Ask Mr. Smarty Plants

We love new gardeners - we feel like we can start them off right. First of all, let us introduce you to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, home of Mr. Smarty Plants, and outstanding proponent of plants native not only to North America but to the area in which those plants are being grown. We have How-To Articles on Using Native Plants and A Guide to Native Plant Gardening. Please read both of them to help you understand the economic and environmental reasons behind the use of native plants. An important point: now is the time for planning your garden, but not for planting. It is simply too hot all over the country right now to even think about planting.

To help you begin your planning, let's talk dirt. Shelby County, in the southwest corner of the state, is in USDA Hardiness Zone 7a. We're guessing you have an acidic clay soil, but a guess is not good enough. Contact the University of Tennessee Extension Office for Shelby County. They can give you information on soils, or will even help you get a soil sample. This is important because you don't want to select plants that need an alkaline soil, if you are planting in acidic soil. If you have a clay soil, you need to be prepared to improve drainage in your planting area before you begin to plant.

Finally, we are ready to help you select plants for your garden. Go to our Native Plants Database, and use the "Combination Search." Select Tennessee, either "herb" (herbaceous blooming plant) or "shrub" under Habit and then check the other characteristics you are concerned with, then click on "Submit combination search." It would help if you watch the area where you are planting for a day and determine exactly how much sun it is getting. "Sun" is 6 hours or more of sun a day, "part shade," 2 to 6 hours and "shade" two hours or less. We should warn you that it is difficult to get much in the way of blooming plants in full shade. We are going to check "part shade" and "shade" and search first on herbaceous blooming plants, checking "perennial" under Duration, and then on shrubs. Here are a few suggestions for you to look at before you make your own search. Follow the italicized link to our webpage on each plant to learn about their growing conditions, the soils they can thrive in, bloom color and time and so forth. 

Herbaceous Blooming Plants for Memphis TN: 207 possibilities

Asarum canadense (Canadian wild ginger)

Coreopsis lanceolata (Lanceleaf coreopsis)

Equisetum arvense (Field horsetail)

Shrubs: 68 possibilities

Cephalanthus occidentalis (Common buttonbush)

Cornus amomum (Silky dogwood)

Hydrangea quercifolia (Oakleaf hydrangea)