Indeed it could!
This formal design perfectly balances the weight of the elegant two story home behind. The layers of plants add winter interest, summer blooms and a calming symmetry. The plants chosen are all fairly easy to care for and commonly available.
The tiered planting in full sun features five layers: Japanese pachysandra nearest the sidewalk, boxwood immediately behind the iron fence, a row of knock out landscape roses, a row of hydrangea and, finally, a cherry laurel hedge at the top.
These layers bring texture and loads of interest. Japanese pachysandra, boxwood and cherry laurel are all evergreen maintaining the balance of the design through winter. The knock out roses bloom in June and produce flowers sporadically through the rest of the summer. The hydrangeas begin blooming in July and flower heads remain through October.
This garden is crisp and neat as well as being low maintenance. This is what many homeowners are looking for in their landscapes. Let’s take a look at how this design could be replicated with native plants!
Pachysandra Layer
Japanese pachysandra (Pachysandra terminalis) is an evergreen groundcover that spreads and is low maintenance. An obvious native substitute would be Alleghany pachysandra (Pachysandra procumbens), our native pachysandra, but for the full sun location. Our native pachysandra can’t take full sun, even with irrigation.
Cherokee sedge (Carex cherokeensis) is a semi-evergreen sedge that grows in shade and sun. Mt. Cuba Center rated it as one of its top shade/sun carex in a trial of many types of carex. Like the pachysandra, cherokee sedge would add textural contrast with the other layers. The additional height of the sedge might also soften the transition from the lowest layer to the next layer.
Boxwood Layer
This is the easiest layer to substitute a native. Inkberry shrubs (Ilex glabra) are the perfect substitute for a row of boxwoods. Evergreen, low maintenance and easy to grow, inkberries are a stronger plant than boxwoods in our area. For a hedge the same size as the photo, the best inkberry choice would be a cultivar ilex glabra 'Compacta' which is smaller, growing to about 4 feet tall. The straight species can grow to 6 feet high.
Rose Layer
Knock out roses (Rosa 'Knockout') are used in landscapes so often because they are low maintenance roses that bloom all season long into fall. Our native roses, wild rose (Rosa virginiana) and Carolina rose (Rosa carolina), bloom in early summer but rarely repeat bloom so they really don’t fit the need here. My guess is the intent of the design was to add a row of color for a good part of the summer and into fall. Blue hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) might work well. It has a long bloom period, grows three to four feet tall in full sun and adds lavender color.
Hydrangea Layer
Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ (Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' is a cultivar of the native wild hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens). It adds textural contrast and long lived flowers to this garden design. In full sun, irrigation would be a must. Also, the ‘Anabelle’ cultivar of wild hydrangea has almost entirely sterile flowers. A few years back, the Mt. Cuba Center trialed native hydrangeas and cultivars. Hydrangea ‘Haas' Halo’ (Hydrangea 'Haas' Halo') did well in sun and has fertile flowers, so was highly rated for its ability to attract pollinators. It would make a great choice here.
Cherry Laurel Layer
The tallest tier in this design is the hedge of cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus). The shrubs are evergreen and produce white wand shaped flowers early in summer. Cherry laurel is a common name used for both the very popular ornamental plant native to Europe and the Carolina cherry laurel (Prunus caroliniana) native to the southeastern U.S. The European plant is commonly used as hedging in our area but requires significant maintenance as they are fast growers, can easily grow upwards of 20 feet and, in most situations, need regular pruning.
A more low maintenance option is to use the larger straight species of inkberry for this layer. Using inkberry a second time though seems like a missed opportunity to add more variety to the design.
If you could give up the idea of the evergreen layer, there are so many native shrubs that would add spring flowers, berries and fall color. Red chokeberries (Aronia arbutifolia), blueberries (Vaccinum corymbosum), sweetspire (Itea virginica 'Harry's garnet') and winterberries (Ilex verticillata) would all add so much aesthetically and ecologically. What would you do if you were trying to recreate this garden with native plants? Please add your ideas below!
This is why this blog is called nuts for natives. It is a little nutsy to walk around and think about how ornamental gardens could be native. On the other hand, if you have read this far, you might be nuts for natives too...
Happy Gardening.
What a great idea to show native alternatives. I'm mainly adding native plants at this point. While there were quite a few non-natives here when we moved in, thankfully the previous owners also encouraged native plants. We've also pulled out non-native invasives and replaced them with natives--mostly shrubs. Great post!
My favorite ground cover (sun or shade) is Waldsteinia fragarioides (Barren strawberry.) It is evergreen, very hardy, deer resistent, yellow flowers in the spring, a good spreader. The only problem is that it is very hard to spell and not readily found.
Shari,
Your newsletter and blog are a great source of creative ideas for natives. And your photographs really showcase the examples.
I have a suggestion for a more formal look. the Dwarf Maryland Holly is evergreen, hardy and beautiful I have found it to grow larger than just a groundcover. https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=249126
Thanks for consistently writing informative and interesting newsletters!
Pat Mitchell
Great suggestions.
Keep in mind that, since inkberry are dioecious (male/female) and cultivars are typically female, you'll need some male inkberry plants to get fruit and realize the full wildlife benefit of the lower inkberry hedge. Chances are good that if you do a straight species hedge in back you would have a decent number of males and therefore abundant fruit. Or you could find another spot on the property for a few male plants.