# Landscaping with native plants



## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

I'm researching Virginia native plants that I can landscape small sections bordering my lawn with the surrounding woods. Ideally the plants need to be deer resistant, grow well in partial sun/shade, and are non-poisonous. Nothing extravagant, just want to add some color & variety. There's plenty of natural mulch in the woods. 

I found some informational documents to get me started, but welcome any other suggestions or online references. Thanks in advance :mrgreen:

Native Plants for Southeast Virginia

Deer "Resistant" Plant List State Arboretum of Virginia

The lawn/wooded edging currently looks like this.


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## Darrell (Mar 22, 2018)

Have you found a source to buy your natives from?


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

Darrell said:


> Have you found a source to buy your natives from?


@Darrell I haven't looked local retail yet. I have no experience buying plants so been reading various articles online. When it comes to buying, most reference garden clubs or organizations that sell wholesale only or at special events a few times a year. I don't know if a big box store or local ma & pa garden store sell native plants, or if they consider the popular selling plants "native".

I did find one online retail source Izel Plants | Native Plants for your garden. Since I've never bought garden plants, I don't know if their prices are reasonable. Typical prices I noticed so far: individual plant root is ~$5.00 with minimum 7 order or 50 count plugs is ~$100.00. Price discounts available if buying in larger quantities. Are these typical prices for buying plants? Edit: Spoke to a friend and they said these prices are reasonable, but check with local nurseries to see if they have same plants and pricing.

Edit:

I found this online tool Yard Design - Reduce Your Stormwater to help design and provide suggested plants and materials to build a Conservation Landscape, which is basically what I want to do. From the website description: _"This tool is designed to help property owners in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed (which includes parts of DE, MD, NY, PA, VA, WV, and the District of Columbia) develop a plan to install a Rain Garden or Conservation Landscape in their yards."
_


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

I've looked at the following documents and selected some native plants that I believe will do well on my property:

Regional Plant Guides for Virginia
CHESAPEAKE BAY NATIVE PLANT CENTER
Problem-free Shrubs for Virginia Landscapes
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin

Various states and organizations have similar documents listing native plants for their respective geographic area.

I spot checked Lowe's nursery flowering plants and most of what they sell is not native to the eastern U.S. I'll check some local garden nurseries before going with an online vendor. When purchasing online, bare root plants is the recommended economical buy and ship method.

The Virginia Nurseries List provided by the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) lists online retail vendor Izel Plants | Native Plants for your garden

I filtered search selection by where and under the conditions the plants would be actively growing.
Specie State: VA, Light Requirements: part-sun, and Soil Moisture: dry/moist

Some of these are already located on my property within the wooded area so I'll be able to transplant them.

Perennials (Forbs) -

Asclepias tuberosa - butterﬂy milkweed
Ruellia humilis - fringeleaf wild petunia
Silene virginica - ﬁre pink
Chrysopsis mariana - Maryland goldenaste
Tradescantia virginiana - Virginia spiderwor
Dodecatheon meadia - shooting star
Physostegia virginiana - obedient plant
Ceanothus americanus - New Jersey tea
Heuchera americana - American alumroot
Echinacea purpurea - eastern purple coneﬂower
Solidago caesia - wreath goldenrod

Ferns -

Asplenium platyneuron - ebony spleenwort - (on property)
Polystichum acrostichoides Christmas fern - (on property)

Sedges -

Carex pensylvanica - Pennsylvania sedge - (on property)

Shrubs -

Rhododendron arborescens - smooth azalea


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## BlackThumb (Aug 4, 2018)

These are some great resources (I've been aiming at something along those lines myself). But man, it's kind of ironic how hard it is to find a good vari of "native" species at the standard garden centers.

Up in northern VA there's Merrifield Garden Center near the beltway - they have a huge selection, and I need to get out there soon and dig into what they've got. I'm not as sure down towards Tidewater off the top of my head, though.


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

I just placed my perennial native plant bare root order with Izel Plants, shipment coming from a WV nursery. I ordered 24 bare roots, all deer resistant, varying height 6" to 2', flowering colors white, yellow, and blue, some blooming in spring and others late summer to fall, soil/moisture/sunlight conditions match similar to planned planting area. I've got native ferns, sedges, and mountain laurels already growing in the wooded area surrounding the house and I plan to transplant some of those to the new plant bed areas. First time trying to grow flowering plants, should be very exciting if successful.


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## Deadlawn (Sep 8, 2020)

I found two excellent sources for native plants:

Prairie Nursery is an excellent source for potted wildflowers. There are quantity discounts for a 16 or 32 item flat:

https://www.prairienursery.com/16-plant-custom-kit.html

https://www.prairienursery.com/32-plant-custom-kit.html

White Oak Nursery is an excellent small one person operation. He sells native potted shrubs and trees. His stock is of excellent quality. He only ships in quantities of 4. I have never had a failure with any of his plants:

http://whiteoaknursery.biz/seedling_06.shtml

http://whiteoaknursery.biz/mail_order.shtml


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