Hope some of you had a chance to go. They had a fabulous selection of native azaleas and Florida Anise as usual. Since I have plenty of those, I got Ilex cassine, two kinds of native spirea, some leucothoe axillaris, and a Carolina jessamine (I think I was the only person around that didn't have one of those, but never felt inspired to get one before). The next CNC native plant sale will be in the spring, but I believe if you want to buy something you can call them and arrange to do so.

GENERAL: Posted by: john_MO z5/6 on Thu, Jun 20, 02 "Native Trees, Shrubs, and Vines" by William Cullina. He is the horticulture director of Garden in the Woods in Framingham, MA. Like his Wildflowers book, it is a wonderful resource and fills a need that I have had for years. It fits nicely between the nice, but limited, regional guides available and the exhaustive and technical botanical tomes. Cullina's style is a wonderful combination of interesting anecdotes and down-to-earth practical advice. * Posted by: Sam_MD z7 MD on Sun, Jun 9, 02 ... "Growing and Propagating Wildflowers of the United States and Canada" by William Cullina. This is a beautifully illustrated guide from the NE Wildflower Society's Garden in the Woods, where the author works. It is published by Houghton Mifflin. This is an excellent reference. It provides many insights that only someone who works with plants can make. "The Native Plant Primer" by Carole Ottesen. Posted by: Doris_J Z8 WA on Sun, Apr 28, 02 ... "The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants". It is a great plant bible. Huge book but well worth it. I use it constantly. "Hortus 3rd" * Posted by: Treedoc66 6b on Sun, Aug 11, 02 "The Hillier Manual of Trees and Shrubs". * Posted by: david7a_ga z7a GA on Sat, Jun 8, 02 Maybe I have expensive tastes, but I like Allan Armitage's "Perennial Plants" and Michael Dirr's "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants". That's two big expensive volumes, and I don't even have anything to cover annuals yet! * Posted by: woodland_gardens z5 WI on Mon, Jul 15, 02. Dirr has quite a few good books out. Dirr's "Hardy Trees and Shrubs" is a good pictoral guide, and of course the manual. 5th edition is the newest, being only 3 or 4 years old. There's a similar book by Steven Still that is a manual of herbaceous plants. I dislike it as it leaves out many common (and more not so common) herbaceous plants, but it covers annuals, biennials, and perennials. A-Z encyclopedia is good. Good pics and good information.. Heightshoe has a good, but expensive, book out called "Native Trees and Shrubs for Urban or Suburban Landscapes" or something really long like that. Not many pics, but good illustrations showing structure. Posted by: NYC_Native z7aNY on Sun, Aug 11, 02 The Roger Tory Peterson book of NE w/f is a good one. I use mine a lot. Pictures go by color and flower type. Posted by: aris z5CT on Sat, Aug 10, 02 . I get a lot of information about native plants from keys that include detailed descriptions. My favorite is the "Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada", Second Edition, by Gleason and Cronquist, a New York Boatnical Garden Publication, and the "Illustrated Companion to Gleason and Cronquist's Manual", by Holmgren, also a New York Botanical Garden publication. (Both expensive) Another favorite is the old "The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture", by L.H.Bailey, which was first published about 1900. Mine is a 1943 edition, 3 volumes, over 3600 pages, with wonderful essays on various garden topics and genera -- for example, there is a key and description of 48 species of Penstemon. For me, it has much more useful information that the later "Hortus 3rd". It seems to be readily available used. "Gardening With Native Wild Flowers" by Leonard E. Foote and Samuel B. Jones (paperback, but may be hard to find) "Noah's Garden : Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Back Yards" by Sarah Stein "Planting Noah's Garden : Further Adventures in Backyard Ecology" by Sarah Stein REGIONAL: * Posted by: TheMrAugie z6 NYon Sat, Aug 31, 02 New York's own Roger Tory Peterson has published a number of field guides. I've had "A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-central North America" for 25 years. It has both natives and aliens. It's been everywhere and never lost a page despite difficult conditions. I just ordered the Fern guide in the series * Posted by: Sam_MD z7on Tue, Aug 27, 02 Following references contain the answers to many queries posted on this forum: "Herbaceous Plants of Maryland" by Brown & Brown "Woody Plants of Maryland" by Brown & Brown "Flora of West Virginia" by Strausbaugh & Core "Vascular Plants of the Washington-Baltimore Area" by Shetler "The Ferns and Fern-Allies of Maryland and Delaware including District of Columbia" by Reed Posted by: Donna_in_NC z7NC on Mon, Jul 29, 02 my favorite NC wildflower guide. It has great color photos (408 pics)& good descriptions & counties where plants are most often found: "Wild Flowers of North Carolina -also covering VA,SC,TN,KY,WV,MD, & DE" by William S.Justice & C.Ritchie Bell. Published by the University of North Carolina Press P.O. Box 2288 Chapel Hill, NC 27515-2288 Posted by: esh_ga z7 GA on Sat, Aug 24, 02 For my area, I like "Southeastern Wildflowers" by Jan Midgley. In addition to the information it provides on specific plants, there is also helpful information on plant communities and cultivation. * Posted by: Bullnettle z8b TX on Fri, Sep 6, 02 Texas: "Native Texas Plants" by Wasowski and Wasowski - an excellent resource for native Texas plants for use in the home landscape that contains only natives to Texas. "How to Grow Native Plants of Texas and the Southwest" by Jill Nokes: excellent resource on propagating 155 native plants. "Texas Wildscapes, Gardening for Wildlife" by Damude and Bender: fairly comprehensive but few pictures. "The National Wildflower Research Center's Wildflower Handbook": resources for buying native plants and seeds, bibliographies for various areas of the country, and general information about growing native wildflowers, wildscapes, etc. "The Useful Wild Plants of Texas and the Southeastern and Southwestern Unitied States, the Southern Plans, and Northern Mexico" by Cheatham and Johnston: extremely comprehensive, a 12 volume work in progress. Currently two volumes have been published, through canavalia. Best one going, but expensive ($125 per volume) and, as yet, incomplete. Well worth the money in my opinion. I'm currently saving for the next volume, due out next year, I think. * Posted by: Neil_allen z5/6 Wed, Aug 28, 02 Voss's three-volume "Michigan Flora" is useful and at $18/volume reasonably priced. It's obviously no field guide, but it's comprehensive, contains distribution maps for each species and notes on non-natives growing without cultivation in the state -- when did they first appear, are they European, American "adventives" along railroad lines, etc. Voss's specialty is taxonomy, and there's a a fair amount of discussion about correct botanical names. A lot of technical terminology throughout, although he does include a glossary. There are a few pages of multi-pictured color plates in each volume and line drawings of selected plants or parts of plants every ten pages or so, but this won't help you unless you've already got a good idea of what you're looking for. But whereas, say, the Peterson Field Guide might show three trilliums and indicate that there are 10 more that aren't shown, Voss will key out every plant. Once you've got a general idea of what you might be dealing with, this is a good place to look to nail down your identification, sort out subspecies, etc. Between the two peninsulas, the state covers a lot of east-west territory, and also goes far enough north to include a number of "circumpolar" species, so this is useful for more than just Michigan plants. Posted by: woodland_gardens z5 WI on Mon, Jul 15, 02 Anyone in WI and into natives should pick up "The Native Vegetation of Wisconsin" by Curtis. Posted by: lycopus z5 IL on Fri, Aug 23, 02. My favorite reference is "Plants of the Chicago Region" by Swink and Wilhelm, published by the Indiana Academy of Science. It has descriptions for 2530 species known to grow in the region. * Posted by: john_MO z5/6 on Wed, Aug 28, 02 "Missouri Wildlflowers", by Edgar Denison "Shrubs and woody vines of Missouri", by Don Kurz both published by Missouri Department of Conservation * Posted by: forest_MN z4 on Wed, Aug 28, 02 "Northland Wildflowers: The Comprehensive Guide to the Minnesota Region". by John B. Moyle and Evelyn W. Moyle. U. of MN Press 1997, 2001. Wonderfully illustrated with color photos by John Gregor. An excellent Guide to MN wildflowers which include both eastern forest species and tall grass prairie species "Tall Grass Prairie Wildflowers". by Doug Ladd. Photos by Frank Oberle. Published by Falcon Press, Helena and Billings MT in cooperation with the Nature Conservancy. This is THE BEST guide I have found to prairie wildflowers and is illustrated by the best photography.

I didn't watch the video as I am always in a time crunch, but I'll just state the obvious that we have a vastly different climate and soil than they do and you probably should adjust your plans accordingly. I love to look at British herbaceous perennial borders, and might plant something similar if I lived in zone 5 or zone 6 in areas that have a milder summer than ours, but I don't, so I plant what will grow here in the soil and conditions I have. It is hard to suggest plants for a border without knowing what type of soil you have, whether it is alkaline, acidic or neutral and how well it drains. I have one area with very dense red clay that finally is in half-decent shape after 17 years of amending, but it still is clay and plants that demand well-drained soil still are hot happy in it in very wet spells like we had in May and June. I have a different area with very sandy-silty soil and can grow many of the plants that demand well-drained soil there, but also have to put up with the pests, like voles, that are prolific and like to eat the roots (including tree roots, shrub roots, perennial roots, bulbs, tubers and corms) of anything and almost everything that I plant there. I know people in parts of Norman who have gophers, so you have to consider what pests you might encounter (deer, rabbits, etc.) and have a plan to exclude them from your plants, as needed, long before you plant. It has taken me years to learn which plants perform best in which soils in all the various kinds of weather they must endure, and that included lots of trial and error plantings. For example, hydrangeas will grow in my highly-amended clay, but even after being amended very well over a long period of time, hydrangeas still cannot survive a dry summer in the sandy-silty soil because it drains too well in hot spells even when well-irrigated. So, I suggest you study and understand your soil very well before investing a lot of money in plants. Some plants will grow almost equally as well in sandy soil, sandy loam or clay loam, but it just depends on what your soil pH is and what your weather does. I agree wholeheartedly with Dorothy's recommendation to include trees and shrubs as a part of your border, particularly evergreens. They will add interest to your border when various perennials are not blooming. I grow a lot of the same flowers that Dorothy mentioned (not surprising, since she has clay as well, though I think mine probably is more alkaline and hers might be closer to neutral or acidic). I have tried to incorporate natives found on our own property (beautyberry, American persimmon, Mexican plum, thicket plum, Possumhaw holly, rough-leaf dogwood, etc.) because they grow well here and because they provide something (food, shelter) for the wild creatures who share this land with us. As much as possible, I always try to select plants that are multipurpose---it is not enough that they are attractive. They also need to provide something, even if it is just pollen or nectar for the pollinators. Plants that grow well for me in amended clay include canna lilies, daylilies, shasta daisies, hardy hibiscus, Texas hibiscus, echinicacea, rudbeckias (some, not all), red hot poker, autumn sage, yarrow, lantana (some are winter hardy, others are not), crape myrtle, maltese cross, Western ironweed, dianthus, French hollyhocks (perennial in well-drained soil and also self-sows abundantly), dahlias (in raised beds lined with hardware cloth to exclude voles who otherwise will devour their roots), catmint, and most salvia varieties. Gladiolas are a half-hardy perennial for me, usually living 3-5 years before a very wet, cold winter takes them out. I also mix in lots of spring-blooming bulbs, including daffodil, dutch iris, dutch hyacinth, and several different kinds of ornamental alliums. I grow lots of four o'clocks (a forest of them) in the very dry sandy soil beneath the big pecan tree in the front yard because their huge tubers do not get eaten by the voles that otherwise plague that area and because they are very drought-tolerant, but I wouldn't put them in a border because they would crowd out everything else and take over every square inch .That works for me where I have mine growing beneath the pecan tree, as they function as a tall ground cover there (albeit a deciduous one), but it wouldn't work in a situation where they would be expected to play nice and share space. Because I live in an area of largely native grassland mixed with hickory/oak/pecan forest areas along creeks and rivers, I mix in standard prairie plants, largely because they are tolerant of the wide range of weather conditions experienced here, and because they don't need a lot of irrigation. Some of my favorite prairie plants include Mexican hat, clasping leaf coneflower, Indian blanket (does better in the sandier areas than it does in clay), butterfly weed, Mexican petunia, liatris, Texas bluebonnets, winecups and blue star grass. I probably have more self-sowing annuals than most people because I like plants that are easy to grow, low-maintenance and which plant their own replacements. I also don't have as much trouble with rabbits, voles and deer eating the self-sowing annuals as I do with perennials. In my garden, the following are self-sowing annuals who replenish themselves each year. Some of them have perennialized too, but it just depends on their cold-hardiness: hollyhocks, 'Laura Bush' petunia, larkspur, poppies, nicotiana, moss rose, zinnias, marrigolds, daturas (several kinds), verbena bonariensis, scabiosa, bachelor's buttons, gomphrena, cosmos, celosias, amaranths and zinnias. I'm sure I forgot some of them, but those are the main ones that reliably self-sow. I didn't even mention vines, but there are many beautiful ones that complement a border, especially when grown on a fence, arbor, pergola or building that serves as a backdrop behind the perennial border. This includes American crossvine, coral honeysuckle, trumpet creeper, and clematis. Most annual vines are thugs that reseed too readily, so I wouldn't put them in a spot too close to a herbaceous border because they will outcompete, outgrow and outlast everything else you plant. I haven't planted a new rose bush in a decade, and when one gets sick, I take it out and replace it with something else. My sole survivor, after losing 3 very old climbing roses to the excess moisture this year, is Graham Thomas, which is my favorite rose, and it is getting old and not looking too good. Our hot summers can be hard on roses, and the rosette disease has made me decide I just won't plant any more of them.

If you want to add lots of yellow add some annuals via seed to naturalize, you will have reliable, abundant swaths of yellow every summer and some in spring, more than you can ever hope for with just perennials. Yellow is more common summer through fall in nature & I let nature dictate the colors since it goes with the light and look of the seasons. Some heavy blooming yellow annuals are: California poppy (early), Helenium amarum, Bidens polylepis, Lesquerella gordonii aka Gordon's bladderpod (very early). Plains coreopsis, Rudbeckia hirta and Thelesperma filifolium (Greenthread), Cowpen Daisy. Add in Lazy Daisy (white), Horsemint (purple) and annual Gaillardia and you will add some other color and lots of easy bloom that will naturalize and come back reliably each year. Some of my gaillardia bloom solid yellow, some solid red but most are red flowers with yellow borders. Two good yellow perennials: Missouri primrose, blooms early and keeps going as long as there is moisture, & Englemanni pinnatifida. If I see something nice along the roadside, I often make a mental note and come back later for seed.