Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: Suggestions for native shrubs for urban/suburban gardens, 0 by Decumbent

Decumbent wrote:
SPP,

I have a few thoughts on some of the suggestions offered so far. First, don't be intimidated by the scale of your project. Just break your yard down into manageable sections and complete them one at a time. The end result will be a number of what they call "garden rooms." And these are fun and give even a normally sized yard a multi-faceted personality. And you can apply what you learn from your first projects on your subsequent projects.

For a really interesting book on the Americas before Columbus, find the book 1491 by Charles Mann. It is a real eye-opener. In it, he goes into great detail about the long lineage and the accomplishments of Native Americans, the land, and Native Americans influence over the land. Not a ton regarding horticulture per se, but plenty of information from which to speculate and/or draw conclusions.

Of the plants you listed Feb 14 at 6:15PM: American hazelnuts are a real thicket kind of plant. They can get kind of rough with a ton of suckers. I'm not sure if they'd be more attractive if cleaned up by pruning or not. They do get a very nice fall color, however. Here's a picture.

Scott