Gardening & Landscaping
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Favorite native plants?
I'm going to incorporate some more native plants into my landscape.
What is your favorite native plant (common/scientific name)?
Why do you like it so much?
Is it an annual/perennial/tree/shrub?
Re: Favorite native plants?
How much time do you have? I would have answered this earlier in the day, but it required a lot of thought. When I finally started jotting down everything that came to mind, I ended up filling up most of the notebook page.
The natural place for me to begin would be trees, and my favorite genus is Quercus (Oak). Oaks are just the kings of the tree world. IMO, nothing beats the spreading canopy of a mature Oak. At the top of the Oak list are Q. alba (White Oak) and Q. phellos (Willow Oak), which both have a growth habit of spread exceeding height. I love them both so much it's tough to put one ahead of the other. I also adore Q. virginiana (Live Oak) but it's not common this far north. Some recent research suggests that Live Oak may be one of the only trees yet studied that can develop natural grafts between stem growth and root growth. I love Beech (Fagus) because of the characteristic giant, gnarly surface roots, looking like melted candle wax; and I really like their smooth grey bark.
After that, dropping down in size, I love Oxydendrum arboreum (Sourwood), Nyssa sylvatica (Black Tupelo), and Carpinus caroliniana (Hornbeam). I love Sourwood for it's tiny panicles of white flowers, and it's lack of pests and diseases; I love Nyssa for it blazing fall color (but it's tough to transplant), and I love Hornbeam because it can be pleached into a hedge. That's pretty unique for a 40' tall deciduous tree. If you want a tough tree, Ilex opaca (American Holly) cannot be killed (even if you remove 60% of the root mass).
Dropping down in size again- I like Chionanthus virginiana (Fringe Tree) and Amelanchier arborea (Serviceberry). Both have pretty white flowers in the spring and aren't troubled with disease or insect issues. I like Asimina triloba (Pawpaw) because it bears edible fruit from those huge purple flowers.
SHRUBS -I'll try to speed through the rest.
Rhododendron catawbiense- I have one of these (Boursault). I bought it because I'd heard that it was one of the more sun tolerant Rhodos, and I tortured it in a large pot for 5 years, subjecting it to ongoing drought. Then I sunburned it severely (not trying to, I forgot to move it under the porch when I had my big trees cut down and it scorched). Then I bare-rooted it and flooded the roots (lost cause on those) and left it submerged for 48 hours. Then I planted it in clay. It's still going strong.
Physocarpus opulifolius (Ninebark)- I love the burgundy foliage and the peeling bark. Profuse bloomer, attractive to bees.
Myrica cerifera (Waxmyrtle)- Love the citrusy smell of the foliage, and the fact that it's so attractive to birds (berries). This is another very tough, utilitarian plant: no disease or insects, grows in bad soil, tolerant of salt spray, drought, and low oxygen, and deer don't eat it. Makes a lush evergreen hedge, can be sheared hard, and is sold everywhere for small pocket change.
SMALL PLANTS
Baptisia australis (False Indigo)- Pretty perennial, very important for pollinators. Extremely long blooming season, makes good cut flowers (even the dried fruit pods can be used for arrangements). Grows 5' tall, and you can usually find Baptisia that truly are blue (the rarest flower color).
Aesclepias tuberosa (Butterfly Milkweed)- Another plant that is highly attractive to pollinators (hummingbirds and Monarch butterflies), and shares many wonderful characteristics with Baptisia: long bloom time, drought tolerant, needs no fertilization, deer hate it, good for cutting and arranging. It will tolerate partial shade as well. Unfortunately, aphids love it, so I spray mine with soapy water every couple of days to kill the 8astards.
Gaultheria procumbens (Wintergreen)- this is a very low growing evergreen, which is one reason I love it; the other is the showy red berries that look like shiny marbles. The dark green glossy foliage and those berries look great peeking out from a little snow, and I love that strong wintergreen fragrance if you crush the berries.
Passiflora incarnata (Passionflower)- I love this vine because the flowers are so unique. Very attractive to Sphynx Moths.
Wisteria frutescens- if you think Wisteria is a horrid, monster of a vine that will take over your garden and tear down your trellis, you aren't thinking of our native Wisteria. It's much smaller. This demure little beauty has what you want (flowers and fragrance) without the worry.
Really, there are sooooo many more. I didn't even talk about ferns or grasses, but this is long enough.
All of the following are perennials, because frankly I'm too lazy to replant year after year. :P
Asters - Stoke's aster for sun and wood asters for shade. Both are super easy to grow.
Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica) - kind of a shy looking flower to me, and fairly uncommon
Virginia sweetsprire (Itea virginica) low maintenance shrub with pretty white flowers in the spring, turns red in the fall.
Scarlet Sage (Salvia coccinea) - SUPER easy to grow
Fire Pink (Silene virginica)
Liatris spicata
4/25/12 ~ Our angel, Persephone James, is here!
4/25/12 ~ Our angel, Persephone James, is here!
Joe Pye Weed is a great plant! I have the chocolate variety.
I forgot to holla for Yucca. I LOVE Yucca. It is about the only full-sun native evergreen with enormous, showy blooms. It even grows well in full shade (it just won't bloom). It's a very tough plant with huge moisture-hoarding roots. It's a great plant to put around HVAC units, where the constant hot air will beat other plants to death.
This is a great list ladies!
~NB~ I agree oaks are lovely. Unfortunately, I'm highly allergic to them! Such a shame!
My favorite native is coneflowers because I love watching the goldfinches eat the seeds.
Any native Oklahoma wildflowers--Indian Blankets and Indian Paintbrushes, bluebonnets (yes, Texas, we get them too! Thanks!) and others that I don't know the names.
Redbud trees. They are quite hardy and can withstand our winds and storms. One across the street from my parent's house caught on fire when some stupid kids shot fireworks in the middle of 100-degree heat and a drought. We took buckets of water to put out the grass fire and the tree...the next year, it still bloomed. I think it's still there, 20 years later.
Elm trees. I adore them. Stupid Dutch Elm disease.
Mimosa trees...some people hate the mess, I ADORE them, probably because we had one back home.
Crepe Myrtles. Are they US native plants? I'm not sure, but I know they take OK summer heat well. They're about the only thing left that's pretty right now.
Are mimosas native? The one that is common here in the SE, Albizia julibrissin, is invasive and very weedy. Good luck trying to get rid of it if seedlings sprout.
Crepe myrtles are NOT native. We recently cut down 3 crepe myrtles in our yard and they are spreading through root runners. It is freaking impossible to kill these things and they are driving me crazy.
4/25/12 ~ Our angel, Persephone James, is here!
That's correct. NEITHER of the plants that most people refer to as Mimosa and Crape Myrtle is a native. However, there are native versions of both. That's why Latin nomenclature is so important- it's usually the only way to accurately ID the plant.
Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella) might work in the DC area, but I'm pretty sure Indian Paintbrush (Casilleja indivisa) has a very small native range.
You should be able to kill the Crapes by having the stumps ground.
Yeah, I guess OK and DC probably have a few different "native" plants. My bad
I just got so excited thinking about the wildflowers that we have and all that.