Canadian wild ginger is a native form of ornamental ginger in the Aristolochiaceae family that spans Canada into the United States.

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It has poor drought tolerance which requires high organic matter soil that maintains constant moisture. This plant prefers light to deep shade, and it is often found on rocky acidic soils. It does tolerate drought once established. It spreads slowly by and can be propagated through its fragrant underground rhizomes or through seeds. The tiny brown-purple flowers are hidden under the leaves and not of ornamental value, but they do attract pollinators with their sweet fragrance. They are also capable of self-pollinating.

 

The handsome foliage and high shade tolerance make it a great choice for a woodland, shade, or rain garden. Plant it as an edging or border plant and will easily naturalize as a deciduous groundcover in your garden. This plant tolerates deer browsing, wet soils, heavy shade, and erosion.
 

More info: https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/ASCA

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**This plant has high severity poison characteristics.

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The Mayapple is a native, herbaceous perennial wildflower that forms dense mats and is usually one of the first plants to emerge in the spring. It only has one to two leaves and one single flower per plant. The leaves are umbrella-like with deeply divided lobes that appear on an erect, elongated unbranched greenish stem.  From April to May, the showy, nodding, apple-blossom-like, white solitary flower appears in the axil of the leaves. The fruit is about the size of a small lemon, fleshy, and ripens to a golden yellow during the summer. The plant is dormant in the summer months, and the foliage disappears. ​

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The Mayapple prefers partial to full shade and grows best in moist, humus-rich, acidic, sandy to loamy soils. It is drought-tolerant in forests only and is deer and rabbit tolerant. The flowers attract pollinators such as bumblebees and other long-tongued bees. The Mayapple colonizes by rhizomes. It may be propagated by division or seeds. The plant is best divided in the fall. The seedlings may take several years to mature.

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More info: https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/POPE

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Clump-forming herbaceous perennial native of Ontario to the east-central and eastern United States.  This plant spreads by underground rhizomes forming erect clumps and grows 1.5 to 3 feet tall and 1 to 1.5 feet wide. It can be found in moist prairies, fertile woodlands, open woods, meadows, hillsides, stony bluffs, stream banks, and roadsides.

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The leaves are arching, long, narrow, up to 1 foot long, 1-inch wide, dark to olive green, and they fold lengthwise and form a groove. The flowers are blue-violet, 3-petaled, 1-2 inches in diameter, and have yellow stamens. In the spring, the flowers begin to bloom and will appear in the morning and last only for a day. New flowers are produced daily in terminal clusters. 

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This long-blooming plant would add interest to a native garden, woodland setting, or shade garden. It may be used in naturalized areas. along a stream or pond, in a rain garden or the border of a pollinator garden.

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More info: https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/TRVI

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