A South Charlotte homeowner with an open, but somewhat shady backyard came to us asking to add a variety of native flowers/color to the beds bordering her back entrance path and patio. Fortunately, deer were not an issue in her yard. We started with a groundcover mix of Leavenworth’s sedge, Slender Wood Oats and Christmas fern to add evergreen color, weed suppression and texture. We then added a repeating mix of part shade tolerant perennials (and 1 shrub) to add pops of color throughout the year. The overall mix came to ~50/50 groundcover vs flowers with an average spacing of 12-18” between each plant.

• Spring

  • Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

  • Indian Pink (Spigelia marilandica)

  • Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea)

  • Eastern Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana)

  • Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)

  • Eastern Beebalm (Monarda bradburiana)

  • Mouse Eared Coreopsis (Coreopsis auriculata ‘Nana’)

  • Blue Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium)

• Summer

  • Carolina Phlox (Phlox carolina)

  • Hummingbird Dwarf Sweet Pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia ‘Hummingbird’)

  • Narrow Leaved Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum tenuifolium)

  • Blue Mistflower (Conoclinium coelestinum)

• Fall

  • Bluestem Goldenrod (Solidago caesia)

  • Whitewood Aster (Eurybia divaricata)

• Groundcover - evergreen

  • Leavnworth’s Sedge (Carex leavenworthii)

  • Slender Wood Oats (Chasmanthium laxum)

  • Christmas Fern (Polystichum acrosticoides)

  Most of the plants are currently dormant. The advantage of doing a mid to late winter installation is that nature will take care of most of the watering needs during the first 3 months, which is the time when plants are most sensitive to a lack of water. My guess is that our client won’t have to do any watering until mid April or early May. We will be back at the 1 and 2 month points to monitor how the plants are looking and to do any weeding that is required. As always, we are excited to see how this project will turn out and evolve over time.