Woodland Edge Garden (9 Plants)

Woodland ground layer · Spring bloom · Fall color

Available June 20 & June 27 · Pickup at the Montclair Farmers Market (Walnut Street Station)

This layered shade planting brings softness, seasonal bloom, and gentle structure to dry shade spaces where gardens can feel sparse or difficult. Anchored by a flowing sedge foundation and dotted with spring wildflowers and fall color, the design creates a calm, cohesive garden that settles naturally into shaded beds and beneath trees.

Like all Hope Grows gardens, this planting was designed for Northern New Jersey landscapes — helping shaded spaces feel connected, intentional, and quietly alive over time.

What's included

• 9 native plants
  • 3 × Heart-leaved Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)
  • 3 × Long-Beaked Sedge (Carex sprengelii)
  • 3 × Green-and-Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum)
• A professionally designed planting layout showing spacing and placement
• A rendered garden image to help you visualize the finished planting
• Individual plant cards with growing conditions and ecological notes

Optional add-on:
A life-size roll-out planting template for step-by-step guidance.

What this garden needs

• Sun: Part shade to full shade
• Soil: Average to moist (adaptable)
• Care: Regular watering during the first growing season to help roots establish

Why we love this garden

• Long-Beaked Sedge forms a soft, flowing foundation that ties the planting together
• Green-and-Gold creates a low ground layer with bright yellow flowers in spring, often reblooming into summer and fall
• Heart-leaved Aster carries the garden into fall with clusters of blue flowers

Why wildlife loves this garden

• Late-season nectar and pollen from Heart-leaved Aster is critical fall food for bees and butterflies
• Heart-leaved Aster hosts the Pearl Crescent butterfly, the Brown-hooded Owlet moth, and attracts 36 species of specialist bees
• Early nectar from Green-and-Gold supports spring pollinators
• Seeds provide food for birds