Our Soft Landings kit includes a selection of native plants that, when combined with fallen leaves, creates both a beautiful, partly shady garden and ideal habitat for tens of thousands of insects and other critters, including salamanders and box turtles.
Caterpillars pupate and then fall from the trees, expecting to find leaves. Some butterflies also spend the winter as adults in leaf litter, secure in the moist environment, camouflaged from predators.
Without the leaves and plants, many creatures die from exposure and dryness.
The addition of native plants also adds beauty, fragrance and bird life.
For more on Soft Landings, see our blog post here
Images: Columbine, Foamflower, Ginger, Christmas Fern, Blue-stemmed Goldenrod, Virginia Bluebells, Pennsylvania Sedge.
Soft Landings
To prepare for planting, first remove the grass, either by digging it up or covering it with layers of newsprint, arborist mulch or a heavy tarp that will need to be removed.
Often the ground will be ready after one season of smothering.
Our Soft Landings kit includes 10 each of several quart-sized plants ideal for underneath the canopy. These plants also flower at different time of the year, include ferns and grasses and provide a variety of colors.
- Foamflower, Tiarella cordifolia
- Virginia Bluebells, Mertensia virginica
- Columbine, Aquilegia canadensis
- Cream Violet, Viola striata
- Pussytoes, Antennaria plantaginifolia
- Blue-stem Goldenrod, Solidago caesia
- Blue-wood Aster, Symphyotrichum cordifolium
- Little Bluestem, Schizachyrium scoparium
- Christmas Fern, Polystichum acrostichoides
- Pennsylvania Sedge, Carex pensylvanica
Dense planting is important to keep the weeds down. This kit of 100 plants will cover about 100 to 150 square feet initially. From there, you could add additional species or a second kit.
The total cost of this kit includes a 10% discount from purchasing the plants individually.
Happy planting!
