First Wednesday Challenge: What To Plant In Your Garden

It's your garden plant what ever you want. But, would you please plan(t) for all the critters that live and visit your garden?

You'll never be sorry!

Coreopsis 'Redshift'

 Pollinators will thank you for it by hanging around pollinating your flowers and vegetables/fruits. Beneficial insects will thrive and raise offspring that will gobble up the more harmful insects. Birds will live there and help keep the insect population down.

It's your garden, plant what ever you want, but, plant knowing that the more you plant for critters...crawling, flying and even digging ones, the healthier and more diverse your garden will be.

Plant what ever you want, but consider that you might be part of something big going on in your neighborhood.

 Your garden might be a neighborhood haven for all kinds of critters in the midst of a sea of lawns.  

 Yours might be one of the few gardens that offers pollinating critters nectar and pollen from late winter until late fall; a place for all kinds of critters to raise their offspring; or a stopping off place for water and food (seeds and berries) to migrating birds.

Viburnum rufidulum

It's your garden, plant what ever you want, just take some time to figure out what makes sense for your garden conditions. It's taken me a very long time, but, I finally feel as if I have found the right combination and balance of perennials, annuals, biennials, small trees and shrubs that can thrive in the shallow clay soil that is too dry during the summer and too wet during the winter.

 Identifying what grows naturally in your yard, neighborhood or local natural area is a good place to start.

 Notice which plants attract the most pollinators and which ones are just a pretty face.

 Watch to see which seed heads the birds eat first and which ones they never touch.

The Emerald Wavy Lined moth cat (Synchlora aerata) disguised as a decaying petal

 Look closely at all the plants to see if any of the flowering plants are hosting a caterpillar or two!

Simply said: Choose plants that have good wildlife value.

 Don't forget to check out the trees and shrubs. If you're starting with a blank yard then choose an oak tree. Our beautiful, robust oaks are host to more caterpillars than any other tree.. Over 500 species of caterpillars thrive on oaks, providing important nutrition needed for bird breeding success.

Invest in a good wildflower book,  a field guide to identify insects, a field guide to birds and one to help you identify butterfly and caterpillars. Tennesseans, we are so lucky because Rita Veneble has written a wonderful book to help us not only id butterfly, but what their eggs and caterpillars look like. She also identifies host plants. Go here to get a copy of her book Butterflies of Tennessee.

It's your garden, plant what ever you want, but, just in case you find yourself standing in the middle of a local nursery and you're wondering what to get, try my favorite trick~ stop and look around, then head straight over to any plants that are being visited by bees, skippers or butterflies. If you don't see any insects go to another nursery.

These are the questions I ask myself when plant shopping at nurseries or online.

• Does it make sense for my garden conditions?
• Is it a source of nectar or pollen or a host plant for pollinators? 
• Is it a food source for birds, insects or mammals?
• Will it add to plant diversity in my critter friendly garden?
• Is it native or garden friendly (a non invasive plant)? 
• Have I included plants that bloom in the early spring and some that bloom until late fall to help critters getting ready for winter?
• Have I included shrubs and evergreens? (They provide structure to the garden and cover and food.)
• What worked this past year? Should I plant more?

Ruellia humilis

I know it's your garden and you can plant what ever you want, but, I sure hope you consider planting more native plants.

Verbesina virginica

 There's just one other thing I need to say before I go. Know that what ever you plant, your garden will be healthier if you never, ever, ever, ever, ever use pesticides. I mean never!

xoxogail

 

Here's a recap of what the First Wednesday Monthly Challenge is all about.

Want to Take the Taking Care of Wildlife In Our Gardens Challenge?

The first part of this challenge is to do something, even lots of things each month that support the critters living in our gardens. Gardening with native wildflowers, shrubs and trees that make sense for our ecoregion is a good place to start or continue (as the case may be). Plants and their pollinators are a classic example of mutualism: they have coevolved through evolutionary time in a reciprocal beneficial relationship. This is also true for other critters that visit and live in our gardens. 

Activities that increase our knowledge of the natural world are equally as valuable. Helping others learn about nature is included. Golly gee whiz, there are so many things you can do. 

The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. Wouldn't an article in the local paper be a coup for nature! Why post it? Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals, including humans, that live all around us. 

Why now? My neighborhood is changing. Yours might be, too. Every day an older home along with many (if not all) of the mature oak, hickory, maple, Eastern cedar and hackberry trees are cut down. Insects, birds, even mammals lose their home site and food supplies when we lose trees. During construction soil is compacted by bulldozers, trucks and piles of debris cause runoff; surface runoff that can carry pollution to streams and rivers. It's important that our neighbors and our community have information about how important trees are to our ecosystem. Trees contribute to their environment by providing oxygen, improving air quality, climate amelioration, conserving water, preserving soil, and supporting wildlife.

In place of the "bee lawns" composed of Claytonia, Salvia lyrata, Ruellia humilis, fleabane, Western Daisy, Violets, self-heal, clovers, native grasses (in my neighborhood it's poverty oat grass) and sedges, they're being sodded with non-native grasses. These monoculture turf lawns contribute nothing environmentally. Here's what we lose when our diverse lawns are replaced with pristine turf grass:

• Gone are the lightening bugs.
• Gone are the ground dwelling/nesting native bees.
• Gone is the habitat for insects, spiders and other critters. 
• Gone is plant diversity. 
• Gone are trees that provided for hundreds of moths, butterflies and other insects.
• Gone are the nesting sites for woodpeckers, hummingbirds, Chickadees and other birds. 
• Gone is a healthy foodweb.
  

 It breaks my heart. 

We can't stop the progmess, but, maybe we can make a lot of educational noise and help our new neighbors see the value in providing for critters and ultimately helping the environment.

A gardener can hope! 

xoxoGail

Here's an incomplete list of things you might consider doing or changing in your garden, and things you can do for and/or in your community. But don't limit yourself to my list, make your own list or check out the internet for ideas.

 

Looking for ways to get involved go here for a list of environmental advocacy groups.

Buy the best wildflower, butterfly and bird id books for your state.

Read nature books to your children and grandchildren. Buy them nature books.

Get in the garden with your children and grandchildren.

Give nature books as baby shower gifts (Nature books for infants and toddlers)

Shrink your lawn and make your planting beds larger.

Plant your favorite native perennials and shrubs. Leave them standing after they've gone to seed to continue to provide for wildlife. What you plant in your yard makes a difference to wildlife. I garden for wildlife so every tree, shrub and plant is chosen with wildlife in mind.

 

Plant more natives and then consider planting even more. "A typical suburban landscape contains only 20-30% native plant species. Try reversing that trend in your own landscape by using 70-80% native species." (source) 

Plant for bloom from late spring to early winter. Bees are most active from February to November (longer in mild climates) late winter blooming Hamamelis vernalis and the earliest spring ephemerals (like the toothworts, hepaticas, spring beauties, and False rue-anemeone) are perfect plants for a variety of pollinators.

Commit to never, ever, ever, ever using pesticides in the garden.

Stay away from native plant hybrids and cultivars that are double flowered. They are sterile and have no pollen or nectar for insects and no seeds for the birds. If possible plant “true open-pollinated native wildflowers”

If you want to garden for wildlife and pollinators, don't let lack of space stop you! Plant your favorite wildflowers in large containers. You just might have the prairie or woodland garden you've always wanted...in a pot!
 
Create a water feature. Provide water year round that is accessible to birds, bees and other critters.

Make a rain garden in low spots to collect and mitigate runoff.

Show some soil! Our native ground nesting bees nest in bare soil, so don't mulch every square inch of your garden. 

Get rid of the plastic weed barriers in your garden, it's not good for anything.

Invite bugs into your garden. Plant annuals that attract beneficial bugs.

 

Learn to tolerate damaged plants. Imperfection is the new perfect.

Don't be in a rush to clean up the fall garden. Leave plant stalks and seed heads standing all winter. Leave those fallen leaves or as many as you can tolerate! Insects over winter in the fallen and decaying leaves. Leave a layer of leaves as a soft landing material under trees for moths and butterflies to over winter. Many caterpillars drop to the ground from the trees in the fall and need a soft landing site and a place to live over the winter.

Allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden. Limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects.

Make a brush pile. Stack fallen brush, cut tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs". Bugs are also good bird, toad and small critter food. 

Rethink what you consider a pest. Lots of good bugs eat aphids. Spiders are important predators and they're great bird food!

Add nesting boxes for birds. 

Turn off your yard up-lighting, eave lights and porch lights after 11pm. This is important for nocturnal critters including mammals, snakes, insects, bats, birds (especially during migration). (Birdcast suggestions)

Plant shrubs and small trees that provide berries and nuts.

Keep a nature journal: You can observe visitors to your water feature, make note of when they visit. Notice which flowers attract the most pollinators and which ones are just pretty faces. 

Join your state native plant society (Tennessee Native Plant Society)

Join WildOnes even if there's no local group you can join the national organization.  (Middle Tennessee WildOnes)

Support your local native plant sellers. (GroWild in middle Tennessee, Overhill Gardens in east Tennessee,  Resource Guide TN Native Plant Society)

Encourage your local garden clubs to offer native plant talks.

If your garden club has a plant sale encourage them to sell more native plants.

Get trained as a naturalist (Tennessee Naturalist Program. Almost every state has their own Master Naturalist training program

Take an online course on tree, fungi and wildflower id. 

Take an online course on designing with native plants.

Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe nature. To quote Joanna Brichetto in Sidewalk Nature "Look Around. Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our baseboards, parks, and parking lots."

Read! There are hundreds of books on gardening for wildlife, the environment, and rewilding our world. There are delightful blogs with wonderful and informative articles.

If you are already gardening with wildlife in mind then add a few signs that help educate your neighbors. (Xerces Society, Pollinator Partnership)

Join the Xerces Society.

Set up an information station where neighbors can pick up brochures about your garden and other info. 

Get certified (National Wildlife Federation, check to see what your state offers)

Support trees by joining the effort to make sure developers don't remove more trees than are necessary for their project. Work to make sure there are tree removal permits and that they are actually enforced in your community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Wildlife and Wildflower Friendly Garden Guidelines

Verbesina virginica's frost flower

Winter is here for middle Tennessee is a big, cold way! As I write this it's 21F and this November is quite different than it has been in past years. At this time of year it would not be unusual to see a fleabane and wood aster or two hidden under the leaves. Also, the Hamamelis virginiana would be in bloom and trees would still have colorful leaves. In this kind of cold it could be tempting to say that nothing is going on in the garden but, we gardeners know that even a winter garden is teeming with life and activity. Birds are visiting the feeders especially on the coldest days when the ground is frozen and its hard to find a hidden insect or fallen fruit and seed. They also appreciate water, however you decide to provide it! A few years ago my birdbath cracked from the cold and I used a handy turkey roaster with rocks for easy access to the water.

There were no complaints and lots of visitors!

 

Welcome to Wildflower Wednesday and Clay and Limestone garden. I'm sharing my personal guidelines for wildlife and wildflower gardening. I hope you find them helpful, especially if you're thinking of gardening for wildlife. 

I started sharing these posts more than a dozen years ago and I still love introducing wildflowers to you. Our native wildflowers are treasures. Many are underappreciated and underplanted beauties and that's a shame. Most grow with ease if planted in the right conditions and right spot. They are even happy in containers. The bonus is that they attract crawling, flying, nesting, digging and feeding critters to our gardens. With a little research you can find just the right ones for your garden conditions.

 

There's beauty in a winter garden

 

Let me tell you a little about my garden. I garden in middle Tennessee in what's known as the Central Basin. The garden soil is shallow clay that is wet in the winter and dry in the summer. The native plants I've chosen are adapted to the environment and conditions at here and provide food, nesting and/or shelter for mammals, reptiles, birds and insects. Humans seem to appreciate it, too.

Hypericum frondosum in early winter color

The sunniest bed is along the driveway where the soil is especially shallow! One visitor commented on all the containers with a kind of "What the heck!" tone. Yes, there are a lot, but it's the only way I can plant my wildflower beauties that need either deeper soil or winter drainage. There would be no Agastaches and Salvias in my garden without containers, nor could I grow native Iris. The rough and tumble native plants like the ex-asters, goldenrod, Verbesinas, Fleabanes, River Oats, Bottle brush grass and cup plant battle it out for garden dominance among the containers.

There are even more containers than this!

The guidelines I use are simple. There's no shaming. Guidelines encourage me to plant for critters not just plant pretty flower faces.  My guidelines can be applied (with appropriate modifications) no matter where you garden for wildlife.
 

Cardamine diphylla autumn and winter groundcover

1. Plan and plant for a year round garden by wisely choosing the plants.

 It's taken me a very long time, but, I finally feel as if I have found the right combination and balance of perennials, annuals, biennials, small trees and shrubs that can thrive in the shallow clay soil that is too dry during the summer and too wet during the winter. Nearly every plant at Clay and Limestone has been chosen with birds, insects and other critters in mind.

Simply said: Choose plants that have good wildlife value.

 These are the questions I ask myself when plant shopping-at nurseries or online.

• Does it make sense for my garden conditions?
• Is it a source of nectar or pollen or a host plant for pollinators? 
• Is it a food source for birds, insects or mammals?
• Will it add to plant diversity in my critter friendly garden?
• Is it native or garden friendly (a non invasive plant)? 
• Have I included plants that bloom in the early spring and some that bloom until late fall to help critters getting ready for winter?
• Have I included shrubs and evergreens? (They provide structure to the garden and cover and food.)
• What worked this past year? Should I plant more?

2. Wait until spring to clean the garden

Gardening friends it's time for us to help our neighbors understand that there's no need to clean up their gardens in late fall. Birds, bees, beetles, butterfly, beneficial insects and small mammals need our "messy gardens". They overwinter under leaves, tuck themselves in the peeling bark of trees, nestle at the base of plants and even nest/overwinter in the stalks of many wildflowers. Clearing the garden kills the insects and that means our resident birds won't have as many insects to feed their young come spring. Not only do the critters miss out, but, we don't get to see how beautiful our gardens can look when/if it snows.
 

 

When you let native wildflowers like Echinaceas, Rudbeckias, cup plant and the Symphyotrichum  stand all winter the seeds are consumed by Goldfinches and other seed eating critters. The stems of many wildflowers, like cup plant are perfect nest sites for overwintering insects~especially small bees.

Native grasses left standing are beautiful, but, also provide shelter and protection for small mammals and birds. Goldenrods support a curious little Goldenrod Gall Fly that makes it's winter home on the stem of the plant. If they aren't eaten by Chickadees during the winter the fly emerges in the spring to start this process all over.

Decaying stems play a roll in the winter garden. The older foliage of a Christmas Fern collapses into the leaf litter as the year progresses toward winter. This accumulated detritus of decaying fronds helps to stabilize the soil and prevent or lessen erosion. The built up mass is also a protective habitat for ground feeding and ground nesting birds.

 3. Leave some leaves! 

 I can't leave all the leaves that fall in my garden, we wouldn't be able to get up the driveway,  but, I leave a lot. Over the years the decomposed leaf litter has improved the soil while providing a nice layer of mulch for some winter protection. I do relocate leaves from the stone paths and driveway by gently raking to wooded areas in the garden where they decompose and provide a habitat for beetles and caterpillars. Bees over winter in leaf litter so I try to minimize leaf raking.

 4. Create a brush pile, leave a snag or allow a fallen tree to remain in the garden

 Living trees provide food, shelter, nesting, resting places, perches for hunters and a "reproductive site" for hundreds of different kinds of insects.

When a tree dies, good things continue to happen. 

Dead trees have an enormously important role in forests. Trees fall for a variety of reasons: disease, lightning, fire, animal damage, too much shade, drought, root competition, as well as old age. A big oak in my garden was struck by lightening a dozen years ago and limb by limb it's been falling down.

The snag that remains still provides shelter and nesting for a number of critters; while the limbs on the ground are a perfect shelter for small animals such as rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels and a habitat for beetles, termites and other insects.

If you haven't space for a fallen tree, you can create a brush pile for the wild critters that live in your garden. Insects, spiders, bees, reptiles, and small mammals love brush piles and birds will visit in search of insects.

 5. Always provide water, it's as important in the winter as it is in the summer

Birds need water every day and if you live where there's no snow cover (yes, birds can eat snow), then, birds need your help even more. I have two heated birdbaths and I always have visitors at them. If you haven't access to an electrical outlet, you can look for a solar bird bath heater. Get frost proof bird baths. Concrete baths crack if they are not heated. Keep the baths clean and if possible place them in a sunny spot.

The birds will thank you for it and so will all the critters that visit or live in your garden year round. 

6. Take time to sit in your garden and enjoy what you have created

• Revel in the beauty
• Appreciate your hard work
• Enjoy the critters
• Celebrate your successes, don't focus on defeats
  
• There's always a list and there's always a project, just be in the now

xoxogail

 

PS 7. NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER USE PESTICIDES. I MEAN NEVER!

 

I invite you to join WW and share your wildflowers and other native plants no matter where you garden~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if your WW star of the month is blooming or not. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants; how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most.

Don't forget our Wildflower Wednesday monthly challenge!  The first part of this challenge is to do something every month during 2022 that supports native wildflowers, pollinators, and the critters that visit and rely on our gardens. The second part of the challenge is to post about it somewhere: Your blog, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or even your neighborhood listserve. 

Why post it?  Because positive publicity is needed to educate our friends, neighbors and communities about how important even the smallest changes we make as gardeners can be for pollinators, birds, insects and mammals that live all around us. 

An incomplete list of things you might consider doing or changing in your garden

Shrink your lawn and make your planting beds larger.

Plant your favorite native perennials and shrubs. Leave them standing after they've gone to seed to continue to provide for wildlife. What you plant in your yard makes a difference to wildlife. I garden for wildlife so every tree, shrub and plant is chosen with wildlife in mind.

Plant more natives and then consider planting even more. "A typical suburban landscape contains only 20-30% native plant species. Try reversing that trend in your own landscape by using 70-80% native species." (source) 

Commit to never, ever, ever, ever using pesticides in the garden.

Stay away from native plant hybrids and cultivars that are double flowered. They are sterile and have no pollen or nectar for insects and no seeds for the birds. If possible plant “true open-pollinated native wildflowers”

If you want to garden for wildlife and pollinators, don't let lack of space stop you! Plant your favorite wildflowers in large containers. You just might have the prairie or woodland garden you've always wanted...in a pot!
 
Create a water feature. Provide water year round that is accessible to birds, bees and other critters.

Show some soil! Our native ground nesting bees nest in bare soil, so don't mulch every square inch of your garden. 

Invite bugs into your garden. Plant annuals that attract beneficial bugs.

Learn to tolerate damaged plants. Imperfection is the new perfect.

Don't be in a rush to clean up the fall garden. Leave plant stalks and seed heads standing all winter. Leave those fallen leaves or as many as you can tolerate! Insects over winter in the fallen and decaying leaves.

Leave a layer of leaves as a soft landing material under trees for moths and butterflies to over winter. Many caterpillars drop to the ground from the trees in the fall.

Make a brush pile. Stack fallen brush, cut tree limbs, broken pots for ground beetles. Ground beetles are excellent at eating "bad bugs'. They're also good bird, toad and small critter food. 

Rethink what you consider a pest. Lots of good bugs eat aphids. Spiders are important predators and bird food!

Add nesting boxes for birds.

Plant shrubs and small trees that provide berries and nuts.

Keep a nature journal: Observe visitors to the water feature, make note of when they visit. Notice which flowers attract the most pollinators and which ones are just pretty faces. 

Volunteer to remove invasives in a local part or natural area.

Join your state native plant society.

Join WildOnes even if there's no local group.

Take an online course on tree, fungi and wildflower id.

Take a walk in your neighborhood and observe nature. To quote Joanna Brichetto in Sidewalk Nature "Look Around. Nature is here, is us, our driveways, our baseboards, parks, and parking lots."

Buy the best wildflower, butterfly and bird id books for your state.

Read nature books to your children and grandchildren. 

Read! There are hundreds of books on gardening for wildlife, the environment, and rewilding our world. There are delightful blogs with wonderful and informative articles.

Turn off your porch lights, eave lights and uplights to help mammals,  birds, critters that live in the dark survive.

If you live in Nashville join the Facebook ReWild Nashville Group and the Middle Tennessee WildOnes

 

 

 

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday: Winter Blooming Witch Hazel

Hamamelis vernalis is a lovely native shrub/small tree that blooms when you have just about given up hope that winter will end and warmth will return to the world...In my Middle Tennessee garden it often begins blooming in early to mid January and it's not unusual for it to continue blooming into February and sometimes March.

Petals furled and unfurled

Ozark witch hazel's flowers are an unusual reddish color with four yellow/orange crepe paper streaming petals that unfurl as the day warms and furl back up when the temperature drops. This is a marvelous adaptive behavior that insures that the spidery blooms will survive the fluctuating winter weather and be in bloom for almost two months.

On a 50˚ day they perfume the air

They perfume the garden with their sweet clove vanilla scent on warm days. I planted them for the earliest visiting pollinators and for that unforgettable fragrance. Once you smell them, you will, want them in your garden, too.

I think they're spectacular in my mostly brown winter garden and I planted one along the front walkway so visitors can enjoy the blooms and their sweet scent.

Just before they burst open

It's no accident that most winter blooming plants have some fragrance...Nature had to insure that insect pollinators could easily find their way to a plant that blooms when most of the garden is fast asleep. I've seen honeybees in the garden on days where the temperatures are above 50˚, but, have only seen small gnats and flies visiting these beautiful fragrant flowers!

Witch hazels are indeed insect pollinated flowers, just check these clues out: They have long, bright-yellow petals, sweet smelling nectar and their stamens (pollen-bearing male bits) are right next to the nectar source. But, how you wonder is insect pollination possible in mid winter? Bernd Heinrich discovered that winter moths are responsible for pollinating witch hazels. These owlet moths have a remarkable ability to heat themselves by using energy to shiver, raising their body temperatures by as much as 50 degrees in order to fly in search of food.  (source). 

Nature and its critters are amazing!

The flowers are deep to bright red, rarely yellow, with four ribbon-shaped petals 7–10 mm (0.28–0.39 in) long and four short stamens, and grow in clusters

Long time readers know I have garden guidelines that I strive to follow. Simply stated I like to plant a mixture of Central Basin natives that have good to excellent wildlife value and that provide bloom as close to year round as is possible in a middle south garden. I have occasionally pushed the envelope and planted perennials and shrubs that are native to adjacent states or that grow in conditions similar  to Clay and Limestone*.  I pushed that envelope when I decided to plant Hamamelis vernalis/Ozark witch-hazel. It is not native to any where in Tennessee. It's found growing in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and Missouri. I planted them for the earliest visiting pollinators and for its delightful perfume. It's happy in the garden, it gets fertilized by visiting critters and that makes me happy.

That's my story and I am sticking to it!

If you want to grow this Central South/Southern native shrub just give it a partially shady location with good morning sun, moist acid soil. It tolerates Clay and Limestone's more neutral soil, so, I am pretty sure you can have success with it, too. It has great fall color, attracts pollinators, and blooms for two months. Mine are species but, there are marvelous cultivars if you are so inclined!

The Particulars

Hamamelis vernalis
Common Name: Ozark witch hazel
Family: Hamamelidaceae
Type: Deciduous shrub  or small tree
Native Range: Southern and central United States in rocky stream banks, in moist open woodlands.
Zone: 4 to 8
Height: 6.00 to 10.00 feet
Spread: 8.00 to 15.00 feet
Bloom Time: January to April
Bloom Description: Yellow with red inner calyx
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium, consistently moist. NOT drought tolerant
Maintenance: Low, does not need to be pruned
Suggested Use: Rain Garden, along creek banks,
Flower: Showy, Fragrant
Leaf: Good Fall color
Usage: Please plant them where you will be sure to appreciate them during the winter months. They can colonize and would make an effective screen along property boundary.  Use in mixed border or as a specimen.

Wildlife value: Habitat value for insects and for birds that come to nest in their branches. The seeds and flowers are eaten by turkey and ruffed grouse.

Comments: An important medicinal plant for many native American tribes. Twigs, leaves and bark are the basis of witch hazel extract.
Tolerate: Deer, Erosion, Clay Soil 

I love that not only does Hamamelis vernalis flower for months, it has a lovely fragrance. How clever of Mother Nature to give winter bloomers that something special to insure that moths, a little fly, gnat or bee will follow the scent and pollinate the flower.
xoxogail

Welcome to Clay and Limestone and Wildflower Wednesday.  This day is about sharing wildflowers and other native plants no matter where one gardens~the UK, tropical Florida, Europe, Australia, Africa, South America, India or the coldest reaches of Canada. It doesn't matter if we sometimes share the same plants. It doesn't matter if they're in bloom (think winter sharing), how they grow and thrive in your garden is what matters most.


*If you're new to C and L, my garden is a Central Basin woodland (there are some sunny areas) with dryer, heavier, shallow and neutral clay soil. I've unearthed enough limestone rocks to build several small walls and there's still more. Not too far below my plants is a thick layer of Ordovician limestone that makes for challenging gardening experiences. The native plants I've chosen are adapted to the environment and conditions at Clay and Limestone and provide food, nesting and/or shelter for mammals, reptiles, birds and insects. Humans seem to appreciate it, too.



Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.