HelpfulGardener.com

I'm hoping the members here can help me out
I'm looking for a flowering Perennial hardy in zone 7 and native to PA

Needs to tolerate a bit of shade from a growing red maple, here is a photo of the area in April and June where I want to put in the plants/flowers. Basically everywhere you see mulch above the rock and around the tree is where I will want to put the flowers/plants. I don't want something too invasive like in the mint family but may try oregano if I cant find anything else.
You can see by the July picture that I don't need to cover too much of an area.

April



July

It’s a raised bed — tending to be dry? Or does the bricked wall hold moisture well?

...maximum height of plants?

There are many. Find a good local native plants nursery and they will help you with what is best for your spot.

But some of my favorites are: monkshood, anise hyssop (honeybees and other beneficial insects love it and it is great in herbal tea blends), columbine, bleeding heart, milkweed, poppy mallow, chelone, cardinal flower, great blue lobelia. I love the spring ephemerals like jack in the pulpit, trillium, trout lily, virginia bluebells, woods poppy,

applestar wrote:It’s a raised bed — tending to be dry? Or does the bricked wall hold moisture well?

...maximum height of plants?

It holds moisture pretty well, plus I have drip irrigation on the hill.
Would like to keep the plants no higher than 18", I want the tiger lilies in the back taller than the new plants.

rainbowgardener wrote:There are many. Find a good local native plants nursery and they will help you with what is best for your spot.

But some of my favorites are: monkshood, anise hyssop (honeybees and other beneficial insects love it and it is great in herbal tea blends), columbine, bleeding heart, milkweed, poppy mallow, chelone, cardinal flower, great blue lobelia. I love the spring ephemerals like jack in the pulpit, trillium, trout lily, virginia bluebells, woods poppy,

I will never trust another nursery again, I'll stick to advice from my forums and my own research.

I'm going to research the plants you listed.
I originally wanted to put in Hostas but I felt they were a bit boring and wanted something more insect/hummingbird friendly.

What do you guys think about Salvia elegans (Pineapple Sage) forget it, says zone 8



Or Blue Hill Meadow Sage

Here’s one I’ve been wanting to grow. Not just for flowers but for the fruits and possible uses for the leaves. I had a plant, but apparently planted it in a wrong location and lost it/it died. My problem is finding a well-drained spot. — I’ve been wanting to get one again, and your spot looks to be a pretty good fit.

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/resul ... plant=ARUV
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi (L.) Spreng.
Kinnikinnick, Red bearberry, Kinnikinnik
Ericaceae (Heath Family)


Here’s another, similar one —

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/resul ... lant=gapr2

Gaultheria procumbens
Gaultheria procumbens L.
Eastern teaberry, Wintergreen, Checkerberry
Ericaceae (Heath Family)

...or if you prefer non-evergreen perennials, how about heuchera or tiarella? Tiarella might be too early, but they def’ly love herchera/coral bells. Heuchera would let you play with foliage colors.

Also my hot pink “Coral Reef” monarda is a dwarf 12-18”H unlike “Jacob Cline” which grows to 3-4 ft. ...eta... just looked it up and they are listed as taller... hm. Maybe mine are stunted or something, but they don’t grow to 30 inches or whatever. Maybe there are other dwarf monarda cultivars.

What about this one? This is not actually native to Pa. but is native to NA. There are other species of evening primroses that grow as tall as 6 feet. This is one that I had in my former “Wildflower Meadow” garden that got overwhelmed by other stuff, and possibly too wet/clay soil since the area has been turned into the Spiral Garden after the successive failure of the more dry prairie-type wildflowers. (Or maybe it couldn’t handle the really cold winter we had one year). I like that these would bloom in the evening with sweet fragrance in your front bed.

OENOTHERA BERLANDER SISKIYOU 'PINK'
(Pink Evening Primrose)

https://www.wildflower.org/plants/resul ... lant=oesp2
Oenothera speciosa (Pink evening primrose)

Pink evening primrose, Showy evening primrose, Mexican evening primrose, Showy primrose, Pink ladies, Buttercups, Pink buttercups
Onagraceae (Evening Primrose Family)

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)
Originally native only to central grasslands from Missouri and Nebraska south through Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas to northeastern Mexico

...you could also consider dwarf nicotiana, but they would *attract* night feeding moths including hornworm and cutworm moths...


OH! And don’t forget, Bowman’s Hill’s native plant sale is coming up
Fall Native Plant Sale – Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve
https://bhwp.org/item/fall-native-plant-sale-2018/

Saturday, September 8, 2018
11 am – 1 pm: Members-only Nursery shopping
1 pm – 5 pm: Nursery opens to the public

Sunday, September 9, 2018
9 am – 5 pm: Nursery open to all

You really need to check into the requirements of each and know something about your soil type (drainage and pH for sure). For example: when I was in Cincinnati, I tried to grow wintergreen several times, but it must have acid soil and it always died in my alkaline soil, no matter how I tried to amend it.

What have you got against nurseries? Big box plant sections are terrible, but most native plant nurseries are people that really care about native plants and are good and helpful. This has a list of PA native plant nurseries: https://www.panativeplantsociety.org/nat ... urces.html

Incidentally hostas besides being boring and having zero habitat value (except for slugs and deer, which both love to eat hosta), is not native (they originated in Asia).