Light up any shady garden with color and texture. Beautiful native understory plants have characteristics that allow them to thrive in shade.
These seven natives will help you create a lush, layered design.
1. Red Buckeye (Aesculus pavia)
Red buckeye offers year-round interest. Its spring flower clusters are spectacular. The bright red flowers attract hummingbirds and butterflies. The deep green, glossy palmate leaves add interesting texture. Fall fruits produce interesting seed pods. Grow as a shrub or shape as small tree in your formal or natural garden. Plant a single specimen or clump of several. Naturalizes on a variety of sites to fill an area.
2. Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida)
Dogwoods are a well-loved natives that vary from shrub to tree. All native species thrive in shade or sun with moist, well-drained soil. The most well-known species, the Flowering Dogwood, offers magnificent creamy blooms in spring. The flowers, actually showy bracts, give way to red berries. In fall, burgundy foliage fills the graceful branches.
3. Eastern Wahoo (Euonymus atropurpurea)
This adaptable, deciduous shrub naturalizes with ease. Red berries follow the pink spring flowers and are a preferred food for songbirds. The stunning fall color makes it a great alternative to the non-native burning bush.
4. American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana)
This deciduous tree offers smooth gray bark and sinuous limbs. Maturing at 30 feet, it can fit in most urban landscapes. Its fall color has shades of rich red and orange. American hornbeam tolerates dry or moist sites and even some standing water. It grows well in sun or shade and is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Small fruit clusters may appear in later months, attracting cottontails and white-tailed deer.
5. Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis)
One of the largest native ferns in non-tropical North America this fern grows in part to full shade. Tall and regal, it is a slow-spreader, which occurs in bogs or wet areas where it reaches heights of three feet or more. During fall, red and brown colors emerge to add beautiful autumn colors to your garden.
6. River Oats (Chasmathium latifolium)
This native cool-season perennial grass is common in bottomlands and along streams. It grows readily from stout rhizomes to form loose colonies. The open, nodding, flattened flower and seed clusters are distinctive. It is not a true oat like the non-native grain crop.
7. Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
The bright lavender flowers of Wild Geranium are a spring harbinger. It retains its attractive foliage all season long. Long-lived, plants expand to form a nice ground cover in shady areas. It will also grow in sun with consistent moisture. Long-lived, the plants expand to form a nice clumps that also work well as a groundcover. It benefits pollinators and certain caterpillars.
Experts in Native
Forrest Keeling is a leader in conservation and environmental restoration. Our commitment to innovation led us to develop the RPM (Root Production Method ®). The largest producer of native plants, we grow 400 species and produce 1.5 million plants each year.
Want to discuss the best natives for your project? Get in touch with a Forrest Keeling representative today. Or check out our real-time inventory at ForrestKeelingNursery,com