Blue Moon Phlox 'P. divaticata' and Tiarella cordifolia 'Colina" the clumping form. They look fantastic together and both like the same sun.

Maidenhair fern Adiantum pedatum and Bloodroot Sanguiaria canadensis. Their leaf shape mimics one another and looks realy nice in two clumps next to each other.
aloha
t

I don't know if these are hardy in MA, but I'll give these ideas:

- mouse eared coreposis (sold as "Nana", I think) with Christmas fern, you could put black cohosh behind this for more height and a midsummer bloom.
- ebony spleenwort with rue anemone (Thalictrum thalictroides); some bloodroot to the side would add interest.
- ginger (Hexastylis arifolia) with jack in the pulpit and tiarella. Green and gold would add more texture (fuzzy) and some bright blooms.

Think of how long each bloom would last, include at least one plant that has long seasonal interest (even if it is just the foliage), and I like to contrast the foliage textures - a fine textured plant with a bolder one.

Columbine, native geranium, native dicentra, Virginia waterleaf, with ferns (and Canada anemone if you're brave). In summer, the classic is goldenrod and asters.

Thanks Trilliophile...I just bought the phlox blue moon and an unidentified tiarella. Right after I did, I saw them blooming in masses at NEWFS and they were gorgeous! Good idea, now I just need more..lol.

esh..thanks for the rule of thumb and the ideas. I will have to look up some of these as I am unfamiliar with them. I found a photo of the coreopsis. Cute name. [g]

Thanks Elaine..Have the dicentra but am hoping to add the geranium and more ferns. Could never warm up to the orange/yellow native columbine. Is there another color available? Never heard of the waterleaf will hv to look up. Need sun for the asters and goldenrod, right?

Here is a link that might be useful: Mouse Eared Coreopsis

i like joepyeweed, culversroot and ironweed mixed together. the white, pink and dark purple together make a striking combination.

Adam, there are other native columbines, but mostly in the West. A. chrysantha is beautiful pale yellow with long spurs. It's native to "damp microclimates in desert canyons" according to Bill Cullina. I grow it here in VA. I also grow A. coerulea in my woodland. I have it under a Viburnum trilobum; they are blooming together and I like the blue and white combination.

I also like Sedum ternatum. I have it in a partly sunny spot growing around some exposed roots of a wild black cherry tree and also growing on a fully shaded, mossy creekbank (I love the white stars of the sedum coming up through the mossy carpet). It blooms along with tiarella. I wish it would bloom with my blue Phlox subulata but it blooms just after. Maybe in MA they would bloom at the same time for you.

There are asters and goldenrod for any site. As soon as I put in my woodland and shade garden, a native shade loving aster and goldenrod volunteered. I added some bottlebrush grass, and it looks terrific in early fall.

You can buy shade loving asters, such as heart leaf aster and white or blue wood aster. Goldenrods may be harder to find commercially. I don't even know the species name of mine. I tried to identify it with a field guide, but there are so many goldenrods! And when a genus is ubiquitous, you can bet it's wildlife friendly.

Around here, in the few remaining natural areas, grey dogwood and arrowwood viburnum often grow together. They bloom almost but not quite at the same time. The berries ripen together, however, and both are invariably stripped clean immediately (I have them together along an east-facing wall). I just thought of this one because, of course, arrowwood just finished blooming as grey dogwood is moving into high gear.

A lovely understory combination is witch hazel and maple leaf viburnum. That's for a fairly dry area with acid soil. We have a nature preserve where the canopy is quite varied but those two species make up a lot of the understory. Lovely in fall, as you can imagine--bright yellow and pale purple.

Joe...that combo sounds nice too. Are they similar heights and bloom times?

Vegangirl...well I guess I have to get used to red and yellow columbine then. I wanted to try to stay with what is native to MA. Your sedum sounds nice too. I don't think I have seen that particular one.

Elaine...Come to think of it, I have seen a photo of that white wood aster. Nice that it blooms in shade. On the witch hazel and ml viburnum combo...which 'witch hazel'..lol. Is it the virginiana or the vernal? Is the WHazel the bright yellow? I looked for the maple leaf Viburnum and haven't run across it yet. Everything but. Pale purple?? Is that different for a viburnum? Sounds really nice.

The witch hazel is H. virginica. Maple leaf viburnum is V. acerifolium. It's smaller and sparser than most viburnums, as you'd expect for a plant that likes deep shade. And the leaves absolutely do turn a lavender/pink in fall. It likes pretty acid soil--I can't grow it here, unfortunately.

Another suggestion: I've got a couple of shrub islands planted thickly with coralberry, ninebark, and chokeberry, plus ferns and shade-loving wildflowers. And flowering dogwood for the "canopy." They're in my front yard, which is unfortunately dominated by two huge Norway maples, so they get less than half a day of sun, but the islands are pretty from spring to fall.

Purple coneflower of course and rudbeckia look good together
My monarda marshall's delight looks nice underplanted with the stokesia mary gregory (just blooming now) the magenta and lemon yellow look nice together and the monarda provides the stokesia with a touch of shade which it likes the stokesia also helps keep the soil moist which the monarda likes! :)

Hello,

Elaine....I don't think I have ever seen a lav/pink fall color. Sounds pretty. I looked for the V. acerifolium at Garden in the Woods but they didn't have it. As for the shrub islands, they sound pretty. I have a ninebark 'Dart's Gold' that is blooming right now. It is still in the container waiting to go in. I bought the shrub in the spring on impulse at the nursery. I didn't know much about it. I thought it was a native. I just loved the form of the branches and the texture of the bark, along with the new leaves were so pretty. I didn't even know what it would look like eventually. Now that it has leafed out and is blooming, I think it is okay, but I think I have suddenly ended up with too much of that yellowish green color and the small leaf size in the yard. [Also white blooms seem to be the majority of what I have in the yard now].

What kind of ninebark do you have? So does the coralberry look the same as the snowberry? Chokeberry is Aronia? How many of each shrub is in each island? How did you place them? Which is the largest shrub? I would love to see a photo of it.

Flowers....Yes, I enjoy that combo too. Unfortunately in my yard, Rudbeckia has gotten so out of hand that it smothered many things growing around it and I really don't enjoy growing it any more. Is the monarda aggressive? Sounds like a great combo.

Adam

I do a wildflower survey in the metropark and last week I came upon fire pinks blooming with virginia waterleaf. A lovely combination. I posted a picture in the gallery of the garden party

My ninebark is the species. It grows to about 8 or 9 feet. It's just finished blooming, and while most of the fruit capsules are brown, I have some individuals whose capsules turn red and stay red all summer. Very pretty.

Chokeberry is Aronia. I have mostly A. melanocarpa, because I can buy it. Slow growing, but pretty.

Coralberry is not the same as snowberry. Same genus, different species. Snowberry is much taller (up to about 4 feet) and doesn't sent out runners. Coralberry stays maybe 2-3 feet tall and sends out long runners in all directions that root. It's good for my islands because it fills in quickly.

I plant shrubs very close together--a foot or so. I want the islands to look crowded, and they do after a year or so. I'll try to post some pictures.

Most species shrubs do have white flowers. If you're going to go natural, you start to think in terms of what the pollinators like, and they obviously are attracted to clusters of white flowers. I think it's fascinating that the second each species finishes blooming another takes up the slack. It seems to be timed so they don't compete for pollinators--first serviceberry, then crabapples & C. florida, then chokecherry and chokeberry and black cherry, then ninebark, then early viburnums, then shrub dogwood, then later viburnums, then elderberry. I find it fascinating, and I no longer get tired of white flowers.

Adam - all three of the plants that i mentioned do have similar bloom times. the heights of the joepye and culversroot are similar but ironweed is typically taller than the other two.

It won't work for you, but here the wild roses and languid lady (Mertensia paniculata) bloom at the same time. They are the perfect colors of blue and pink to complement each other.