Recently the Master Gardeners took a field trip to Doyline, Louisiana. We went to see the natives!
Mr. G. W. Willis was our guide. He is the owner of Willis Farm Nursery, a nursery specializing in native plants.
According to Mr. Willis, your landscaping should consist of at least 30% native plants. Why? Native plants are indigenous to the area, therefore they evolved with the insects and diseases of the area and are immune to them. They have developed natural resistance! While you wear yourself out spraying and coddling other plants, native plants manage just fine on their own.
Here are some of the plants he recommended:
Southern sugar maple: yellow in the fall
Brandywine maple: Vermont red in the fall
Japanese maple: various colors in fall, beautiful
Buckeye: pollinated by ruby red throat hummingbirds, a seed pod brings good luck if you carry it
in your pocket
Service berry: tiny white blooms in Spring
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| www.umass.edu |
Sparkle berry and huckleberry: similar to wild blueberry
Native azaleas: require acidic, well drained soil and filtered shade
Alabama azaleas - yellow
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| www.pinterest.com |
Florida azaleas - easiest to grow
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| www.landscapeofus.com |
Swamp azaleas - still need to be well drained
**never try to plant them under an oak
Sweet shrub: plant it where you can mow under it
Beautyberry: is pretty when pruned into a tree shape
Grancy gray beard: blooms better in full sun, but can live under pine canopy
nickname "ghosts in the woods"
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| www.gardenality.com |
Smoke tree: like Grancy gray beard, but with a purple tinge
Best dogwoods: Appalachian Spring (disease resistant)
Cherokee Princess (second runner up)
Possum haw viburnum
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| www.rnr.lsu.edu |
Spigelia marilandica: Indian pink
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| www.greenlightplants.com |
Witch hazel: blooms in winter
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| www.yourgardensanctuary.com |
Loblolly bay: fragrant summer bloom
Hydrangea: If you love "Limelight", try native "Phantom". It's just as good.
Annabell
Hibiscus: scarlet rose Texas Star
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| www.almanac.com |
Perennials: Texas gold columbine
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| www.plantanswers.tamu.edu |
Henry's Garnet verginica
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| www.onlineplantguide.com |
Call Mr. Willis and go see the natives for yourself; you'll be glad you did!!
Love ya'll, Shelli
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