Great Native Plants for the Southeast

originate native plant is the gardening equivalent of having your patty and eating it too . Not only are these works beautiful and more likely to thrive in your landscape painting , they also toy a crucial persona in hold up the living landscape for pollinator , raspberry , and other animals .

For their seemingly endless benefit , it ’s always deserving adding another aboriginal plant to your garden . Below , find aboriginal plants for the Southeast that will please human , animal , and insect invitee in your garden .

1. Southern Maidenhair Fern

Name:Adiantum capillus-veneris

Zones:7–10

Size : Up to 15 inch tall and 18 inches wide

condition : Partial to full tone ; evenly moist , well - drained , near - electroneutral to alkaline territory

Southern maidenhair fern fern retain the elegance of its northern cousin , A. pedatum , while letting its hair down just enough to beguile both courtly and naturalistic gardeners . With an abundance of spring green leaflet bubbling out from wiry black base , this fern lend gentle movement to any forest scene . It is evergreen in most zones and utterly pose when cloak over logs or rock-and-roll — the latter ruminate its iconic home in nature , limestone drop-off . If you have acidulous stain , add together a bit of lime or limestone crushed rock to its bed before plant .

2. Indian Pink

Name:Spigelia marilandica

Zones:5–9

Size:18 to 24 inch tall and 12 to 18 inches wide

consideration : fond shade ; middling soil

No perennial dispels the myth of the “ insidious native ” more than Indian pink . This show - showstopper has it all : cardinal red flowers open to reveal starry yellow lobe ; sturdy , vertical clumps of foliage ; and staying power . Its many reddish trumpets call in the hummingbirds and pay out with abundant nectar in later bound . It is fully worth its specialty perennial Leontyne Price . Once established , this beauty grows utterly well in drier soils . It will rebloom if sheared by half after flowering or modestly reseed if permit to mature to maturity .

3. Seersucker Sedge

Name:Carex plantaginea

Zones:5–8

Size:8 to 12 inches tall and 10 to 18 inches wide

Conditions : fond to full shade ; moist , well - run out soil but tolerate drier conditions

I first experienced the soothing beauty of seersucker sedge in an Appalachian woodland and wondered , Why ca n’t I have this in my garden ? It turn out , I can . This astonishingly versatile sedge has texture and manikin in spades — wide shoulder strap of light - captivate puckered leaf and a tight but arching clumping drug abuse — and it ’s mostly evergreen . It ’s great establish along a pathway , but I like it best as a textural contrast to broader - leaved natives as well as playing the true industrial plant to fine , visionary fern .

4. Bigleaf Magnolia

Name:Magnolia macrophylla

Size:30 to 50 feet tall and 20 to 35 feet wide

weather : Full sun to full refinement ; median to moist , well - drained soil

Bigleaf magnolia is a tree of tiptop , boasting the largest dim-witted leave-taking and largest flower of any tree diagram in North America . From a distance , the tree is bold and mind - turning ; up tight , its massive , creamy - ashen spring bloom , heady and honeyed , demand investigating . I savour its habit when grown in light shade , where its branches have a cathedral - alike essence of spirally dress leaves . You ’ll never blank out the first sentence you see its two - tone , silvery blank and golden tan leaves carpet the ground like report towel . This southern beauty is deciduous and appreciates even moisture .

Paula Gross is the former assistant conductor of the University of North Carolina Charlotte Botanical Gardens .

Fine Gardening Recommended Products

D&X Garden Sprinkler

Fine Gardening receives a commission for particular purchased through connection on this web site , include Amazon Associates and other affiliate advertising programs .

Rain Bird PATIOKIT Drip Irrigation Patio Watering Kit

The Nature of oak : The Rich Ecology of Our Most Essential Native Trees

Get our latest tips , how - to articles , and instructional videos ship to your inbox .

contract you up …

Great Native Plants for the Northwest

Great Native Plants for the Southern Plains

Great Native Plants for the Northern Plains

Great Native Plants for the Midwest

Join Fine horticulture for a free engross alive webinar feature Dr. Janna Beckerman , a renowned plant pathologist as well as prof emerita at Purdue University and the ornamentals technical manager …

When I spot a particular guts dollar cactus ( Astrophytum asterias ) at the Philadelphia Flower Show a few months ago , I knew I was in problem . With a delightful color design …

When we only prioritize plants we desire over plants our landscape want , each time of year is filled with a never - ending list of chores : pruning , nobble , tearing , treating , repair , and fertilizing , with …

Indian Pink

Photo: Bill Johnson

Video

Touring an Eco-friendly, Shady Backyard Retreat

You must be heedful when you inscribe the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping — not because you ’re likely to jaunt on something , but because you might be dive - bombed by a pair …