Plants & Wildlife

Giant monster. Give it room or coppice. Birds and bees love it.

Evergreen, dense pyramidal form, great foundation tree/shrub that stands out in the landscape and creates a dense canopy, a classic look. Both male and female plants are needed for berry production; berries provide winter interest and high quality food, shelter, and nesting habitat for birds. Can be brittle, does not like pruning. ‘Maryland Dwarf’ cultivar is a fantastic, expensive, slow growing but hard to find evergreen ground cover.

Showy bark. Can survive tough conditions. Forms colonies through root sprouts in full sun that must be removed if single specimen is desired.

Such a cool plant but weak wooded and breaks. Can be coppiced to control size. Fruit is eaten by cedar waxwings and other birds. Susceptible to Verticillium Wilt which can kill the plant.

Best carex for dry shade. Grows well on slopes, host plant for several caterpillars. Very fine textured, great filler plant.

Needs room to grow. Can’t be kept low. Can be thinned and rejuvenated.

Prefers moist/wet conditions, does not like drought. Leader may break in wind on exposed windy sites leading to open growth habit if not corrected by pruning. Beautiful duff layer/texture from deciduous leaves. Large ecological value for birds, moths, ducks, beetles, mammals. Needs constant scouting. Mites, droughts, and bagworm make it difficult for young taxodium to thrive.

This underutilized coastal shrub requires so little and gives so much. White flowers completely blanket the stems in spring, enchanting park visitors and butterflies alike. It grows in tough conditions and will tolerate dry and sandy soils if given full sun. During the flooding of Hurricane Sandy, Beach Plum was unfazed. The edible fruits in summer are delicious and can be eaten directly off the shrubs, as long as the toxic seed is not ingested. Beach Plum is host to park-visiting butterflies like the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail and the Red Spotted Purple, as well as dozens of moths.

Nice round form, adaptable to different conditions, lovely and interesting inflorescence.

Does not like fertile, moist, rich compost soil. Wants sandy soil. Drought tolerant, beautiful winter interest.

This tree has plenty of cons, but pros outweigh them. Has problems with Peachtree borer infestations, other diseases and pests in wood and leaves. Form can be unpredictable. High ecological value is worth it. Lovely bloom, fruit valuable for birds and many mammals. Nectar attracts many insects and acts as host to many butterflies/moths. Medium size fast grower, ideal for understory. Worst case scenario, it needs chopping down every few years. Re-sprouts readily.

3 seasons of interest. Good hedge when planted many together. Fruit is messy along a sidewalk. Remove suckers if contained size is desirable.

Most shade tolerant of all shrubs. Wild form. Variable.

This spring ephemeral might be the earliest bloomer on our forest floors. The nectar-less white flowers emerge from the protective embrace of Bloodroot’s leaves, keeping them warm in the cold early spring. It is surprisingly tough for such a pretty thing and has begun slowly spreading at the park, with the help of our ants! Bloodroot seeds have a nutritious attachment that ants will grab and take back to their nest to eat, effectively planting the seed. Our park bioblitz identified that we have these ants and are grateful for their services.

Seeds in well, happy with no irrigation. Unique seed heads very ornamental. Drought tolerant. Loses to turf grass.

Beautiful blue foliage, seems to tolerate drought and deep shade. Can look messy in summer.

Annual. Will naturalize. Pretty accent plant for a wetland garden, can be used to seed in naturalized areas.

Covered in bees. Gets anthracnose. Needs good airflow. Remove duff.

Adaptable to a full range, from dry shade to moist sunny conditions. In full shade, it provides neat clumps of grassy foliage, and graceful, wispy seed heads in late summer that catch the light, with a modest height of around 3 feet. In full sun, this plant can become a large presence when in flower, up to 5′, perfect to mix in with other large species. A great plant to include in a tough spot with dry shade. May self seed.

Needs average moisture. Lovely and ornamental.

Susceptible to a number of pests and diseases. High value for birds.

Nice seed head, can tolerate a little shade. Best suited for a naturalized meadow garden.

Gets rose problems, it’s a rose. Girdler, rose mosaic virus, black spot, saw fly. Can all be minimized with sun, ventilation and proper water. Still 100 times better than R. rugosa.

Southern variety of catalpa. Smaller than speciosa, with more numerous purple flowers. Fast growing. Wood is brittle and large branches are known to break, especially when trees have been headed off. Best planted away from pathways. Difficult to find un-mutilated in the trade. Drops a lot of “litter”: seeds, leaves, flowers. Seeds in, necessary to remove seedlings if population control is desired. Large canopy produces deep shade. Marvelous flowers change color after pollination. Leaves loved by aphids that spread honeydew and sooty mold/powdery mildew, partially defoliating the tree. Do not spray them, as the rare two-spotted lady beetle feeds on these aphids, and the resulting food web attracts wasp and migratory birds.

Can you believe that this cheerful spring flower is actually an aggressive thug? Celandine Poppy spreads quickly, creating monocultures, which makes it problematic in a diverse understory, and perfect in a public park. It will thrive in other difficult conditions such as dry shade and full building shade. Leaves can look ragged in summer when left unwatered, so it’s good to plant Stylophorum behind plants that can hide it or plan to cutback. Transplants well, but seeds germinate quickly.

Best performing oak species at BBP. Will naturalize in wooded areas. Less susceptible to obscure scale than red oak group.

Winter interest. Visited by flies in early spring. Must have adequate soil moisture to establish. Does not take pruning well. Plant were there is enough room for a large shrub.

Rare in NY. Evergreen and can take light foot traffic and dog pressure. Seeds in. A real shade problem solver. Can look floppy and messy midseason. Good for wet soils, especially rain gardens. Beautiful leaf-blade display of green.

This diminutive groundcover if often overlooked when not in bloom, but performs many important garden functions even then. Its aggressively spreading stolons cover ground quickly even in dry shade, suppressing weeds and playing well with larger plants, Evergreen leaves help to form the “green mulch” which carpets park beds. Violet, and magenta flowers emerge in spring welcoming any early emerging butterflies and moths to drink the nectar in the flowers long throats. We love Phlox stolonifera in combination with Tiarella cordifolia and often use cultivars ‘Blue Ridge’ and ‘Sherwood Purple.’

Big and aggressive. Evergreen (blue). Needs more moisture and shade in summer, when it can look messy.

Even if Fotherguilla gardenii wasn’t one of BBP’s most reliable shrubs for dry shade, we would still plant it extensively due to its beauty. Spring flowers emerge before leaves as white bottle brushes which look best against an evergreen foil. The flowers are a tangle of anthers that ensnare the visiting bees and force them to pollinate before reaching the sweet nectar within. Summer leaves can turn blue-green due to waxes but still pale in comparison to the fall display. A flaming rainbow of different color leaves ignites park beds each autumn. Will spread when happy and requires little care.

Weak wooded and breaks but able to handle damage. Can be rejuvenated by coppicing. Looks awkward for 1/2 a season afterwards, then bounces back. Pollinator magnet with bees and monarchs. Grows in the thinnest soils. Salt and drought tolerant.

Bigger than most fine textured sedges. Can have long flat and messy period mid-season. Medium shade, establishes well.

Colonizer. No Fuss. Smells great. Tends to sucker. May benefit from thinning.

Susceptible to rust. Slow to establish. Will naturalize.

Tiarella is a go-to plant for reliability, beauty and ecological functionality. The lovely white flowers in spring illustrate the common name of “Foam Flower” and attract many generalist as well as specialist bees. The bright green foliage is lovely all year but turns purple in fall, persisting through the winter. This can help with erosion, weed suppression and competition. It does not tolerate dogs or foot traffic well but thrives and spreads in protected locations, even in dry shade.

Large, voluminous sedge. Does best in moist soil and full sun but can tolerate part shade and some drought. Great for rain garden, edges, groundcover. Can outcompete other plants. Good foundation for interplanting forbs. Provides wildlife habitat

A big problem solver. Can handle sun to shade, dogs, and salt. ‘Gro-Low’ is highly utilized along high traffic fence lines and bed edges for the combination of its toughness and manageable size. Plants will interlace with each other to form an indistinguishable mass. Species plants can be used to provide volume and habitat value in dense hedgerows and naturalized areas. Larval host for two species of Hairstreaks. Great fall color. The interesting musky fragrance will stick with you for a while after pruning. Can get eriophyid mites.

Larger sedge for wet areas. Nice form and interesting seed heads.

Very ornamental fern. Needs mesic conditions and protection from foot traffic. Late to emerge.

Can spread undesirably. Best for naturalized plantings. High habitat value.

Seeds in heavily and saplings must be removed if not desired.