rock or gravel or mulch for a finished look and some areas of low groundcover. Throw in some boulders for contrast.

I'm not in your zone so can't suggest specific plants.

Like Sigrid says, choosing a color palette will make a garden feel more cohesive and less like a wildflower meadow, unless that is the look you like. For instance, I like blues/purples and oranges together and my planting beds feel more intentional. I am in a mediterrean climate in CA but include plants like agapantha for some blue even though it is from southern Africa and blue fescue from Europe.

I've included plants from other areas that hummgbirds and butterflies love, so to me that is a big plus. Tiger Swallowtail goes nuts for my non-local Cape Plumbago. Hummers love my Tecomaria...not local.

See if you can direct runoff to a rain garden, a sunken area where water collects and fill it with water loving plants that don't mind wet roots.

thank you for all of your advice!

Just some ideas of hardscape to show what can be done with some geometry mixed in with the natural lines of nature plus some focal points. The butterfly garden out where it can get more sun.

Thank you for sharing this fun amazing what can be done with a dmall space.

Not your yard, but I described some of my ideas to ai and it came up with these images.

I found this:

To keep your bird bath water safe from potential bird flu contamination, prioritize regular cleaning with a 10% bleach solution (1 part bleach to 9 parts water), rinsing thoroughly, and ensuring the bath is completely air-dried before refilling with fresh water. Changing the water frequently, at least every other day, and removing any debris or droppings can also help. Gloves: Wear disposable gloves when cleaning the bird bath and washing hands thoroughly afterwards.

very pretty what you created!

Thanks. You can see how easy it is to lead the eye which gives depth and makes the yard feel larger. I forgot to tell ai the size and your suburban location, but the main areas will fit. Or just incorporate some of the ideas.

A few taller plants at the side property line with lower ones in front define the space as yours and wil feel more intimate. Put a section of fence trellis behind the bench, that sort of thing. Flower pots also draw the eye to the bench and the front door.

Where the lawn will narrow, make sure it is wide enough for a mower.