Mixing It Up

 So many of the native plants are attractive and interesting that I like to include them in the garden.  Here a Jack-in-the-pulpit is nestled  between brunnera and pulmonaria.

Ornamental onions like the heavy soil on our property, and these ones are blooming even in the shade of hardwoods.  Behind them is Solomon's seal, a wild plant, although not one that grows naturally in our area .

Ferns are always lovely. I transplanted these ones to grow near the low stone wall.

I like this collection (Bishop's cap, native white violet, green brunnera, variegated brunnera) because they are all quite similar in form and grow to the same height, but they also vary in colour and texture.

One of the challenges of gardening on a wooded lot is that if you don't watch out you will end up with great patches of wild raspberries and blackberries on the border between the trees and the open area.  That would be OK if they were a source of fruit, but normally the little fruit they produce is eaten by wasps, birds and squirrels, so you just end up with a very ugly, scratchy spot.In this area, I have tried to create a mid-height ground cover of tightly spaced plants.  In the foreground, a tree peony has leafed out next to some Silver Dollar.  In the background, pulmonaria, brunnaria, beebalm, hostas, Solomon seal, false Solomon's seal, columbine do a pretty good job of keeping the brambles at bay.

Sometimes a single shot of colour is all that's needed to brighten up a predominantly green spot.  This little garden includes native trillium, foam flower, ginger, yellow violet , merrybells as well as the trusty hosta and brunnera.