Landscaping for Shade with Native Plants

[@marthaintrieri1288]

Good comment about how you see beauty changed when you got to know native plants.

[@n1ckf00c]

Would love to see an episode on MN native shrubs!

[@mnhort]

Great idea! Just shared it with our education team. Thanks for the feedback-we're always all ears.

[@amyk6403]

I have an abundance of Virginia Waterleaf in my woodland garden in Northfield. I find that it starts to look a little leggy around midsummer. I weed-whack it down to the ground and it grows back fresh leaves in a few weeks.

[@marianwhit]

Dear Kindred Spirit, fighting the good fight, thank you so much...the work I have done, barberry, giant hogweed, creeping jenny (tiny terror), Japanese Knotweed, Rosa multiflora, etc. etc. We don't EVER move invasive species from the site. We compost in place for the reasons you spoke of, but also, consider that these plants have extracted (stolen) nutrients from the soil. We do pile (or bag if seeding) until we are sure everything is dead, dead, dead, sometimes using black EDPM for frying the plants if sunny. I am in Nova Scotia, if you ever feel like visiting, you'd be treated like royalty (and no, I would not ask you to work, lol). Cheryl, you are awesome! Thank you. I know you get your thanks from seeing the native plants growing, and all kinds of what I call ecological blessings, but this is one human who has been fighting, and writing, and waiting for people to listen for 30 years (grew up in Florida). you can find me easily on the internet.

[@cynthiadonahey9989]

There are grape vine woods coming back, very spooky in Ohio. When we had big bird flocks, a major manuring was a billion birds overhead, The curlies were three to four feet at the base and 200 feet high, except for the trails covered wuth moss.. Trimmings were used for cooking. We owned some land in Perry County that had been burned repetitively for decades to get rid of the grapevines and poisonous snakes (Coal Township Perry County). I planted some purple violets about forty years ago. There are acres of purple on both sides of the biker trail. wild ginger was planted under maple woods.

[@amyk6403]

Cheryl. If you check this....I have an abundance of woodland Phlox and tall bellflower in my garden. Reply if you want some. However, both of them are aggressive spreaders. (which is what I wanted)

[@amyk6403]

I would love to see a seminar on jugalone resistant gardening.

[@mnhort]

Thanks for the feedback! We shared it with our director of education. Keep an eye out for upcoming classes.

[@cynthiadonahey9989]

Bloodroot is not supposed to be native. When I was given some, Aunt Erma told me to plant them next to peonies, they were used together for medical treatment. Early blooming plants are generally not native, since snow cover lasted much longer than it does now. The Ohio River stopped freezing over sometime after oura war. My bloodroot never did really well, until it moved under a chunk concrete wall.

[@GreatKeny]

Not only so called “invasive” plants are native to some place, some have already naturalized and create ecological niches for new species to evolve. One plant may historically only found in certain states. Does growing it outside its original range make it invasive? It is quit admirable that you advocate plants that are native here to America but it is absurd to bashing plants simply because they are native to somewhere else.

[@BuckthornMN]

Good question! A plant may not be "invasive" outside of its original range, but it is non-native. Our native pollinators, birds, mammals and other wildlife are best suited to plants with which they have evolved in our biome. Native plants are always my first "go to" versus planting non-native plants that may take up space and inhibit the spread and diversity of our native plants. Thank you for your question.

[@8cupsCoffee]

Invasive is a very specific definition. They form monocultures, reduce species diversity in an area, and damage the ecosystem by creating an imbalance. If the speaker had 50 buckthorn in their woods and it stayed at 50 I guarantee she would not bother removing them. The problem is that 50 turns into 500 turns into 5000. It's the behavior of the plant in this area that is a problem for forest health, not because there's a bias against where the plant is from.

[@GreatKeny]

@@8cupsCoffee I do understand these and I agree with you on the monoculture part. However, I am against the purist attitude of only valuing so-called native plants. Many non-native species are not invasive while others have already been wide-spread enough that I don't think there is anything we can do other than waiting nature to run its course. Mother nature does not like monoculture as it means unutilized resources. Eventually new species will evolve to fill the ecologic niche. I think we need to give nature more credit on this.

[@stacyrosa6672]

​@@GreatKenyMy thoughts, precisely, although I couldn't have said it so well! I've been adding native plants to my gardens for 40 years. My love for them continues to grow. But I am not going to stop loving my old favorites, or replace them because they aren't native. My gardens are well integrated, and Ima keep it that way!