It's a really long list, the plants that like it in our area. You're quite possibly a whole zone warmer than me, and may have more luck with some roses (Teas - not Hybrid Teas, and Chinas) than I would. I guess I have a different philosophy from other people - plant what likes the conditions you have. This doesn't mean that I don't amend the soil, just that I don't double dig or do anything overly crazy about it. Mostly, my plants are in full sun. Here is a partial list of stuff that's doing fine. Shasta Daisy Becky Dianthus (various) Black eyed susan Geranium Nimbus Various Asiatic/oriental lilies Baptisia (LOVE it!) Peonies/Tree peony Salvia (various) Monarda (various) Boltonia Agastache (various) Aster Ornamental Grasses Kalimeris Gaillardia Yarrow Nepeta Crocosmia Veronicastrum Penstemon Well, you get the idea. Some of these, I am able to grow because I have areas with seriously dry conditions or exceptional drainage because of the terrain, but a lot of these should be easy plants for you. If you want to try an easy to grow Digitalis, try Digitalis Ambigua, a true perennial with yellow flowers. It's quite lovely this time of the year.

John Diekelmann's Natural Landscaping with Native Plant Communities has great lists organized by type of forest. The presence of a few oaks could give you a justification to go with the oak-hickory forest community, which is a fascinating group of plants (since the oak-hickory forest covered such a large area, the species that grew/grow in it change from place to place, but certain plants are widespread throughout -- Maianthemum canadense comes to mind). A Sierra Club field guide I have goes even further to divide oak-hickory forest into upper slope (drier, sunnier), mid-slope, and low slope (wetter, shadier) communities. The wild black cherry (Prunus serotina) is identified in one of my books as a common pioneer of post-agricultural land. I don't think it is a major component of any of the mature forests, but it plays a crucial role in the transition from plowed fields (which most of non-Pine Barrens New Jersey was at one time or another) back to forest. The maples, especially red maple, may be indicators of a maple-beech forest, which tends to be moister than an oak-hickory forest. (Of course these designations are generalities -- there are maples in oak-hickory forests and oaks in maple-beech forests, etc., as Elaine was saying -- the scientists need to simplify reality to do their work, but reality is always much more complicated.) Make sure the maples are natives. Acer plantanoides (Norway maple) is an invasive non-native that sends thousands of seeds out every year, and will soon turn a lovely wooded area into a densely shaded monoculture where nothing will grow in the parched soil (from which the zillions of surface feeder roots have extracted every bit of moisture). If your 50% maples are Norway maples, I would ignore them in deciding what kind of forest community to use as your guide. One last thought before I overstay my welcome: one of the best ways to find out what natives are appropriate for your woodland is to find woodlands in your area (state parks, bird sanctuaries, preservation land, bike trails) that have similar characteristics to your property -- how dry/wet is it, how much sun does it get, etc. Bring a field guide or two (make sure the guides identify natives vs. non-natives, or 'aliens') and start figuring out what natives are growing there. This will not only give you ideas about what to plant, but also where to plant (this one likes being on the edge of the trail -- it needs some sun; this one only appears when the trail dips into a lower area -- it like wet legs; this one always seems to cluster around the base of trees; etc.) and what plants look good (i.e., natural) together. It may get you thinking about types of plants and other garden features you hadn't thought about, like club mosses, fallen logs or the look of a vine climbing a tree trunk. Perhaps most importantly, these walks will help you acquire 'forest think', which Elaine described and most of the landscaping books discuss: upper canopy, lower canopy, shrub layer, herbaceous layer. (Rick Darke's The Woodland Garden has some excellent discussion of the 'big picture' aesthetics of woodland gardens, although he doesn't fully take the approach of picking a forest type and planting within that community.) ok, I'll stop (can you tell I love talking about this stuff?) Best of luck, -- wd

Unless you are young and very patient, I'd go with seedlings or small plants on the woodies - they take a very long time to grow from seed to size that anywhere resembles a real plant :-) Also plant the lily as a bulb - seed grown lilies also require a good number of years before they achieve flowering size. The same thing with trilliums. The turtlehead (and most other perennials) are easily grown from seed. I'd check out mail order sources or see what the availability is at local garden centers. You might want to check out the the Southeastern Gardening forum as well - many of the regional forums have exchanges.

Perhaps true to character for some, poison ivy has taken over this thread. My search for "understory shrubs to shade out weeds" led me here. I am in North Florida, and I like to have safe access to my mature loblolly grove to clear out by hand or weed wrench the returning coral ardesia, nandina, air potato, and broad leaf privet. (In my experience "done once and for all" and "gardening" are mutually exclusive.) But the poison ivy also overgrown there is an obstacle course. Would introducing lots of some native shade loving plants out compete the above listed exotic invasives, so I could let the poison ivy alone? Or would the PI eventually fill up the chain link fence and smother the old camelias there? We are talking fairly deep shade on the ground but dappled sun on the camelia branches. What natives if any?