New Plants for 2016

As we are approaching another planting season I've come up with a list a new native plants to add to our landscape.  Most of these plants are to build on the existing communities.  My main goals are to  provide food for wildlife, displace invasive species, stabilize soils and add visual appeal.  To help me determine what is native here near the Potomac River, I am using a guidebook from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for most of my plant selection.

One area, shaded by white pines and red cedar, is densely populated with Vinca minor.  I trying to get rid of that and replace it with a variety of shade loving native species.  I am having some good success with green-and-gold, Chrysogonum virginianum.  It is filling in nicely with a dense mat of evergreen foliage.  Foamflower, Tiarella cordifolia, is spreading slowly, so I will be adding more of those to give them a boost.  I brought some hairy alumroot with reddish leaves, Heuchera villosa var. atropurpurea, from my Boston garden and it has survived well.  When I saw it offered by Prairie Nursery I ordered a bunch more.

Here's a mixture of seed grown Heuchera villosa, both green and red-leaf forms.

This woodland phlox grows all around our property,
mostly in the shady woodlands.

I will try adding some woodland phlox, Phlox divaricata, to the mix this year.  It's growing wild nearby, so it will be a truly natural extension into this space.  I thought that this needed moist conditions to do well, but I read somewhere that it could also grow in drier shade conditions.  We will see if that's true.

One species that is not native to this region that I am trying out this year is rose vervain, Glandularia canadensis. It is a native groundcover from the Mid-West and South.  It is a perennial in warmer areas, but otherwise it's a reseeding annual.  I was inspired by the cultivar 'Homestead Purple' that is heavy blooming and hardier than the species in cooler climates.  Rather than buying the individual plants of the named cultivar, I decided to start some from seed.  These plants won't necessarily be the same, but I'll get a feel whether I like it enough to invest in the cultivar.  Deer and rabbits like these too, so we'll see if any survive.  If successful, these would be a nice ground cover to use around shrubs in sunny locations.

I would like to establish some Liatris in our gardens.  The mid-summer blooms are very popular with a variety of pollinators.  Unfortunately, the spike gayfeather, L. spicata, that I've planted has also been popular with our rabbits and/or groundhog.  This year I will try adding scaly blazing star, Liatris squarrosa,  This species is native to the nearby Piedmont region of Virginia.  Maybe its rougher texture will be less palatable with the local herbivores.

Another new addition to the garden will be vasevine, Clematis viorna.  The purple bell-shaped flowers appear in mid-summer.  I will plant these along a fence in open shade/part sun and mesic soil. I planted virgin's bower, C. virginiana, this same area area several years ago and it has taken hold quite well.  If all goes as planned, as the vasevine flowers finish blooming the virgin's bower will kick in.

I am trying out Bushy St. Johnswort, Hypericum densiflorum, for a second time.  I was unsuccessful past, but that was in a fairly shady location.  This time I'll give it more sun and a more consistent supply of moisture.  If it finds this a suitable spot, it is supposed to spread thickly.

As I mentioned in my last post, I am removing invasive plants from a hillside hedgerow and replacing them with natives that spread out forming clonal colonies.  These clonal shrubs will help hold the hillside against erosion.  The two species I'm adding this spring are American hazelnut, Corylus americana, and gray dogwood, Cornus racemosa.

In addition to the soil holding properties, American hazelnut also produces edible nuts
that benefit wildlife, or humans (if we can get them).  In this photo
you can see male catkins emerging above the dried leaves.

Gray dogwood  has small white flowers on terminal racemes
in late spring.  After foliage drops in the fall the shrub is distinguished
by the few remaining white berries on  bright red stems.

At the end of March the lowbush blueberry flowers were just beginning to open.
 No flowers yet on these cultivated strawberries.

Two years ago we planted several native lowbush blueberries, Vaccinium angustifolium, and some cultivated strawberries that I got from a Master Gardener sale along the walk to our front door.  These have performed quite well and are beginning to spread.  Since I am all about native plants, I will be adding some of the native Virginia strawberries, Fragaria virginiana.  This species is one of the two originally hybridized to create the modern cultivated strawberries we all enjoy.  Though small, the Virginia strawberries are packed with flavor.

Got these as bare root plants and potted them up until
the meadow gets its annual mowing.

I never thought I would need to but I am adding some eastern red ceder to the meadow along its wooded edge.  I would like to have a few evergreens growing in that area.  There were some indigenous seedlings, but they disappeared.  I fear the deer have chewed them to the ground.  I'll put some cages around these for a couple of years.

Now I just need to get to work!

Goals for 2016 season

As spring is rapidly approaching I'm finishing up my plans for what I'd like to accomplish this season.  One of my primary goals is to continue to control and eventually eliminate the invasives.  Most management strategies call for eliminating to satellite  populations first to control spread and then work toward the center.  Based on published guidelines such as from the US Forest service, I'm using the following techniques:

• Stilt grass, Microstegium vinineum, by managed mowings, timed pulling in late July or August and displacement with natives/manageable species.
• Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus), wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) and autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) by mowing or cutting then treating the stumps with glyphosate at 20% concentration.  (Herbicide treatment is more effective in late summer and fall.)
• Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) and multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) by pulling, or cutting back and treating the stubs with glyphosate.
• Garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) mostly by pulling when the ground is soft, making spring a good time to work on this.  However, I will do a foliar spray with something like glyphosate for massive infestations.  Later in the season remaining plants will get cut and bagged to prevent seed dispersal.

If I can't get into the base of the plant to kill it, I will cut them back to keep them from setting seed.  Check for local restrictions on pesticide use and follow published instructions for proper use.

Here's how that area looked last September.  The dominant plant here is wingstem, 
Verbesina alternifolia. which is a very common native in this area.

I am managing a meadow conversion with early mowing and adding more native shrubs to the back edges, like Eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and gray dogwood (Cornus racemosa).  Invasives to target in this area are oriental bittersweet, Japanese honeysuckle and wineberry.  This is an area that I also seeded with some native annuals and perennials I had growing elsewhere on our property.

I initially cleared this area in spring 2014 and have
been cutting back undesired shrubs each spring.

Of the small trees and shrubs I added in previous years the elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) and American plum (Prunus americana) are doing well.  The chokecherries (Prunus virginiana) and smooth sumac (Rhus glabra) will still need some protection and nurturing, but they seem to be surviving in this minimally managed area.

At the beginning of March the elderberries are beginning to leaf out.

In the middle of an open lawn we have a mature butternut tree (Juglans cinerea).  It has a nice upright form and open canopy that works well in the middle ground.  It's easy to walk under and you can get glimpses of the distance through the branches, even when the leaves are out.  Unfortunately this tree, like many other butternuts in North America, is in decline.  This is likely due to a fungal infection that currently has no treatment.  Since this tree is still producing fruit I will try to keep it for a few more years.  But, since I know it will fail before too long, it's time to look for a replacement.  After considering a number of possibilities, I have settled on trying a Sassafras tree (Sassafras albidum).

Here's the butternut in fall of 2013,
it's lost a couple of branches since then.

The Sassafras has a similar upright form and is of moderate size (30-40') so it will not monopolize the space.  Also, like the butternut, it has an open canopy.  Instead of nuts, the sassafras is a berry producer.  If I am lucky enough to get a female tree, I should get berry production for the birds, since there is a nearby native population of these trees.  My plan is to put in a small specimen a few feet to the south of the butternut to let it get started before I have to take the butternut down.

Here's a mature Sassafras at Mount Auburn Cemetery.
Not only does it have a nice open form, it has great fall color.

Another area that I am focusing on this year is a hedgerow on a steep hillside.  The goal is to remove the invasives without destabilizing slope and to repopulate it with natives.  Japanese honey suckle is the predominate invasive in this area.  Late winter is a good time to spot these vines since they still have green leaves.  The ground is soft and moist so pulling is relatively easy.  For the plants that won't pull out, cutting the stems close to the ground and treating with 20% glyphosate.  This is effective as long as the ground is not frozen and it is less disruptive to the soil.

Other invasives that are easy to spot and pull now include multiflora rose, garlic mustard, wineberrry and Vinca minor.  I've already put in some smooth sumacs and Persimmon trees.  This year I'll add some gray dogwood and bushy St Johnswort, Hypericum densiflorum.  As I fill this area in with native shrubs and perennials that provide full season benefits for the native fauna, I can start eliminating the butterfly bushes that are of limited use to wildlife.

This rather messy area is a tangle of Japanese honeysuckle, wineberry (the red stems)
and butterfly bushes mixed in with desirable plants like wild blackberries and smooth sumac.
There is about a 5' difference in grade between the top and bottom of the slope,
 so I am trying to avoid pulling out all of the existing 'bad' plants.

The green leaves on the Japanese honeysuckle make it easy to target in late winter,
before the other plants begin to leaf out.