Native Plants

Q. Who is Mr. Smarty Plants?

A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.

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Thursday - April 10, 2014

From: Muncy, PA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Plant Lists, Shade Tolerant
Title: Full Shade Plants for Muncy PA
Answered by: Larry Larson

QUESTION:

I need a suggestion for almost full shade plants for central Pennsylvania.

ANSWER:

You have lots of choices! This question is a perfect application for one of the Wildflower Center websites slickest features.

If you look to the left of the webpage, one of the links available is to “Recommended Species”. Within that link, you can choose the different plant lists by state, province, ecoregion or a few other popular choices.

If I choose Pennsylvania, the full list of native plants found in Pennsylvania is presented in this link. But that is not all! On the right side of this webpage there is the capability to reduce the listing by sorting for several key aspects. These include general appearance, light requirement, water requirement, bloom color and height. You can sort that list by any or all of these criteria. Simply choosing “Full Shade” results in the list at this link. There are 68 different species!

Here’s a small selection of the plants native to Pennsylvania that are on this list:

Wildflowers (Herbs): Actaea rubra (Red baneberry), Coreopsis lanceolata (Lanceleaf coreopsis), Phlox divaricata (Wild blue phlox)

Shrubs: Ceanothus americanus (New jersey tea), Gaylussacia baccata (Black huckleberry), Vaccinium angustifolium (Late lowbush blueberry)

Trees: Acer saccharum (Sugar maple), Ilex opaca (American holly), Larix laricina (Tamarack)

This is only a start at the information available in the website and in the various references; If you dig just a little deeper there is a wealth of information available for your consideration. For instance, if you want to REALLY focus down on plants native to Muncy, the USDA link will show whether a plant is native to a county level.