I'm gonna make an off topic suggestion here. Try planting a native shrub rose. I planted this cute little rose a couple of years back, Virginia's rose. Sometimes called 'Pasture rose.' Scientific name Rosa virginiana. Planted it in honor of a dearly departed friend and mentor named Virginia. Oh, I guess maybe sometimes the plant goes by Virginia rose. Anyway, you can only find it at native plant nursuries. Here's the main point though. That THING grew into a huge, sprawling, behemouth of a thorny BEAST! I had it planted along a fence and it was threatening to take over my entire yard and my neighbor's garden. I live in a tight urban area, this was the wrong plant for that space. It was a beast to get rid of it too. I gave some of the runners to the local arboretum. Anyway, it's native, it's gorgeous when in bloom, it's hardy (I'm still finding runners) can stand the hot, soil-limited conditions of my yard. I would plant this in a heartbeat if I wanted a thorny hedge for a large property. You can get it at Edge of the Woods Native Plant nursery, which is maybe an hour or so drive from you. Worth a trip if you are a plant lover. They have a fabulous selection and are so nice at helping you choose the right plants. They're right off 22 west/ 309 north in Orefield. Go to www.edgeofthewoodsnursery.com and check it out. Call first to see if they have the plant. There are also other native, fast growing, imposing hedge plant selections. Go to the Web site and call them or e-mail and ask for help. Louise and Sue are very good people to work with and fabulously knowledgable on this subject (deer hedges and anything having to do with landscaping issues). I have NO affiliation with them other than I have bought from them for years and know that they are quite a presence here in the Lehigh Valley. Here is a link that might be useful: Edge of the Woods Nursery

NC Native Plant Society has a pro-rescue statement as does the GA group. I believe the VA group promotes saving the habitat rather than rescue. I would be the first to state that saving an entire ecosystem is the best way, but NC is one of the fastest growing states, and we are losing land every day to development. IF we can get permission and find out in time, local groups try to rescue. We give plants to others, to public parks/schools/churces, and of course, keep them for our own gardens. Llegally you are supposed to get a permit to sell, and I do know some nursery owners who do that. Many years ago most nurseries dug from the wild until our eyes were "opened" to the threat of wiping out the natural habitat. Now established nurseries only get wild dug plants if they come from sites to be destroyed. AND, if these plants are on the state/federal endangered or threatened lists, the nurseries have to get a special permit to sell...very time consuming paperwork, and some rare plants are left to the bulldozer because of it. There does need to be some regulations, and it bothers me when I visit a farmers' market in the mt. and see plants that obviously were dug just that morning. Of course, in NC on private property you can treat your plants any way you want to...just are not supposed to sell the ones on that list. I must state that our group ALWAYS gets permission to enter property to dig. Otherwise you are guilty of stealing, trespassing, and heavens knows what else. I have seen many plants destroyed because we could not get permission. What a shame! However, each person has to make his own ethical decision, but in leading a group, I always go "by the rules."

Katy-did, You can dig and weed around native plants as long as you don't get TOO close. If a plant is kept in place, you could dig a weed as close as the outer edges of the leaves without damaging the roots too much. You could add woodland wildflowers in spots that currently have lawn grasses or weeds. You probably will find some weeds like dandelions, plantain, and other lawn weeds. You could dig these up and put new wildflowers instead. If there is not too much lawn grass to remove, then it could be done with small tools (hand trowel, etc) close to existing wildflowers. Larger areas could be turned over with a shovel. If you want to convert areas that don't have many wildflowers you can simply cover the grass and weeds with lots of fall leaves. The leaves will smother most of the grass and decay to enrich the soil and make it more like a woodland soil, which will help encourage woodland wildflowers. If you have an area with only a few wildflowers, you could move the wildflowers then either turn over the grass with a shovel then mulch with leaves, or simply mulch with leaves and wait. To move a wildflower dig up a piece of the ground with the wildflower in it and move it intact to a new location. I use a standard garden shovel to move a piece of ground about a foot in diameter at the surface and about a foot or s15 inches deep. This works for most large wildlfowers. For really small ones you could move a smaller piece of earth. If you keep the ground intact and therefore preserve the contact between the roots and the soil you should be able to move most wildflowers. Try to avoid separating the roots from the soil - there are many very small roots and even smaller strands of fungus that connect a root to the soil which are destroyed if a plant is moved bare root. Some plants will recover, but some may not so it is best to keep the soil and the plant together. Place the wildflower and soil in the ground so that the surface of the soil matches the surface in the new location, and carefully fill cracks around the edges of the soil ball with more soil.

Prairie Moon is a great nursery. I also LOVE the similarly named Prairie Nursery since they sell healthy, seed grown plants in small (3") easy to plant pots. Plant Delights, Arrowhead Alpines and Munchkin Nursery all have a wide selection of nursery propagated trilliums. Sunlight Gardens is a wonderful source of native wildflowers as well.