The Trillium is an icon of Southern Appalachia. A plant of many names (Wakerobin, Toadshade, Wood Lily, and more), Trillium spp. accounts for nearly 50 species in the family Melanthiaceae. As a woodland spring ephemeral, this plant shares some of the first blooms of the year!

The Eastern Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) has a quiet resilience like none other. These gentle giants reside in sheltered cove forests of the Appalachias and promote their local communities through temperature regulation, shelter, and food availability. Read on to learn about the biggest threat to their population.

American Mistletoe (Phoradendrum leucarpum) is a broadleaf evergreen that continues to shine past the holiday season. Often a symbol of love and peace in the human world, this plant serves a much more complicated role in ecology.

Eastern Red Cedar is a confusing name for this species, since it’s a juniper, not a cedar. Juniperus virginiana is native to the eastern half of the United States and southeastern Canada. Many of us have seen this tree around our neighborhoods or along roadsides but may not have paid much attention to it. However, it’s a valuable member of our flora.

Carolina Rose – Rosa Carolina – is a member of the Rose (Rosaceae) family and is a perennial, deciduous, shade-loving flowering shrub that has many 2-3-inch flowers from June through August. Of course, if given full sun, it will produce a myriad of large, pink blossoms. It is native to the eastern and central United States and grows to a height of 3 to 6 feet tall and a diameter of 5 to 10 feet.

Coral Bells – Heuchera americana – A gardener’s workhorse and a centuries-old classic, the Alumroot/Coral Bells are a native genus of wonderfully attractive, clump-forming, herbaceous perennials in the highly diverse Saxifrage family - Saxifragaceae. Generally hardy from USDA zones 4 through 9, some species are adaptable in zones 3 through 11; alumroot/ coral bells are as reliable as they come in the plant world.

Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris) is a perennial native grass that has become a very popular addition to many gardens and landscapes. Its most common name is Muhly Grass. The genus Muhlenbergia is in the grass family, the Poaceae. It is often used as an accent plant in gardens, as filler for disturbed areas, or in large groups for a visually stunning effect. As autumn approaches, Muhly Grass takes center stage when it bursts forth with its wispy purple/pink spikes of flowers.

Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is closely related to Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) – both being in the Cypress family, the Cupressaceae. What’s perhaps most fascinating about Dawn Redwood is its discovery, after a botanist discovered a fossil and thought this tree extinct. Come see our “living fossils!” They’re beautiful at all times of the year, and their buttressed and furrowed trunks are a sight to behold.

The term “native” is frequently used in regard to plants, but what exactly does it mean - and how does it differ from the term “endemic” plant?

Strawberry Bush – Euonymus americanus – is a deciduous, perennial shrub native to the southern and mid-Atlantic US. It grows to a height of 4 to 12 feet with a similar diameter and makes an excellent background or specimen in the landscape.

Sparkleberry (Vaccinium arboreum) is a semi-evergreen large shrub or a small tree that is the tallest of the blueberry Genus and grows in the southern United States. Its bright, glossy leaves will turn red to burgundy in the fall, and many will hold on most of the winter. One of its best characteristics is its exfoliating bark, with rich grey, brown, orange, and red often all present on older plants. In late spring or early summer, plants with decent sun become covered in showy, white, bell-shaped flowers. Its heat and drought tolerance are legendary once it is established, and it is one of the most handsome understory native species we have.