Cottage Gardening with Native Plants

I was asked to write a guest post on BeautifulWildlifeGardening.com.

Check out my guest post on how this popular gardening style can be used to support our local ecosystems.

Healthy Forest - Restoring the Wissahickon

White Oak sapling just planted

Wiegard, Ave. Wissahickon Forest, Fairmount Park

Weather: clear, cool, hi. 48 degrees F, lo 42 degrees F, wind 4 - 7 mph. Habitat: Oak-Hickory Forest.

I volunteered with Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers Sunday. It was a clear beautiful day in the Wissahickon Forest. The sky was clear and that warm blue of autumn.  The glowing gold of Sugar Maples brightened up the forest. The White Oaks still have their dry and crinkly brown leaves firmly attached to branches. Many Tulip Trees are bare. Brown bare limbs and crackly dead leaves litter the forest floor.

We spent two hours this morning cutting down and pulling out Multifloral Rose, Privet and Oriental Bittersweet. In their places we planted the native forest trees of the Wissahickon, White Oak, Red Oak and Sweetbay Magnolia. Black Gum was planted down by the water.

When new trees are planted, white plastic deer guards are wrapped around the trees to stop deer from browsing (eating) the tender young branches.  Deer generally don't eat the invasive species that we have to chop out of the forest. They eat the native species they evolved with over millennium.  The deer eat some non-native plants but not the ones which become invasive. If they did, they we could walk the forest each weekend instead of digging.

Red Oak firmly in the ground

When you buy a plant from a nursery that claims to be deer-resistant, you know that if it escapes into the woods, it can become invasive because the deer can or won't eat it.

The oak trees are planted according to their likes and dislikes. White Oaks like the deep forest best so deeper in  they go. We plant Red Oaks (Quercus rubra) at the edge of the forest because the Red Oak is not so picky.

White Oaks waiting to be planted

I like doing restoration work because I am doing something about the environmental mess we are in . If I just sit, all I can think of is the devastation. Restoration work gives me hope.  And I can see instant results. The invasive vines that choke and bring down trees are gone. Privet hedges that block the view of a beautiful creek are removed. The sun shines, Chickadees call and the forest is beautiful again.

Golden leaves brighten the forest

Falls along the Wissahickon Creek

Mallard duck pair on the Wissahickon Creek

The Asters Are in Full Bloom

The Asters (Aster novae-angliae) are yet again proving just how great they are in the garden. These native perennials bloom from late summer straight through frosts.

Dozens of Asters are native to the northeast section of the United States. Many plant breeders are breeding new garden varieties all the time.




This is one plant that has spread and must have over a hundred blooms. Asters are for sale all over in nurseries and in front of supermarkets.

Aster novae-angliae, "Purple Dome"

Asters attract many pollinating insects including flies, bees, butterflies and skippers. Aster are butterfly host plants. Many butterfly larva (caterpillars) eat the foliage.

I think this is the best native plants for the garden book.

In bloom in Philadelphia

Swamp Rose Mallow (Hibiscus palustris)

Native flowers are my first love. I am fascinated by the shapes, the colors the scents. I like watching insects sip nectar, lay eggs and eat the leaves and petals. Everything about native plants fascinate me.

I have a separate blog that chronicles the native plants of the Philadelphia area.

Here are some the of the native plant photos I have taken in the past week.  All the photos were taken at Bowman's Hill Wildflower Preserve in New Hope, PA. Enjoy!

Wild Senna (Cassia hebecarpa)

Purple Giant Hyssop (Agastache scrophulariaefolia)

New York Ironweed (Vernonia noveboracensis)

Thin-leaved Coneflower (Rudbeckia triloba)

Summer Phlox (Phlox Panculata, David)

Baptistia australis is in bloom again

Bee sipping nectar in Baptisia australis, originally uploaded by donnallong.

Baptista australis (False Indigo) is in bloom again. And I am grabbing the horns of a dilemma. Each year this plant plagues me with thoughts of doubt. Shall I cut it down after it blooms? Maybe I better press a stalk with blooms to remember it by?

It is one of those plants that you planted but are sometimes sorry you did. The blue-violet of the blooms are a delicious color. I always wish that there was a food that color so I could eat it. Not including candy. Shouldn’t Earthlings have a luscious delicious purple fruit to eat. Not the purple of grapes, but purple this color.

I start to cut it down but then I say to myself, “ But, it is the host to so many butterfly larva. Okay, most of those butterflies I rarely see around here, but you never know.”

For the curious Baptista australis is the host plant to the following butterfly larva.
• Orange Sulphur (lives in Philadelphia)
• Clouded Sulphur
• Frosted Elfin
• Eastern Tailed-Blue  (lives in Philadelphia)
• Hoary Edge
• Wild Indigo Duskywing

The female butterfly of each species, lands on the leaf of a plant, tastes it with her feet, and if tastes right (with the correct chemical makeup) then she lays her eggs. If it tastes wrong she moves on. The chemical makeup means the caterpillars will be able to digest it. This is why it is important to plant native species, caterpillars can only eat certain native plants. And non-native plants won’t do. The correct plant is called a butterfly host plant.


The problem with Baptistia australis, is the habit of the plant. It needs to be surrounded by open space not forced to stand at attention in a hoop, by a fence, which is where I have it. Otherwise it flops over and completely dwarfs the highbush blueberry shrubs. And we can’t have that.

Each year around March I begin to worry I cut it down last spring and can’t remember that I did. I wait with anticipation for the first green stalks to poke out of the ground. Finally, they poke up and ease my mind. I think I just have to grow up and live with it.

Baptisia australis

Thank you, Baptista australis for being so beautiful. Thank you for feeding bees and butterflies. Wado.

Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.)

Highbush Blueberries, a Philadelphia native

Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.)

The bell-shaped blossoms of the Highbush Blueberry are blooming in my garden.  This will be the first year of abundant blueberries. I planted two plants last year.






The plant is self-pollinating, but increases fruit-set  and the berries are earlier and has more seeds, if there are two to cross-pollinate. 

This plant is a native and occurs naturally throughout Eastern North America. It’s natural habitat is in wet areas, in and around marshes, swamps and lakes. But it also occurs in drier areas like dunes, barrier beaches, rocky hillsides, oak woods and pine woods. 

All this means that the Delaware Valley and Philadelphia is a natural habitat. Here we have wet areas around all the rivers, creeks and streams. And we have drier areas in the wooded rolling Piedmont area. 

The plant is not tolerant of shade but likes a sunny open spot. This means if you look for naturally occurring plants in natural places, that the plant will be found in open sunny places along watercourses or open meadows or woodland edges. 

Bees are the chief pollinators. The little bell-shaped flowers are short and allow insects with short tongues to easily access the nectar. 

I doubt I will get very many berries from my plants as the songbirds, game birds  and mammals love them.  I just hope for a small handful. 

Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)

The Red Columbine is so graceful and so lovely. I took this photograph in my garden. The late afternoon sun was sinking in the sky and the soft light illuminated the form of the blossom. 

I was first attracted to this plant when I saw a stand of yellow Columbine growing in the shade of a house here in Philadelphia. I wanted to grow the beautiful hanging flowers in my own garden. 

In my garden, it is among the earliest bloomers. The hanging blossoms attract hummingbirds to the sweet nectar within. Long-tongued hummingbirds and bees are it’s pollinators. Red Columbine blooms from March to July, which is a good long time for a plant. 

This native plant looks delicate but is quite hardy and can live 2-5 years. I have seen it growing out of what seems to be solid rock. The seeds of the plant probably lodged in a pocket of soil and just start growing. The plant readily reseeds. So, if you plant it in a good spot it may drop seeds for many years and a stand of the plants may live for along time, multiplying and spreading.

Red Columbine is native to eastern and central North America.  It is endangered in Florida. The plant can be found in rich, moist woods to rocky outcroppings.

The species which is pictured here has naturally red and yellow flowers. The garden cultivars focus on changing the shades of yellow and red. It is a easily found in garden centers and even big box home improvement stores.

Berries soon?

Look at the buds on my Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum) shrub in my backyard. The Highbush Blueberry is native to my region. I planted two bushes two years ago. It had tiny, not very edible berries on the bush last year.

Maybe just maybe I will get a few blueberries this year. The birds will probably get them first. Basically, because I don't plan on draping netting over the bushes and I have to work all day. The birds work for a good part of the day, but most of that is outside. And some of that time is spent in my garden.

The cards are stacked against me.

Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)

The Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum). I saw these umbrella-shaped leaves peaking up from the woodland floor. They look like umbrella for fairies and woodland sprites.

The clear white bloom will have 6-9 waxy petals. The blooms are not on top of the leaves but hidden underneath. I usually have to crawl on my belly to take a snapshot of the pretty round flower.

Virginina Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)

Virginia Bluebells, originally uploaded by donnallong.

The Virginina Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) are open. Lovely. They have to be one of my favorite flowers.

Virginia Bluebells

Virginia Bluebells, originally uploaded by donnallong.

These Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) grow in the shaded place under by back porch. I planted them last year. They are native to the Philadelphia region.

I bought a pot of the Bluebells last year at the Bowman's Hill Plant Sale. Twice each year the reserve has a plants sale where they sell native plants for the SE Pennsylvania region.

The Bluebells are truly lovely. The pink-violet color of the young buds will become a heavenly lavender-blue. The mature open flowers are trumpet shaped. I'll post a photo when they bloom.

They grow in colonies in rich woodlands. Bluebells carpet the woodland floor and  light up the understory in the woods of the Bowman's Hill Reserve in New Hope, PA.

Trout Lilly leaves

Trout Lilly leaves, originally uploaded by donnallong.

The Trout Lilly (Erythronium americanum)leaves are peaking out among the leaf litter. The beautiful blooms can't be far behind. By the brown mottling on the leaves I think that this is the yellow flowered Trout Lilly. The white Trout Lilly are less mottled. But, I could be wrong. Well the blossom will tell.

The flower is a pretty yellow trumpet-shaped blossom.

What I can't understand sometimes is why humans look to far away lands for garden flowers, when we have so many beautiful ones right here close to home.

I guess it is novelty. Or a need to mimic the rich Europeans of centuries past who flaunted their wealth by planting their gardens with evermore exotic flowers. Or is it simply discontentment. And not appreciating what we have?

The Skunk Cabbage are in bloom

In wet marshy woodlands and swamps a curious plant is peaking up from the wet, moist soil. The Skunk Cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus) sprouts so early in spring that the heat of the plant’s cellular respiration from its rapid growth actually melts the surrounding ice and snow.

The large egg-shaped leaves rise not from a stalk but directly from the soil. The leaves unfurl and shade the odd-looking flower beneath it. You can just see the small purplish-brown flower in the photo above.

The purplish-brown flower blooms from February to May. The purplish-brown hood is the spathe. The pale yellow knobby thing in the flower is the spadix. The spadix is covered with tiny flowers.

The Common Yellowthroat Warbler sometimes nest in the central hollows of the large leaves. Sowbugs and millipedes are often seen on the decaying spathes.

Wood ducks, Ruffled Grouse, Ring-necked Pheasants and Northern Bobwhites feed on the seeds. The Skunk Cabbage is the first pollen source in spring for honeybees.