Mel's Soft Landings Plant Kit

Many of you were on our Lunch & Learn this spring where we heard pollinator specialist Heather Holm talking about Soft Landing gardens underneath large trees. This concept follows the rules set down by mother nature to create a layered, natural “safety net” under the tree canopy to enhance the cycle of life for that tree and improve biodiversity for many species of birds, mammals, and insects.

For the first time we are offering a sample soft landing of 18 plants made up of 3 ½ inch pots (much bigger than plugs) 6 different species, 3 of each type. Our friends at Wilder Natives/Judges Farm have been providing these native species to us in gallons, but we thought it might be fun to put together a kit to try out under a tree in your yard. Here is a link to Heather Holmes' information on soft landings and we have also worked with landscape designer Brid Craddock to put together the planting plan for us this fall.

The plant kit includes the following:

Spring Bloom
3 Eastern Red Columbine
3 Jacob's Ladder
3 Purple Meadow Rue

Summer/Fall Bloom
3 Bigleaf Aster
3 Mapleleaf Alumroot (Coral Bells)
3 Zig Zag Goldenrod

Plant Details

Eastern Red Columbine (Aquilegia canadensis)
Dancing Fairies of the garden! Because the hollow petals are so deep, this plant requires long-tongued pollinators: bumblebees and ruby-throated hummingbirds. Columbine is easy to grow. It likes light shade or partial sun, though it may tolerate some full sun. It’s satisfied with moist to dry conditions and loamy, rocky, or slightly sandy soil (not wet). Because its leaves are toxic, you generally don’t need to worry about columbine being nibbled by common mammals, such as rabbits or deer.

Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium reptans)
Jacob's Ladder is a woodland plant, with both excellent foliage and lovely flowers. The delicate compound leaves support a proliferation of small, lavender-blue blooms for several weeks in April or May. The early blooms offer a reliable source of nectar and pollen for some of the season's first pollinators.

Purple Meadow Rue (Thalictrum dasycarpum)
This 6' beauty may be the most graceful plant that you encounter in a medium-wet prairie or savanna. The stems are distinctly purple, thus the name, and strong to hold up to high winds. Purple Meadow Rue politely displays its delicate, yellow, tassle-like flowers in late spring. 

Bigleaf Aster (Eurybia macrophylla; Aster macrophyllus)
Big Leaf Aster is perfect for shady areas with less than perfect soil. The large, heart-shaped basal foliage will easily form a solid ground cover, even in poor soil. Upright stems emerge from the base in late summer.

Mapleleaf Alumroot (Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride')
This is a distinctive coral bell that offers a full season of fuzzy, pale green, lobed leaves, with towering 2’ flower spikes of white-to-blush pink flowers that appear from late summer to hard frost, bringing an air of lightness to the garden. Plants prefer shady spots. They make an excellent ground cover. Mass them in native gardens and mixed borders or on rocky slopes and in open woodlands.

Zig Zag Goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis)
Notable for its brilliant yellow flowers, Zig Zag Goldenrod is a woodland goldenrod with finely-serrated oval leaves and spikes of golden flowers. Named for the way the flowers zig and zag their way up the stem, this is a great plant for adding color to the late-season shade garden. Zig Zag Goldenrod spreads easily to form an attractive patch. All Goldenrods support a host of pollinator and insect activity, and this goldenrod is no exception. A couple of interesting and beautiful moths – the Wavy-Lined Emerald (Synchlora aerata), and Green Leuconycta (Leuconycta diphteroides) – use this goldenrod as a larval host, as do numerous other smaller moths.