Some New Native Plants
/This time of year, there are native plant sales at local gardens and nature centers. My daughter and I went to one last week and I got 4 new native plants for my back yard:
Buttonbush – Cephalanthus occidentalis is going in a location to extend a flowerbed out into the backyard and maybe eventually connect to the bed that is in the middle of the yard that I planted where we had a pine tree that fell over and was removed.
Spicebush – Lindera benzoin is going on the east side of the backyard that is shady most of the day and the violets are overflowing the boundaries of the flower bed. I have stopped mowing part of it and the Spicebush will go into that area (I’ve also planted some pawpaw seeds there so the area could be very lush in the future if they come up.
Ozark Witch Hazel – Hamamelis vernalis is going on the southwest side of our back yard where I have stopped mowing. I will have to make a point of walking out into the yard to see it bloom in January!
American Beautyberry – Callicarpa American is going in the bed where the pine tree was removed. It is a lower growing that the button bush so will be a nice layer in the yard from the walking trail on the outside of our fence that leads to the neighborhood ponds….in a few years.
Several of the native plants that I got last year are doing well this year. The goldenrod is blooming and the American spikenard has made seeds that I am scattering in other shady places in my yard where they might grow well. I’ll continue to plant native wildflowers…but with these 4 new ones I probably have most of the bushes that I want to add to my yard.
I am preparing a relatively narrow area between an eastern white pine and the beds on the east side of our patio by making layers of clippings; it will become a leaf pile un a few weeks for the winter. It is very shady there. I have hostas and lambs ear that I will divide in the spring (non-native but I have them already growing in my yard); longer term – I hope the American spikenard seeds come up and that that plant will add an ‘umbrella’ of vegetation.
