Decatur Garden tour highlights native plants project

A few weeks ago I received an e-mail from Allison Dixon about the upcoming 20th annual Decatur Garden Tour on Sept. 27 and 28 (for more information visit www.decaturgardentour.com ). She suggested that I might enjoy seeing Pandra and Michael Williams’ garden. When I drove up the first thing I noticed was the mass of yellow Stone Mountain daisies, Helianthus porteri, in bloom in their charming front yard. But what really grabbed my attention was all the activity in the lot next to their house.

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Erica Glasener

For sun or semi-shade, consider the semi-evergreen mint shrub, Clinopodium georgianum

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Erica Glasener

The native hardy ginger Asarum arifolium with arrow-shaped leaves speckled silver over green and bronze, is perfect for the woodland garden.

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Erica Glasener

Pandra Williams’s sculpture is nestled among Helianthus porteri, yellow Stone Mountain daisies.

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Pandra and her associate Connie Gray were in the midst of planting a garden devoted to native plants. Pandra is an environmentalist and artist whose work is inspired by the natural world, and Connie has a background in landscape architecture and native plants. Recently, they formed a company called EcoAddendum (www.ecoaddendum.org) with a mission to “blend ecology, horticulture, design and forest management to create or restore sustainable and biodiverse landscapes.” They believe strongly in using local native plants wherever possible in all types of gardens and landscapes.

As Pandra and Connie began describing the garden they are installing (Pandra said that they tore down the dilapidated house that once stood there so they could garden on the entire lot), I was impressed with the scope of their project. This brand new garden, which will debut on the tour, will provide examples of various local plant communities so that gardeners can see what types of plants grow in particular areas such as prairies and native grasslands where you find Little Blue Stem, Schizachyrium scoparium, one of Connie’s favorite native grasses. A pond lined with rocks will rely on captured rainwater from the downspouts of Pandra and Michael’s house. There will be examples of plants that grow in and along the edges of a pond, in wetlands, in dry woodlands, in shaded moist woodlands, and a small area where plants that like a high pH ( 6 or 6.5) grow like our native pachysandra, Pachysandra procumbens, the Paw Paw, Asimina triloba, or Wood Poppy, Stylophorum diphyllum.

Connie is quick to point out though that just because a plant is native does not mean it’s “low maintenance.” With this garden they want to illustrate the importance of the “right plant for the right place.” One of the challenges they face is finding commercial sources for many of these natives. When possible they acquire seed and plants through plant rescue programs. ( To find out about additional sources for plants visit their Web site. )

Garden tour participants will have the opportunity to purchase some of these choice plants, as well as a very limited amount of seed of the Stone Mountain daisy.

To help gardeners who are interested in native plants get started, I asked Pandra and Connie to recommend some of their favorite natives for sun and for shade. Although I am familiar with a range of native plants from the Piedmont region of Georgia, there are many that I don’t know. Two that I was happy to be introduced to are: Viburnum rufidulum, Rusty Blackhaw, with glossy green foliage that turns scarlet and orange in autumn, and a good choice for part-shade; and the native hardy ginger Asarum arifolium with arrow shaped leaves that are speckled silver over green and bronze. It’s perfect for the woodland garden.

For sun or semi-shade, I was enchanted with the semi-evergreen mint shrub, Clinopodium georgianum.

Below is a list of a few natives to consider using in your garden.

SUN

•Amorpha fruiticosa - Indigo bush Amorpha

•Aronia arbutifolia - Chokeberry

•Ceanothus americanus - New Jersey Tea

•Chioanthus virginicus - Fringe Tree

•Panicum virgatum- Switch Grass

•Symphyotrichum georgianum - Georgia Aster

SHADE

•Athyrium asplenioides - Southern lady Fern

•Calycanthus floridus - Sweet Shrub

•Cephalanthus occidentalis - Buttonbush

•Lobelia cardinalis - Cardinal Flower

•Viburnum acerifolium - Maple Leaf Viburnum

•Xanthorhiza simplicissima – Yellowroot

Erica Glasener is a horticulturist and host of HGTV’s “A Gardener’s Diary” at 7 a.m. Thursdays.