Site-Specific Native Plant Ideas

 

The plant shopping season is coming up. While anyone can buy plants at regular big box stores and nurseries, it is during spring (and fall) when numerous seasonal sales happen and small native plant nurseries bust out with fresh plants so the selection is even better (shop small when you can!). 

Sure, we can go out and load up on plants willy-nilly ("Oh, that looks good!"), but many folks have specific plant needs: something for shade, something for privacy, something for that wet spot. It's important to choose plants that will really thrive in those conditions and accomplish the goal. It’s a concept that is often referred to as ‘right plant, right place.’

Here are some of my previous blogs that address specific needs either because of the conditions or because of what you need it to do.

Shady areas are those that get less than 6 hours of sun per day. In my Made in the Shade blog, I talk about how to identify different levels of shade, and I provide ideas for shade perennials, shrubs, and small trees.

For those occasionally soggy spots, consider plants featured in this post: Rain gardens, wet spots and the native plants that love ‘em. Here you’ll find suggestions for perennials (sun and shade), shrubs, and trees that can live with wet feet or occasional standing water.

Perhaps you need something evergreen for privacy or perhaps to provide cover for birds. One of my earliest posts was about Evergreens and it features evergreen trees and shrubs because lots of people want them. I have lists for both sun and shade.

Perhaps you’re interested in adding something unusual to your garden. Take a look at my two posts on Underused Native Shrubs and Underused Native Trees.

My blog post about Native Fruits in Georgia is one of my most popular. Look at it for ideas to add some native edibles into your landscape. I have other posts specifically about serviceberry, blueberries, and paw paw. Want to support birds? Read this post: Why Native Plants Matter for Birds.

Perhaps you were really wanting to do a pollinator garden this year. Take a look at my 3-part series on planning and implementing a pollinator garden. If you go to Part 3, it has links to Parts 1 and 2.

Shrubs are a layer of the landscape that occasionally need revisiting. Perhaps the conditions changed (sunny vs shady), they became too big for the space, or you just want to swap some out for native plants. This post on shrubs gives lots of ideas and links to many, many other posts about shrubs.

If you have another plant situation that needs ideas, drop a note in the comments and I’ll try to help.