I'm interested in this, I'm afraid to try anything else but I heard that plants meant for wet, boggy areas still can die at first as they need "Acclimated" to the conditions.. which confuses me to no end... I was focused more on trees or something for privacy, but I lost them due to rot?? The ones meant for swamps... Let me know how it goes.. amy

Just make sure you have the native tiger lily, L. superbum, and not the Chinese L. henryi. Try trout lilies, the native ones, and Canada lily too. Of course they are deer candy but deer-repellent with egg solids and cayenne pepper has kept the deer off my tulips this year. DR will stand for deer resistant in this post, DC, deer candy. What trees are they growing under - root competition, soil acidity? Moist or dry? Sand, loam, or clay? Ground cover - ferns (DR), Allegheny spurge (DR) (native pachysandra). Native asarums (DR). Mayapple (DC). Cardinal flower (DR) if it's damp. Aquilegia canadensis (blossoms eaten). Indian pink, Spigelia marilandica (DR). Coneflower does well in high shade, flowers sometimes eaten. Virginia bluebell (DR). Monarda (DR). Iris cristata, slug candy. Louisiana iris, DR and SR. (Give this one as much light as you can.) Phlox divaricata, DR. Vines - Lonicera sempervirens, Dutchman's pipe, cypress vine in rich loose soil. Shrubs - mini oakleaf hydrangea, Carolina allspice (has been DR but not this winter) Maybe some native azaleas that will stay small - R. austrinum (DR) has a delicious scent, so does R. 'Marydel' (DR) - first is yellow and flame colors, second pale pink. Native witch-hazel for winter scent. Spicebush - spicebush swallowtail host plant. DR. Can take a dry situation - I have it under a Norway maple. List is heavy on the spring bloomers but that is what most native woodland plants do.

I, too, am a planted native of Western WA. Throughout my childhood and youth, I foraged for berries all over Western WA. Now, in my own garden, although the majority of my plants are non-native, I have a lot of native plants interspersed here and there, that have volunteered and that I have nurtured, including both red and evergreen huckleberry and oregon grape, trilliums, etc. I have had all the berry plants growing in everything from complete shade to lots of sun. From my berry picking days, to my own plants, I can tell you that, even though they will grow in the shaded understory of the forest, the plants that produce the most berries, by far, are the ones that get more sun, and the more the better. This holds true for the flowering currents. As a berry picker, you always try to find a good thicket at the edge of the woods, with an eastern exposure. They really like several hours of morning sun. Sun exposure between 2 and 4 pm can kill young plants, but once established they can take that as well, if watered properly. I have a volunteer evergreen huckleberry growing out of a log in my back yard, in full sun, that is happy as can be. It gets enough water, because it's near a hardy fuchsia. A caution on fireweed (if that is what it really is). I have lived in Alaska, also, where it could almost be the state flower. It is a root runner and can be quite invasive, especially here in WA, where it doesn't get the winter cold to keep it in check. Salal, also a native, is also a root runner, but it is very hard to get established, if not growing there naturally. I have known people, whose yards are backed by a large forested area, that absolutely hate it. Regarding soil....all our native plants do like a highly organic, slightly acid soil. I have extremely light, sandy soil, which dries out very fast in the summer. My success with the natives has come from giving them a good, deep mulch of medium shredded bark, with fines in it. In the years I don't mulch I can really tell they are not happy. Good luck!

more tall perennial suggestions: crocosmia Lucifer Japanese anemone meadowrue, Thalictrim find a native flowering/fruiting shrub or tree in your area to attract birds add a bubbling fountain or bird bath Remember on the other side of a fence can be a cold pocket especially on the north. Do not feed them after August. Mulch well to overwinter them. Hosta & Astilbe will do fine. Lamium might not, but usually bounces back from roots. Several plants with snow on mtn common name, so not sure which one. I hope you didn't plant Aegopodium podagraria 'Variegatum' because it is a spreading thug only suitable for a place by itself. I've removed it from a garden when I realized the spring planting was a bad idea. I do have it in another area and have to keep an eye out for blooms to prevent reseeding and shovel prune the edges to keep it in bounds. Another way to give height is to mound the bed or add graduated size boxes made from fence wood. The center would be tallest and can be offset. If your bed is 5-6 feet wide you won't be able to mound it much, but some helps. I try to middle mound all my beds for that berm effect that I prefer.