Lately I have been encouraging people to plant mixed hedges instead of mono-crop hedges made up of one type of evergreen. Utilizing a mix of deciduous and evergreen, tree and shrub, grass and perennial plants provides the diversity needed to attract and provide for wildlife. We should all try to utilize mostly native plants in our landscapes when we are able to do so. However, there are some really great non-native garden plants. At a minimum we should avoid invasive plants.

(Mostly) Native Plant List for Henderson County

Small trees up to 25′ – (deciduous)

Native - service berry, hornbeam, redbud, dogwood, fringe tree, Carolina silverbell, hornbeam

Non-native - Japanese Maple, Paperbark maple, trident maple, Kousa dogwood, smoke tree, Japanese Stewartia

(evergreen)

Native - red cedar, western or eastern arborvitae, American holly, Savannah holly, small southern magnolia cultivars

Non-native -  Emily Bruner holly, Nellie R. Steven holly, Prague viburnum, Foster’s holly

Large Trees over 25′ – (deciduous)

Native - red maple, sugar maple, river birch, yellowwood, beech, birch, cucumber tree, oaks

Non-native - dawn redwood, lacebark elm, zelkova

(evergreen)

Native - spruce, hemlock, fir, pines, Atlantic white cedar, arborvitae, red cedar, southern magnolia

Non-native - cryptomeria, oriental arborvitae, cypresses, and pines

Shrubs under 4′

(deciduous)

Native - St. John’s wort, lowbush blueberry, cranberry, maple leaf viburnum, hydrangea, American beautyberry

Non-native - cotoneaster

(evergreen)

Native - dog hobble, American boxwood, dwarf native conifers

Non-native - Japanese holly, deutzia, plum yew, sarcacocca quince

Mid-sized Shrubs over 4′ under 10′

(deciduous)

Native - sweetshrub, red-twig dogwood, hearts-a-bustin’, fothergilla, hypericum, winterberry, Virginia sweetspire, spicebush, native azaleas, elderberry, highbush blueberry, deciduous viburnum, leatherleaf viburnum, spirea

Non-native - abelia, forsythia

(evergreen)

Native - mountain laurel, rhododendron, inkberry

Non-native - tea olive, camelia

Large shrubs over 10′

(deciduous)

Native - smooth sumac, arrowwood viburnum, bottlebrush buckeye, witch hazel. oakleaf hydrangea, ninebark

Non-native -

(evergreen)

Native - rhododendron, mountain laurel

Non-native - Nellie R. Stevens holly, Emily Brunner holly, Dwarf Burford holly

Vines

(deciduous) crossvine, trumpet creeper, climbing hydrangea, coral honeysuckle, Virginia creeper, fox grape

Grasses

bluestem, broomsedge, river oats, switch grass, pink muhly grass, lovegrass (more grasses)

Groundcovers

(deciduous)

Native - pussy’s toes, wild ginger, partridge berry, pachysandra, phlox, golden aster, Christmas fern, Oconee bells, yellow root, green and gold

(evergreen)

Native - shore juniper, blue rug juniper,

Wildflowers

annual wildflower mix for the south from Eden Brothers or American Meadows websites

Perennials

black-eyed Susan, coneflower, milkweed, asters, false indigo, coreopsis, Joe Pye weed, Carolina geranium, swamp sunflower, bee balm, Carolina phlox, Cardinal flower, mountain mint