Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show/podcast: Understory native plants
Looking for plants that do well in those shaded areas under your trees aka understory plants? I’m sharing some fabulous native perennials today from Prairie Moon Nursery.
Instead of surrounding your trees with rocks, which we know is a no-no, plant some companions that will help ward off weeds and add some flare!
Wild geraniums are a favorite of mine. They are hardy to zone 3, grow to about a foot tall and fill in nicely making a great groundcover with gorgeous fall color too. Wild geranium are good for medium to medium dry soil and will handle full sun to full shade.
If you’re soil is more on the wet side, Virginia waterleaf may be the ticket, unless you have a small landscape. Be careful, this plant can get out of control. I had it in my landscape from a neighbor, not knowing it was native. It kept popping up and I kept pulling it out. It’s mostly gone now.
Bellwort is a pretty early bloomer with droopy leaves and yellow flowers. Yes, they’re supposed to droop!
It’s also able to handle soil conditions from wet to medium and part to full shade.
Adding understory natives creates a “soft landing” space that supports lifecycles of lots of insects.
Many lay their eggs in the shelter of tree limbs. After eating their fill in the boughs, the larvae and caterpillars drop to the ground to pupate. A great grass that grows to about 2 ft. tall is called ‘Long-beaked’ sedge.
This sedge can typically be found in the wild in rocky soil, but it can thrive in average soils and tolerate some drought, but soils on the moist side are preferred. It digs shade or partial shade and looks great with any of the other plants I mentioned. It has a very ornamental seed head and has a clump-forming nature.
And finally Wild Strawberry. Growing to 6 inches tall you’ll get white flowers in spring then little tasty berries in summer. The fall foliage is burgundy.
