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mid-Atlantic native for limited bright sun

17 years ago

I'm looking for some native flowers and shrubs to plant in my backyard. My neighbor's tall trees shade my yard until about noon, but it gets bright direct sun from then until sunset. I just planted a Serviceberry (A. laevis) and plan to take down a Norway Maple once I'm sure there won't be any nesting birds. Right now I have a lot of ugly looking weeds that I can't identify, and plenty of poke, which is nice for the birds but sort of takes over. Any suggestions? Thanks!

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Comments (4)

yarthkin
17 years ago
New York Iron weed and New England Asters are nice plants that bloom this time of year. Hoary Mountain Mint is a favorite too. Purple flowered raspberry has extraordinary flowers, fruit, and no thorns.

If you are looking for shrubs, Bayberry, sweetbay magnolia, inkberry, and any number of native viburnums could work. Actually, even Mountain Laurel (kalmia) is great in full sun even though people tend to grow it in shade. If you are in the warm part of 7, then Carolina Jasmine is a fantastic evergreen vine with a nice fragrance.
cydonia33
17 years ago
Black-eyed Susans, or any kind of rudbeckia, for that matter, may be common, but they are a goldfinch MAGNET, along with purple coneflower... Goldenrods are nice for the birds and bees and are on the verge of blooming right now. I like swamp milkweed (asclepias incarnata) for the monarch butterflies, and I'd say one of my fav shrubs of all time is bottlebrush buckeye (aesculus parviflora)--- flowers in July that attract hummers, and nuts in the fall for the critters... For some winter interest, you could plant a beautyberry bush (callicarpa americana)--- vivid bunches of fuschia berries that persist well into winter, and a source of winter berries for birds (I heard the mockingbirds are crazy for these berries)... Happy gardening!!

Jenny
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organica
17 years ago
Yarthkin:
If you get sun there from noon to sunset, you got plenty of sun - I wouldn't call that a very shady location. I think you can plant anything indicated either for sun or part shade. Afternoon sun is supposed to be stronger than morning sun.

My favorite native plant supplier is Hyla Brook Farm. I'm planning to score lots of plants next week from them at the Ginter Botanical Garden sale in Richmond.
-O
lrobins
17 years ago
I agree that your location is better for sun than shade perennials. If you are getting "bright direct sun from noon until sunset", that could be more than 8 hours in midsummer, and gardening books define full sun as 6 or more hours of direct sun. (Shade plants will be "stressed out" by hours of hot afternoon sun.)

In addition to the good choices above, I recommend native plants in the legume family, such as Baptisia australis (Blue false indigo), and Senna marilandica (yellow flowers, foliage similar to locust tree). Perennial legumes often do well in sunny locations with nutrient poor soil, because of their ability to fix nitrogen. Baptisia and Senna look their best if given some space to fill in (3 feet for Baptisia, 2-2.5 feet for Senna).

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