A comprehensive list for dry shade growing conditions. For more information, visit our page on Native Plant for Wildlife.

Groundcovers:

Asarum canadense (wild ginger)
Chrysogonum virginianum (green-and-gold)
Gaultheria procumbens (wintergreen)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Packera aurea (golden ragwort)
Sedum ternatum (wild stonecrop)

Forbs:

Ageratina altissima (white snakeroot)
Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine)
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)
Chrysogonum virginianum (green-and-gold)
Desmodium paniculatum (narrow-leaf tick trefoil)
Dicentra eximia (wild bleeding heart)
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
Helianthus divaricatus (woodland sunflower)
Heuchera americana (alumroot)
Packera aurea (golden ragwort)
Polygonatum biflorum (Solomon's seal)
Pycnanthemum incanum (hoary mountain mint)
Salvia lyrata (lyre-leaf sage)
Micranthes virginiensis (early saxifrage)
Solidago bicolor (white goldenrod)
Solidago caesia (blue-stemmed goldenrod)
Solidago ulmifolia (elm-leaved goldenrod)
Eurybia divaricata (white wood aster)
Symphyotrichum cordifolium (blue wood aster)

Ferns:

Dryopteris intermedia (evergreen wood fern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal wood fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)

Grasses, Sedges and Rushes:

Agrostis perennans (autumn bentgrass)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Chasmanthium latifolium (river oats)
Danthonia spicata (poverty oatgrass)
Dichanthelium commutatum (variable panicgrass)
Elymus hystrix (hystrix patula) (bottlebrush grass)
Elymus virginicus (Virginia wild rye)

Shrubs:

Castanea pumila (Allegheny chinkapin)
Cornus amomum (silky dogwood)
Corylus americana (American hazelnut)
Euonymus americanus (strawberry bush, hearts-a-bustin’)
Euonymus atropurpureus (Eastern wahoo, native burning bush)
Gaultheria procumbens (wintergreen)
Gaylussacia baccata (black huckleberry)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Rhus copallinum (winged sumac)
Vaccinium fuscatum (hairy highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (early lowbush blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaved viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (Southern arrowwood viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (black haw viburnum)

Trees:

Cercis canadensis (redbud)
Cornus alternifolia (alternate-leaf dogwood)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Diospyros virginiana (persimmon)
Quercus falcata (Southern red oak)
Quercus montana (chestnut oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Sassafras albidum

Vines:

Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)

Prepared by Kim Scudera, Audubon at Home Ambassador, with contributions by Amol Kaikini and Betsy Martin. 6 June 2014