Woodland Garden Starter Kit
A simple, no-fuss starter kit for turning a shady patch of lawn, mulched bed, or space beneath trees into a layered native woodland-style garden. This kit combines a soft, fine-textured sedge matrix with spreading woodland groundcovers and spring-blooming flowers, designed to gradually knit together and create that lush, layered woodland-floor look.
Part shade to shade, average to moist soil. Pennsylvania Sedge can also tolerate somewhat drier conditions once established.
What's included (12 quarts):
- Pennsylvania Sedge (Carex pensylvanica) — x3 quarts
- Golden Alexanders (Zizia aurea) — x3 quarts
- Foamflower ‘Running Tapestry’ (Tiarella cordifolia ‘Running Tapestry’) — x3 quarts
- Woodland Phlox ‘Blue Moon’ (Phlox divaricata ‘Blue Moon’) — x3 quarts
Pennsylvania Sedge — A soft, fine-textured native sedge that spreads gradually by rhizomes to create a low, grass-like groundcover. It forms the matrix of the planting — weave it throughout the garden and allow it to fill the spaces between flowering plants over time. Carex species serve as larval hosts for a number of skipper butterfly and moth species.
Golden Alexanders — Cheerful clusters of golden-yellow flowers rise above attractive green foliage in spring into early summer. It adds height and structure while extending the bloom season beyond the earliest woodland flowers. Its broad foliage also helps shade and cover the soil as the planting fills in, leaving fewer open spaces for weeds. Host plant for the Black Swallowtail butterfly -- caterpillars feed on the foliage and flowers.
Foamflower ‘Running Tapestry’ — A low, spreading woodland groundcover with beautifully patterned foliage and airy white flower spikes in spring. It spreads by runners to form a living carpet, making it an excellent groundcover layer that can mingle naturally with the sedge and other woodland plants.
Woodland Phlox ‘Blue Moon’ — Fragrant violet-blue flowers bring a beautiful wash of color to the spring woodland garden. It gradually spreads and mingles among neighboring plants, creating the loose, natural drifts characteristic of a woodland floor. Its blue-violet flowers pair beautifully with the golden-yellow Golden Alexanders and white Foamflower.
Together, these four plants create the beginnings of a living woodland matrix. Let them spread and intermingle, then expand the garden over time with native asters, violets, columbine, spring ephemerals for early-season color, ferns and alumroot for foliage and texture, and other woodland species for additional blooms, structure, and habitat.
The result is a richer, layered tapestry that evolves over time while providing continuous groundcover, seasonal interest, and valuable habitat for pollinators and other wildlife.
