looking for natives for a woodland shade garden

I put my original post in the shade garden forum ( http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1204509/ )
before i began to realize the full potential for this garden to be a sort of native preserve. Unfortunately most of the natives will have to be ushered in by yours truly, as it seems i have quite a few non native/ invasive plants in this area. It won't be fully dedicated to natives, there will of course be hostas as well, and hydrangeas, but I'd like info on what plants i can add successfully, preferably New York native, *possibly threatened or endangered plants. Of course *these* would be grown from purchased or traded seeds, roots, cuttings, never taken from the wild. Some of the understory is as i said weed and invasive, and I'd love to hear ideas on how to handle that without entirely disturbing the area.

I am attempting the same thing down here in VA. This thread might be of interest to you:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1200822/

Here's a good link with some resources in New York. Good luck! http://www.coldclimategardening.com/upstate-ny/native-plants/

What a wonderful potential you have in that piece of land. Post pictures as it evolves.

Looks like limestone. You'll probably have to stay away from the acid loving plants, but the rest should do fine.

@nativeVA- It is limestone! There is a quarry behind it! :) that thread you opened is quite the can of worms eh?! I love fossils. Used to be in geology club in college. :)


I'm going to check out these links.

This message was edited Aug 15, 2011 5:28 PM

I also think Clethra alnifolia is a beautiful native shrub for shade and it has a beautiful fragrance.

And I planted a couple of pretty red berries I found in the woods nearby under my boulevard tree and years later I have wonderful ground cover of Maianthemum stellatum (Starry Solomon's Plume). It is really architectural and small and gets pretty berries in the fall that start out striped and then turn red. Also you cant beat the native Canada wild ginger as a ground cover - Asarum canadense, I think it is much more pretty than the european variety everyone plants.

grik, I'm glad to hear your vote for C. alnifolia =) I have 'Ruby Spice' on my shopping list for next spring to replace some old evergreens.

I have a friend that has a hill with limestone outcropping like that. It is on the north side and very cool and damp. They really didn't know what they had until I started to point out all the different plants, now they are excited. It's a special place for plants and they are lucky to own it. Twinleaf, ginger, trillium, dutchmen's breeches, ginseng, blood root, ferns, walking ferns (I really like the walking fern, but don't have a place where they will grow yet.) and a bunch of others all were thriving there. They let me take a few plants.

That's why I opened that thread. I knew it would be a can of worms, but I wanted to get my collecting opinion on record.

Yea, fossils are cool! You never know what you may find. I have collected in NY, PA, MD, DE, WV, VA, NC, AL, TN, KY, OH, IN, SD, KS, NE, WY, OK, TX, CO (I might have missed 1 or 2). We just moved to VA in 2010. Moving all those heavy rocks isn't as much fun the second or third as it was the first time (collecting). I haven't been out for about 5 years now because of other commitments. I miss it, but I will get back out there. In the mean time I mess with my native plants developing my nature trail.

The other day i noticed this little guy and I had to get out there today and get a picture of it...not sure but it looks like monarda, or something in the mint family, but bears a strong resemblance to saliva columbariae. Is this just a weed?

Here's the plantfiles link
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/148035/
here's another pic

Planted some northern woodland violet today. Supposed to be threatened in NY but grows like wild in friends gardens...and yard... And between sidewalk cracks... Lol

Found doll's eyes growing back there today!!! How can i harvest the seeds to spread it around? I only found one plant. So i want to leave it where it is.

Actaea pachypoda: Doll's-eyes or White Baneberry

That on my want list. I'm still looking for it. It might be a little early for the seeds, are they ripe? If they are pluck em and plant em. Pick a habitat similair to mom.

I have the black cohosh, and its seeds are enclosed in berries. I'm not sure what they would look like when "ripe."

My jaw dropped when i saw it! It's on my want list too. When i tried to touch the berries the stick fell off in my hand. Not sure but it looks like the other berries have dropped already or been eaten? I will plant them and hope for the best. The spot is infested with wild grape and 5 leaf ivy

I also found this. Not sure what it't name is but I've seen it in other shade gardens. The berries are ripe when red, so I'll be planting these too.

If they fall off in your hand, I'm sure they were ripe enough. The 5 leaf ivy, might be Virginia Creeper and your green berries are Jack-in-the-Pulpit.

Really!!!???? Omg! That's two from my want list right here in my own back yard!!!! *happy dance*
Still not thrilled about the Virginia creepers but these two almost make up for it. :)

New hydrangeas at the entryway

A close up. I really want a lot of chartruce shades and little pops of color, but mostly GREEN! :) I i know this guy isn't native but i just had to add him.

There's quite righta few unnatural things back here... Like this basketball hoop. Lol back in the day someone must have threw whatever this was back there. I guess it just stuck. I like to imagine the chipmonks and squirrels ducking here's. Lord knows there's enough little black walnut sprouting to support my theory.

Keep taking pictures of what you see, we will try to ID it for you. Just wait until spring for all the good stuff to bloom.

Here's a cool tree! Like a Chinese lantern tree!!!

Can't wait! Lol today i found more white baneberry. No berries. :( but i know it's there so i plan to put rocks indicating it's presence so it doesn't get walked on.
I also found this. About the same height as solomon's seal. tons of this. All facing the east. Any ideas?

Sorry that's a horrible picture. It's very windy here today. Even in the woods.

Found these sticking.g out of the ground. Not sure what they were but there was that blue berry all dried up so i brought it back to plant it. Lol we'll see what i get since whatever this was is dormant now.

This was what i meant by overgrown. This area is literally a dump. Old car parts, bottles etc. Whatever they couldn't burn or compost. Yucky. You could easily fall in this weedy pit and never get out. If i am missing check in the creeping myrtle and ivy.

Early meadow rue?

Sorry for all these consecutive posts. It's just very exciting to start seeing with new eyes what is in my own yard. Funny how different the edges of these woods are. Maybe 10 feet away is the edge of a cornfield over run with honeysuckle and knapweed. Very different environments just feet apart. Scary to think it could go away.

That's likely a Staphylea trifolia (Bladdernut) - should have opposite trifoliate leaves and striated stems.

Agree with the "horrible pic" designation - it is good to always stand back and photo the whole plant, and then zoom in with the closeups.

Infinitesimally close images are NOT the way to ID plants.

Lol I'm -5' tall. i have t-rex arms and it's crazy windy today! Lol give me a break trying to steady the plant and snap a pic with my phone in this weather is rough! :) I'll try to get better pictures tomorrow.
Here's another of the mystery plant. Not as blurry. Or close.

That looks like a Solomon's Seal seed.

5' tall and T-rex arms!! Well we now know what you look like. I could probably pick you out of a crowd!

Looks like you have your work cut out for you. I would tackle that in the spring, that way you can see what your doing. The first pictures you showed with the limestone didn't look that bad.

I don't think so, but can't be certain. The dried sticks that once held it were thicker and more upright. Hollow through the center. There are still many solomon's seal in the area. All looking pretty beat. But the berries are still white and stripey or red. This is very blue almost purple. Looks like a dried up old blueberry.

I think the "berries that are white and stripey red" might be either False Solomon's Seal http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/620/ or Starry False Solomon's Seal. Are the berries in a cluster out on the end of the plant?

Solomon's Seal is a long arching plant with blue berries (when ripe) in single file along the stem.

There is lots of false solomon's seal here. I Ignorantly assumed that's what you meant. I should start specifying by Latin names, but first i need to remember them all. Lol. I never thought I'd find the genuine article here. So never thought that's what you meant. Yay! I planted that blue one. We'll see what happens.
Look what i found today!!!
Now i have white and red baneberry!!! Actaea rubra?

I'm not good with the Latin either.

Went walking today, thought I'd share.
Actaea.... Not sure if it's white or red

Puff balls. Has anyone here eaten them? Dustin's gramma used to fry them in butter and onions.