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Gardening Information

Below you will find a collection of pdfs and lists containing useful gardening information for native landscaping including seeding, deer resistance and more.
 
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       ​We’ve created this garden planner so you can plan and plant your landscape easily and beautifully. The benefits of             native plants are exponential. Native plants are good for the environment, create habitat for birds, insects and                   mammals, and are of course beautiful to look at. We hope this fun and easy planner simplifies the process of                     planting your landscape. As always, if you have any questions, contact us. We’re here to help. Happy planting!
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  • Native Perennial Flowering Times: We want to extend the beauty of your garden for as much of the year as possible. That's why we've created a bloom chart! Now, you can strategically and easily select plants for your garden so something is in bloom all throughout the spring, summer and fall.
        List of Flowering Times alphabetized by Botanical Name
       List of Flowering Times alphabetized by Common Name
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  • Deer tolerant & favorite native plants: Deer have wonderful appetites and when hungry will eat whatever is available. However, deer display preferences for some species over others. We have separated our plants into three categories: the most palatable plants, plants deer occasionally eat and the plants rarely eat. Please remember some plants will be eaten, even if they are on the list of rarely eaten plants. That means with a lot of deer around and not enough food they will be bold enough to come into the garden and eat these plants first. Deer plant preferences will depend on where you live and how many deer there are. The reverse can be true too. Plants on the list of usually eaten plants may never be used as food on your property if there is plenty of other food available. For example, Amanda's Garden has only lost plants to deer one time over a 20-year period. A block of potted trillium was eaten late in the summer. We do not have problem here because there is plenty of food in this area, although there are a lot of deer, they have never eaten plants around our home. This list was put together from both field experience and research. Deer plant preferences will depend on where you live and the density of deer. If you have had different experiences with deer eating something on the rarely-eaten list, please let us know so we can update our list. Click on the links below to see the lists. Click on the links below to see the lists.
 

 

  • ​Sunny ground covers: Do you have vast lawn areas or areas under newly planted trees and shrubs that you want to plant? When you are just staring a garden or you don't have a lot of trees or your trees and shrubs are small, a sun loving ground cover may be your best option. Ground covers are not only lovely to look at but fill a need by holding soil in place and keeping weeds out. You can use them where you can't or don't want to mow. This would include hills or vast open areas that would be too cumbersome to mow,  and you'll save fuel too. Using a native ground cover provides  more habitat potential than grass or non-native ground covers. What you plant does matter. When planning your bed, remember that planting masses of more than one kind of plant provides more potential habitat than planting a monoculture. Sunny areas are opportunities to provide nectar and pollen for butterflies, bees and other insects. You can also enjoy a very colorful garden.  Below is a list of great sunny ground cover plants. To find out more information about each plant, visit our online store. 

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  • Sunny ground cover plant options:
     

-Creeping Phlox - Phlox subulata

-Creeping Juniper - Juniperus horizontalis 

-Barren Strawberry - Waldsteinia fragarioides

-Bear Berry - Arctostaphylos uva-ursi

-Three-toothed Cinquefoil - Sibbaldiopsis tridentata 

-Canada Anemone - Anemone canadensis

-Zig-Zag Goldenrod - Solidago flexicaulis

-Nodding Wild Onion  - Allium cernuum 

-Bottlebrush Grass - Elymus hystrix  (part-sun)

-Big Bluestem - Andropogon gerardii

-Butterflyweed - Asclepias tuberosa 

-Pennsylvania sedge - Carex pensylvanica

-Little Bluestem - Schizachyrium scoparium 

-Obedient Plant - Physostegia virginiana

-Flowering Raspberry - Rubus odoratus

-Prairie Smoke - Geum triflorum

-Stiff Goldenrod - Oligoneuron rigidum 

 

  • Seed-grown plants: Amanda's Native Garden grows most our plants from seed or spores. What does this mean to you? Plants grown from local seed are adapted to survive in the Northeast. Using seed keeps the local gene pool strong. Individual plants grown from seed each have a slightly different genetic makeup. Cross pollination results in a larger gene pool and gives species the ability to change in response to the environment. In contrast, plants from cuttings or tissue culture use the same set of genes over and over again. If a new disease attacks a particular species and all the plants of that species are from the same parent plant, then they all will be susceptible to infection. If they are grown from seed, then there may be plants that are not susceptible. These plants will survive, passing on their resistant genes to future generations. Using seeds does give you plants with other genetic variations, such as flower color and plant height, but rather than detracting from the beauty of your garden, this adds interest. Sometimes we are surprised by what we get, but that is half the fun. Where do we get our seed? We have two sources from which we harvest seed: stock beds and our eight-acre research woodland. In addition, some seed is given to us by those with an interest in preserving native plant diversity. We also purchase seeds from native plant seed suppliers. Amanda's Native Garden does not sell seed but sometimes we will collect it for our clients. We do have sources of seed that we would be happy to recommend.

 

  • Plants that will grow under black walnut trees: Black Walnuts produce nuts that feed many animals through the winter. However, Black Walnuts and related trees produce the chemical juglone that is toxic to some other plants. Juglone can affect plants growing within the a Black Walnut's root zone, so they weaken and die. There are a variety of plants that will grow under these trees and are not affected by juglone. Amanda's Native Garden has put together a list of native perennials that will grow under Black Walnut trees. After all you rarely see a tree that has nothing growing under it. We hope this list is helpful to you. 

 

 

  • Native perennials that make great cut flowers :  Many of our wonderful native perennials are great cut flowers. Planting them in your garden not only provides pollen and nectar for bees and butterflies, you can also use them as cut flowers to give to friends and neighbors or to spice up your summer parties. You can even save money on wedding flowers.

 

       Donna Barski's true tale of if you plant it or build it they will come. Donna Barski is a  volunteer naturalist with 

       Buffalo Audubon Society.

  

  • Planning Your Garden​ Ideas: Where to start when planing a native perennial garden. Explains how to match plants to your site to make a pallet of plants to choose from.

 

  • How to plant bareroot plants: It's easy, click on the video below to see 2 youngsters plant Jack-in-the-pulpit and swamp saxifrage. 

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Deer Resistant
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