By Margaret Carreiro
So many opportunities for gardening with shade-tolerant native plants!
This past Sunday, July 7, twenty-one Wild Ones Louisville members gathered to enjoy Kathy Morris’ hospitality at her home in Middletown. That Sunday morning was cooler than it has been lately so we could wander about at our leisure to see the varied areas on her property with established plantings, but also areas where she was requesting our thoughts for native herbaceous perennials and shrubs that would do well beneath her many stately trees. But she also had spots where wildflowers needing at least 6 hours of sunlight might do well, too. Many of us certainly had suggestions, but we also enjoyed the varied plants and landscaping she had long had there.
Before she and her family had moved to this house, suburban development had surrounded this lush and relatively expansive property, causing run-off problems on one side of the property line. Kathy had sought the advice of Margaret Shea (Dropseed Nursery) several years ago and planted wild river oats along that broad strip. The wild oats reseeded well there and certainly had taken up the run-off preventing erosion downslope, and because it was isolated from other plantings this otherwise aggressive native grass did not intrude into other garden spots, which it can do in a mixed diversity garden area. What a perfect use for this native grass!
While we gave her suggestions, Kathy took copious notes about which plants were invasive non- natives or not as valuable to pollinators as others and we also learned from her choices. For one thing, certain plants which I thought required more than 6 hours of sunlight, were doing quite well in her mixed plantings area on the west side.
Afterwards, many of us joined Kathy and her daughter Michelle in the back porch enjoying light refreshments (cantaloupe spice bread. Now that was different and delicious!) and talking further about plants and simply enjoying each other’s company! That often is the best part of these garden tours- getting to say “Hello” to each other face-to-face and finding out how we and our gardens are doing in person and not simply online.
WON’T YOU JOIN US? OUR NEXT GARDEN TOUR WILL BE AT THE HOME OF BEATE ROSE IN SIMPSONVILLE. I can personally assure you that you will see quite the diversity of native plants that she has creatively and boldly added to her landscape. She knows full well that native plant gardening can be an experiment to learn from and she has much knowledge to impart.
These garden tours are just one of the benefits you get if you become a dues-paying member of Wild Ones Louisville. You, too, could have members visit and show off what you’ve done and also get collective advice on what to do with problem areas, if you’d like! We also have quarterly meetings (the next one in August) where we bring in expert speakers on various topics and often have native plant giveaways or drawings. You will also get updates on Wild Ones Louisville’s Community Projects where there are opportunities for volunteering and
being part of community- like the ones in Wildflower Woods in Cherokee Park, or helping out with the Bloom Elementary School Garden, or the native plant landscaping plans at the Waldorf School at Seneca Park. You will also get access to Webinars sponsored by the national office of Wild Ones and their more detailed information on their website. If interested, go to the National Wild Ones website and become a member. Don’t forget to choose Louisville as your chapter! Hope you’ll join us!
Kathy welcomes us to her home. Front yard shade garden lies behind her.
The shade garden area beneath several stately trees has both non-native and native plants. We were able to suggest several more native plants that should do well with this mix of established herbaceous perennials in that spot.
Then we walked around back of the house to see this area where she had varied plantings including some very nice tree sapling volunteers and coralberry shrubs. She was requesting suggestions for more native shrubs and herbaceous perennials to plant that could deal with part shade and fill out this large area.
Suburban development upslope (behind the trees here) has been causing erosion on this side of her property. Here she planted a bed of River Oats (Chasmanthium latifolia), a shade-tolerant grass, that can absorb much of that run-off, causing fewer problems down slope. Kathy said she started with only 3 plants 4 years ago, a testament to the fact that this grass is a prolific reseeder. That attribute works well in this context.
That morning was cooler than it has been, so we all got to enjoy her yard at our leisure!
Later those of us who could stay a bit longer enjoyed each other’s company and light refreshments, including cantaloupe spice bread, on Kathy’s spacious back porch.