What natives are you planting this year your excited about?

This is what I have coming I am excited about.
American Cranberry Bush
Spicebush
Pawpaw
Black Elderberry

Cool! Guess you probably know Spicebush and Pawpaw are host plants for butterflies!

Yes, thats part of the reason they were choosen, and American Cranberry Bush and Elderberry are both important nectar sources. We plant to feed both us and wildlife. Near where they are being planted is a 3 year old Pipevine.

I bought a very good looking Serviceberry from MO Wildflowers. This is my second attempt. The deer ate the last one off to the ground. I have since discovered the wonders of "Deer Off" and think I can keep this one safe. I also planted 25 Vernal Witch Hazel, 25 Hazlenut, 25 Roundhead Bush Clover and 25 Black Gum for the birds and beasts and 25 Bald Cypress and 25 Sweet Gum for us. My four acre prairie planting has been struggling, so I "salted" it a little with some Rattlesnake Master, Penstemon and Purple Coneflower.

I am excited to see finally Virginia Blue Bells. Planted them 2 years in a row and did not see them come until this spring I went down hill and found two strong plants ready to bloom. They were apparently "washed off" by the melting snow. Another one that made it through the winter is round leaf Hepatica. This one I planted last fall to add to my native collection.
The new to sun area is Penstemon that I hope will attract butterflies.

My loss over winter that brought me the greatest pain was my 2 year old serviceberry. It made it fine through the first winter, but got butchered by a rabbit this past cold season. This was my first attempt at adding edibles to the landscape.

Enya, don't despair too much over your serviceberry. Mine that the deer ate off to the ground is coming back. Watch the spot, I'll bet it throws some new growth once it warms up a bit. Protect it with either a repellent or a physical barrier, and it should come back fine.

Thank you for encouragement. I'll keep an eye on it. I never thought of protecting anything as I never seen anything munched on by rabbits. This year they did quite a bit of destructive work: serviceberry, jap maple start and two filberts. I'd say they picked all of my tree/bush plantings. Now of cause I know why people wrap trees and won't wonder if I need to do it.

Never been a problem in the past but, rabbits have been horrid here this year.. seems they are munching on anything green.

I've ordered lots of shrubs and a few perennials and trees from the local arboretum which has its Native Plant Sale in a couple weeks.

Always happy to have new things to plant, especially for butterflies and hummingbirds, the one I'm most excited about is a plant I have never grown before and never even seen before!

Spigelia marilandica (Maryland pinkroot)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/48891/

Teresa

This message was edited Apr 25, 2008 4:57 AM

My hub's won't let me plant anything big right now because he keeps promising to put in a sprinkler system and doesn't want anything in the way.

I have pawpaws,spicebushes,two winged halesia,possumhaws,sourwood,native hazelnut,New Jersey tea,parsley-leaf hawthorns and others I can't remember right now ...plus a whole bunch of perennials I've grown from seed and I hope to buy replacements for native orchids, trillums,dutchman's breeches,hepatics and others from Sunshine Farms as soon as the watering systems in to replace the ones that died because the water source broke on that side of the yard they were planted in.

P

I forgot that I have Flowering Dogwood coming.. took a long time to Appalachian Spring, but since it was going to be in a shaded area I wouldn't settle for anything else. Most of our small plants came back.. only lost our bloodroot

It looks like everybody is going to have lots of knew things to plant, that is wonderful.
I have started a lot of native seeds, I hope they do well, but seeds can be tricky, we shall see.

I get that, too. We're always going to put in drip irrigation, an extended fence, a greenhouse...if words were deeds, it would all be done. Oh well.

I thought the whole idea behind landscaping with natives was to preclude the necessity for irrigation. My lawn is irrigated, and my vegetable garden is irrigated, and one bed next to the house with some natives is irrigated, but the rest of the natives have to be "NATIVE".

Linda,
I've been waiting 5 yrs for the sprinkler system

Jeff,
it gets really hot and dry under all the pines and oakes in my yard . While I don't go nuts watering,there are times during summer when I need to water the azaleas,hydrangeas,ferns,hostas...etc..

P

Native plants can survive without additional water most of the time, especially if they planted themselves, because that means they found just the right place.
But surviving can mean to die to the ground and go dormant during the growing season
because rain is not forthcoming.
When we plant natives, we may not have them in the ideal place, and we, or at least I, don't want them to go dormant when they shouldn't, or look sad and ratty, so I think that in a native garden watering when necessary is just fine, just do it as little as possible.
Of course people look at things many different ways, and that is just fine, this is just how I feel about it.
Josephine.

Well, while I may talk a big game, I've got miles of garden hose and stacks of buckets that I use to take care of the new plantings. Also, I've been known to redirect the lawn rotors so that they land into the prairie plantings at the ends of their arcs. I get a little less supportive after a couple of years of success.

A little later today I have a new bloomer to add that that thread. After three years of waiting and watching, I have Indian Paintbrush blooming in the prairie. No water added.

I'm hoping to see the leadplant planted last fall,bloom this year. I grew it from seed and babied for 3 yrs in pots.

P

Isn't is special to see those first flowers that you've been waiting for a couple of season :) Congratulations!
I was literally jumping when I saw hypatical bloom and my hd shrugged his shoulders.

I agree, natives can deal with the weather once established in conditions optimal for them,
but before you may no want to take the chances.

Actually, the most neglected bed in full sun I have is planted with bearded irises :) I'd never thought they'd turn out to be as tough from their looks. For my dry shade on a slope the toughest plant is epemidium. Second close for that area is wild american ginger. It grows under a maple tree where vinca did not get too dense. And the next in toughness, but my favorite is pulmonaria.

I am working on not having hoses longer than 20" from the house :)

This message was edited Apr 25, 2008 3:40 PM

I almost missed seeing my bloodroot...would have,had I not been walking in the yard with a friend. My little brown jugs have almost disappeared. Only a small piece left this year.

My epemidium has spread nicely.

P

Ohh where to start!! lol

Hundreds of Toadshade
Trillium cuneatum

Bronze Ferns

Uvu. sessilifloras

Mayapples

Cranefly Orchids

Rattlesnake Orchids

Bluets

Pussytoes

Bloody Cranesbill Geraniums

Coral Bells
Heuchera americana

American Alum Root
Heuchera americana var. interior

Indian cucumber-root
Medeola virginica

Yellow Root
Xanthorhiza simplicissima

Round-Leaved Yellow Violet
Viola rotundifolia.

Various wild ferns.

There's more, I just need to get I.D's.
'm trying to save stuff from my husband and his dogs,LOL.


Natives are awesome.

My rule on watering.

I'll baby you the first year, tend you the second, but the third year you're on your own. LOL
Now if it's a special plant I may be kinder, LOL.

What a list! I am happy for you and really appreciate the concern just in that order: "from my husband and his dogs" :)

When I get some to multiply id be very happy to share for probably shipping.
Love spreading the wildies!

Okay, I thought I was a pretty good photographer. My camera won't focus on the flower of my Indian Paintbrush. No matter how close or far away I am, it focuses on what is behind the bloom. I've tried macro mode, super-macro mode, zone focus....nothing works. Eery. Guess I'll get the book to the camera out and learn how to do manual focus!

By the way, several more IP's have bloomed over the last several days. Not a fieldful, by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a start.

Try putting something solid colored behind the bloom. It may focus that way.

Here's ramps from a week ago. I planted them last summer and thought I lost them. Nope!
But I am thinking that I need to move them down into the ravine as the area they are gets rather dry later in the season. These are part of my edible forest quest :)

Ohh an edible native quest, awesome.
Im stealing your Idea as an addition to my medicinal garden LOL.

Funny you mention medicinal garden. I am working on herb/medicinal garden myself and Sumbucus nigra is one of my forest/edible/medicinal plants. What do you think about starting a thread on this topic? I'd love to here other people's ideas.

Thats a great Idea.
You start it and ill be there! lol
Theres so much I need to learn about this lol.