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Container Gardening with Native Plants

Container Gardening with Native Plants. Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa). What exactly is a Native Plant?. Native Plants are the species that occur naturally in a given area. Native Plants include ferns, grasses, water and marsh plants, herbaceous perennials, shrubs, trees and vines. .

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Container Gardening with Native Plants

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  1. Container Gardening with Native Plants Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

  2. What exactly is a Native Plant? • Native Plants are the species that occur naturally in a given area. • Native Plants include ferns, grasses, water and marsh plants, herbaceous perennials, shrubs, trees and vines. • There are so many choices! • They come in many colors, • shapes and sizes. Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

  3. Why Containers? • Physical limitations • Low maintenance • Easy access • Landscape limitations • Propagation • -You can separate some of your perennials annually and gift or plant in your landscape. Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) Coreopsis (lanceolata) • Recycle • -Great way to reuse many household items

  4. Containers 101 • Plan your container • Determine light and moisture requirements • Select type of container • Mix soil and any soil amendments needed according to VTE recommendations Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica)

  5. Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) • About • Small, non-spreading grass with blue-green leaves that turn reddish orange in the fall • Fluffy silver seed heads are ornamental through winter • Grows to 2’-3’ X 1’ • Full Sun • Well drained, dry soil • Benefits • Deer resistant • Drought tolerant • Attracts butterflies and birds • Uses • Dried flowers • Cut flowers • Rock gardens • Bonsai • Companions • Butterfly Milkweed • Pale purple coneflower • Stiff Goldenrod

  6. Woodland Phlox (Phlox paniculata) • About • Partial to Full Shade • Average Size 6”-1.5’ • Average to moist soil • Prefers Organically rich soil • Benefits • Attracts Hummingbirds and Butterflies • Beautiful Spring Flowers • Companion Plants • Virginia Bluebells • Christmas Fern • Goat’s Beard

  7. Madienhair Fern(Adiantum pedatum) • About • Full Shade/Deep Shade • Moderate Moisture • Organically rich soil • Deciduous • Height 18”-2’ • Can be divided in Autumn or Winter • Facts • Maidenhair fern is the source of a pleasantly aromatic volatile oil long used as a rinse or shampoo that rendered black hair very shiny, hence the name Maidenhair. • The tough, water-repellant, shiny black stems were used by Native American peoples in basket weaving.

  8. Where Can I Purchase Native Plants Locally? Colonial Nursery – Williamsburg Sassafras Farm – Gloucester Cooke’s Garden – Williamsburg Let it Grow – Williamsburg Homestead Garden Center – Toano 2011 Native Plant Sales John Clayton Chapter/Native Plant Society 4-30-11 Virginia Living Museum 4-16 & 4-17 & 4-23-11

  9. Where Can I See Native Plants? • VIMS Teaching Marsh • Williamsburg Botanical Garden • Melissa’s Meadow at William & Mary • Stonehouse Elementary School • W&M Wildflower Refuge • Virginia Living Museum • New Quarter Park • Norfolk Botanical Garden • Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden • JCC Human Services (Master Gardener Project)

  10. Websites of Note • www.wildflower.org • Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center site has excellent articles on gardening with natives, including guidelines for container gardening • www.nps.gov/plants/pubs/chesapeake/ • Web and PDF versions of handbook, Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping, Chesapeake Bay Watershed, now out of print. • www.claytonvnps.org • John Clayton Chapter, Virginia Native Plant Society, extensive plant lists by county, excellent photo gallery. • www.dgif.virginia.gov/habitat • Extensive how-to information for environmental stewardship for homeowners, schools and businesses. • www.floraofvirginia.org • Comprehensive research project publishing 2012 will describe more than 3,500 native plants with photos and illustrations. • www.pubs.ext.vt.edu • Virginia Cooperative Extension (VA Tech & VSU) Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia heliopsidis)

  11. Great Resources for Native Plant Information The Essential Guide Just updated with FAQ’s and a regional plant list. Virginia Habitat Partnership State Certification John Clayton Chapter VNPS- Local Experts National Wildlife Federation 140,000+ registered habitats

  12. Why use Native Plants? • Want to do less watering? Native plants are survivors and adapt to whatever is happening in their environment. • Feel concerned about excess nitrogen causing algae blooms in the Chesapeake Bay? Natives don’t require fertilizer. • Native Plants provide familiar sources of food and shelter for wildlife. • On a broader ecological scale, planting native species contributes to the overall health of natural communities.

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