Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Who (plants) hangs out with who (more plants)
I love getting questions from listeners and suggestions for Garden Bite topics. A listener asked about what plants get along with each other and what plants might not… Invasive plants don’t play well with others.
IF you don’t mind a plant creating your garden, then buy that invasive or “easy spreader” as they are referred to in plant catalogs. If you want creative control, then be careful.
Now, who are the lovely plants that get along? You know my LOVE for ornamental grasses, they really do play nice with everything, although some spread more than others.
Mixing textures adds another dimension. I like the big blooms of daylilies with the soft ethereal look of some of the panicum and switch grasses. Of course coneflowers and daisies also look lovely with grasses, the shades of white in Daisies add a nice contrast to bright colored coneflowers.
In the shade garden, hostas are like the sun-loving ornamental grasses, they look good with anything, including Bleeding hearts, snakeroot, heuchera, wild indigo and spiderwort.
And then there’s the Black Walnut tree. My neighbor has two, planted on the lot line, I do not like it for a variety of reasons.
The nuts are extremely annoying, or maybe it’s the squirrels who plant them EVERYWHERE. It also produces toxic juglone.
This link is to the University of Wisconsin Extension with a list plants that Black Walnut doesn’t play well