Once again, Ben Skelton, owner of Skelton's Landscaping Service and New Hope Audubon Society Bird-Friendly Habitat Certification team volunteer, created the design for the bird and pollinator-friendly garden, drawing from Audubon North Carolina’s Bird-Friendly Native Plants list.
Thanks to volunteers from Blue Ridge Audubon Society of Asheville and the Western Residence ground crew, 500 individual plants - 30 total species of beautiful native flowers, shrubs, and grasses - were added to the front and back gardens of this idyllic residence!
Take a "live" tour with our Field Organizer Kim Brand here, and see the incredible results that blossomed just a few months later here!
A complete list of the nurseries involved and the plants they provided for the Western Residence is available below.
Consider adding any or all of these species to your own bird-friendly garden!
WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
(For full availability, visit their websites)
Carolina Native Nursery – Burnsville, NC
- New Jersey Tea, Ceanothus americanus
- Green & Gold, Chrysogonum virginianum
- Bee Balm, Monarda didyma ‘Jacob Cline’
- Penstemon digitalis, ‘Husker’s Red’
- Phlox divaricata, ‘Blue Moon’
- Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia fulgida var. fulgida
- Blue-eyed Grass, Sisyrinchium angustifolium
Southeastern Native Plant Nursery – Candler, NC
- Mountain Sweet Pepperbush, Clethra acuminata
- Shrubby St. John’s Wort, Hypericum prolificum
- Spiraea tomentosa
- Blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum (3 different cultivars)
- Mapleleaf Viburnum, Viburnum acerifolium
- Southern Arrowwood Viburnum, Viburnum dentatum ‘Blue Muffin’
Painters Greenhouse – Old Fort, NC
- Butterfly Milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa
- Purple Coneflower, Echinacea purpurea
- Joe Pye-Weed, Eutrochium dubium ‘Little Joe’
- Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis
- Fireworks Goldenrod, Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’
- Aromatic Aster, Symphotrichum oblongifolium ‘October Skies'
Red Root Native Nursery – Barnardsville, NC
- Dwarf Crested Iris, Iris cristata
- White Wood Aster, Eurybia divaricata
PIEDMONT NORTH CAROLINA
(For full availability, visit their websites)
Hoffman Nursery – Rougemont, NC (sells wholesale only; home gardeners may purchase via a landscaping or landscape-design company)
- Seersucker Sedge, Carex plantaginea
- Creek Sedge, Carex amphibola
- Texas Sedge, Carex texensis
- Pink Muhly Grass, Muhlenbergia capillaris
- Shenandoah Switch Grass, Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’
Cure Nursery – Pittsboro, NC
- Swamp Sunflower, Helianthus angustifolius ‘Mellow Yellow’
- Blue Mistflower, Conoclinium coelestinum
Plantworks – Rougemont, NC (sells wholesale only)
- Moss Phlox, Phlox subulata ‘Fort Hill’
- Moss Phlox, Phlox subulata ‘Emerald Blue’
Editors note: This story has been updated to inlude Blue Ridge Audubon's current name. To learn more about the name change, read Audubon's press release.
