Steve’s Recommended Plant List for Henderson County

(non-italicized = native; italicized = non-native)

Local azalea collection

Small trees up to 25′ – 

(deciduous) service berry, hornbeam, redbud, dogwood, fringe tree, Carolina silverbell, hornbeam, Japanese Maple, Paperbark maple, trident maple, Kousa dogwood, smoke tree

(evergreen) red cedar, arborvitae, american holly, Savannah holly, Emily Bruner holly, Nellie R. Steven holly, Prague viburnum, Foster’s holly

Large Trees over 25′ – 

(deciduous) red maple, sugar maple, river birch, yellowwood, beech, cucumber tree, oaks, dawn redwood, lacebark elm, zelkova

(evergreen) spruce, hemlock, fir, pines, Atlantic white cedar, deodar cedar, southern magnolia, cryptomeria

Shrubs under 4′ – 

(deciduous) St. John’s Wort, lowbush blueberry, cranberry, maple leaf viburnum, hydrangea, American Beautyberry, cotoneaster

(evergreen) leucothoe, dwarf yaupon, american boxwood, quince, Japanese holly, deutzia, plum yew

Mid-sized Shrubs over 4′ under 10′- 

(deciduous) sweetshrub, red-twig dogwood, hearts-a-bustin’, fothergilla, hypericum, winterberry, Virginia sweetspire, spicebush, native azaleas, elderberry, highbush blueberry, viburnum, abelia, forsythia, spirea (evergreen) mountain laurel, rhododendron, inkberry, tea olive, camelia

Large shrubs over 10′ –

smooth sumac, arrowwood viburnum, bottlebrush buckeye, witch hazel,

Vines – 

crossvine, trumpet creeper, climbing hydrangea, coral honeysuckle, Virginia creeper, fox grape

Grasses – 

bluestem, broomsedge, river oats, switch grass, pink muhly grass, lovegrass

Groundcovers – 

(deciduous) pussy’s toes, wild ginger, partridge berry, pachysandra, phlox, golden aster, christmas fern, Oconee bells, yellow root; cotoneaster, Lady Banks rose

(evergreen) shore juniper, blue rug juniper

Wildflowers – 

annual wildflower seed mixes from Eden Brothers wildflower mix for the south (on Hwy 191 north of Mills River about 5 miles)

perennials – black-eyed Susan, coneflower, milkweed, asters, false indigo, coreopsis, Joe Pye weed, Carolina Geranium, swamp sunflower, bee balm, Carolina phlox, Cardinal Flower, dutch iris, amaryllis, daylilies, Japanese anemone, spurge

Exotic Invasive plants to avoid – English ivy, vinca, Asiatic jasmine, leriope, Japanese stiltgrass, miscanthus grass, Chinese wisteria, oriental bittersweet