Wild Senna
Cassia marilandica, Senna marilandica
Topped with dense clusters of yellow pea-like flowers in mid-summer, Wild Senna is low maintenance & deer and rabbit resistance. Although shrubby in habit and therefore also included under "woody" here, it is an herbaceous perennial, sprouting at ground level each spring. Pollinator host plant to Sleepy Orange, Orange-barred Sulfur, Cloudless Sulfur, Silver-spotted Skipper butterflies & the Black Witch moth with wingspan to 7". Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Average Moisture
Height: 3-6 feet
Blooms: July-August
Flowers: Yellow
Spicebush
Lindera benzoin
Larval host plant for the black and iridescent-blue Spicebush Swallowtail. The caterpillars are adorable, curling up in a leaf, with "eyes" to deter predators. Spicebush is a shrub that has highly aromatic foliage when crushed and turns a lovely pale yellow in autumn. Female bushes bear bright red fat-rich berries that are highly prized by birds. Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Part Sun
Soil: Average to Dry
Height: 6 to 12 feet
Golden Saint John's Wort
Hypericum frondosum
Similar to Shrubby St. John's wort with more bluish color to the foliage and fewer, but much larger yellow flowers (to 1.5" wide). Compact, attractive and certainly worthy of a front yard.
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil: Medium
Height: to 4 feet
Blooms: June to July
Ninebark
Physocarpus opulifolius
Clusters of white-pink spirea-like flowers bloom in spring, pink fruit (pictured) and exfoliating bark in fall & winter give this shrub multi-season appeal. Good for erosion control, specimen & hedges. Larval host to many (40) native Lepidoptera.
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil: Average to Dry
Height: 5 to 8 feet
Blooms: May to June
Flowers: White to Pink
Carolina Rose
Rosa carolina
Fragrant pink 2" wide flowers are followed by red hips in late summer. Best used in full sun & massed in a border. May sucker to form colonies. Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Average to Wet
Height: 3 to 6 feet
Blooms: May
Flowers: Pink
Virginia Sweetspire
Itea virginica
Delightful mounding shrub with arching stems that produce drooping fragrant racemes of white flowers. Excellent for rain gardens, border, or adjacent to a pond or stream. Can sucker to form colonies.
Light: Full to Part Sun
Soil: Average to Wet
Height: 3 to 5 feet
Blooms: June-July
Flowers: White
New Jersey Tea
Ceanothus americanus
Shrub with a rounded form, fragrant flowers that attract hummingbirds and yellow-green stems in winter. Deep roots makes this plant drought-tolerant but difficult to transplant.
Light: Full to Part Sun
Soil: Average to Dry
Height: 3 to 4 feet
Blooms: May to July
Flowers: Creamy white
Steeplebush
Spiraea tomentosa
A good choice for a low hedge, in a rain garden or adjacent to a stream or lake. Pretty pink terminal flower spikes bloom in late summer. Trim in winter or early spring as flowers occur on new wood. Spreads by suckers. Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Full sun
Soil: Average to Wet
Height: 2 to 4 feet
Blooms: July to Sept
Flowers: Pink
False Indigo Bush
Amorpha fruticosa
Deciduous shrub with fragrant, deep purple flowers that grows along waterways, in ditches and can be used for erosion control. Interesting in a large pot. Attracts butterflies. Suckers to form thickets.
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Medium to Wet
Height: 4 to 12 feet
Blooms: April to June
Red Chokeberry
Aronia arbutifolia
Large multi-stem shrub with bountiful spring flowering followed by crimson berries that hang on into winter and brilliant red fall foliage. Best flowering in full sun. Excellent for hedges, borders, water's edge, or as a specimen. Suckers. Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Full sun to part shade
Soil: Medium
Height: 6 to 8 feet
Blooms: April
Halberd-leaf Rose Mallow
Hibiscus laevis
Interesting arrowlike leaf shape is distinctive. Large white to pink flowers with marroon eye. Grows in ditches, shorelines and other wet places. Kentucky source.
Light: Full sun
Soil: Medium to Wet
Height: 3 to 6 feet
Blooms: July to September
Coralberry
Symphoricarpos orbiculatus
Shrub with coral-colored berries which attract birds & provide winter interest. Can grow in part shade & provide soil stabilization on slopes. Spreads by root sucker & runners. From Kentucky source seed.
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil: Medium
Height: 2 to 5 feet
Blooms: June to July
Wild Hydrangea
Hydrangea arborescens
Medium sized shrub with clusters of lacy white flowers. Excellent choice for planting in groups along edge habitat in a woodland garden. Also good for rain gardens and along streams. Host to the nifty Hydrangea Sphinx moth with 2" to 3" wingspan. Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Part Sun
Soil: Average to Moist
Height: 3 to 6 feet
Blooms: June-August
Flowers: White
Buttonbush
Cephalanthus occidentalis
Shrub. Showy white flowers borne in spherical clusters draw numerous pollinators. Bees use nectar for making honey, seeds feed wildlife. Great for borders, rain gardens or as a specimen plant, even erosion control. Larval host plant for a number of species of Lepidoptera. Prune to desired shape. Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Full to Part Sun
Soil: Average to Wet
Height: 5 to 12 feet
Blooms: June-September
Flowers: White
Elderberry
Sambucus canadensis
Elderberry is a good choice for use in a hedge row, border or when planted for wildlife. It has fragrant clusters of white flowers and later, loads of purple berries that draw birds in late summer & fall. Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil: Average to Wet
Height: 5 to 12 feet
Blooms: June-July
Flowers: White
Rose Mallow
Hibiscus moscheutos
Although not a woody plant, this plant fills out like a bush & dies back to the ground each winter. Rose Mallow flowers are large, 4" to 6" across and showy. Ideal for a rain garden, hummingbird garden, or grouped along a patio, pond or ditch. Trim to desired height. A larval host plant to the following butterflies: Common Checkered Skipper, Painted Lady, and Gray Hairstreak.
Light: Full Sun
Soil: Average to Wet
Height: 3 to 7 feet
Blooms: July-October
Flowers: White to Pink with Maroon center
Shrubby Saint John's Wort
Hypericum prolificum
Upright shrub tolerant of a wide variety of soil types and good for stabilizing embankments or creating a boundary or hedge. Flowers to 1" in diameter. Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil: Average (but drought-tolerant)
Height: usually 1 to 4 feet
Blooms: June to August
Flowers: Yellow
Witch Hazel
Hamamelis virginiana
Winter interest provided by clusters of flowers appearing very late in the year. Showy & fragrant, these flowers have 4 ribbon-like yellow petals. Excellent for a use in a woodland garden or as a hedge, screen or border.
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil: Average
Height: 15 to 20 feet
Blooms: October to December
Flowers: Yellow
American Spikenard
Aralia racemosa
Although an herbaceous perennial, the growing season form would pass as a shrub at 3 to 5 feet tall and mounding. Excellent as a specimen with interesting flowers in summer and berries for birds in fall. Best placed in intermediate light, away from strong winds. Rhizomatous.
Light: Full sun to Part Shade
Soil Moisture: Medium
Height: 3 to 5 feet
Blooms: June to August
American Snowbell
Styrax americanus
Known for it's showy pendulous white flowers with reflexed petals. Grows in medium soil and wet areas. Trim to shape like a small tree or shrub. Host plant for the Promethea moth. Grown from Kentucky-source seed.
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil: Medium to Wet
Height: 6 to 10 feet
Blooms: April to May
Swamp Loosestrife
Decodon verticillatus
Swamp loosestrife is a Kentucky native subshrub with a woody base that can rapidly colonize muddy banks of slow-moving waters. It can root where the arcing tip touches the water. Showy bright pink flowers & very attractive red color to lower leaves. Good for large landscapes and soil stabilization. (Not to be confused with the invasive nonnative Purple loosestrife.)
Light: Full Sun to Part Shade
Soil: Wet
Height: 6 to 8 feet
Blooms: July to August
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