A woodland garden mimics nature’s rhythms, putting on a spring show but leaving sunnier areas of the garden to carry the summer and fall. Maintenance consists of keeping out the invasive honeysuckle, garlic mustard, periwinkle, and wintercreeper euonymus and otherwise leaving the forest be.

Back to Native Plant Palettes

Click on the Latin name for photos and links to further information.

Flowers

Aquilegia canadensis Columbine
Asarum canadense Wild ginger
Chelone glabra Turtlehead
Delphinium tricorne Woodland larkspur
Geranium maculatum Wild geranium
Hibiscus moscheutos Swamp rose mallow
Iris virginica Blue flag
Smilacina racemosa (Maianthemum racemosum) Solomon’s plume
Mertensia virginica Virginia bluebell
Podophyllum peltatum Mayapple
Polemonium reptans Jacob’s ladder
Polygonatum biflorum Solomon’s seal
Sanguinaria canadensis Bloodroot
Sedum ternatum Wild stonecrop
Sisyrinchium angustifolium Blue-eyed grass
Spigelia marilandica Indian pink
Stylophorum diphyllum Celandine poppy

Grasses

Chasmanthium latifolium Northern sea oats
Diarrhena americana Beak grass
Elymus hystrix (Hystrix patula) Bottlebrush grass

Ferns

Adiantum pedatum Maidenhair fern
Matteuccia struthiopteris Ostrich fern
Osmunda cinnamomea Cinnamon fern
Osmunda regalis  Royal fern
Polystichum acrostichoides Christmas fern

Shrubs

Lindera benzoin Spicebush

Vines

Clematis viorna Vasevine, leatherflower