Create a woodland rock garden using California native plants

If you're fortunate enough to have a shady area in your yard where moisture can be provided year-round, you've got the makings for a woodland rock garden area.

First, of course, comes the need for rocks. I'll leave you to your own devices to find those, but landscaping supply businesses come to mind. Then you need good humus soil, full of organic matter, rich and moist, on which to build your rock garden.

I have added the botanical names for each plant. They are difficult to read, but necessary for you to find and purchase the correct plants.

There are lots of wonderful native woodland plants available to choose from the Maidenhair, or Five Finger Fern (Adiantum pedatum) being a great beginning. Everyone loves its shiny, deep purple stems (stipes) and lacy green fronds. Its thirsty roots will need moisture year-round. They do go winter dormant … cut off the old fronds to keep them looking tidy. Check the nursery for other ferns, as there are several that will be small enough for a rock garden.

Add some native species of coral bells, also known as alumroot, which are members of the saxifrage family. They'll display pretty flowers hanging bell-like on tall, slender stalks that will bloom from spring through the summer. The easiest are Heuchera maxima and H. micrantha; also H. rubescens.

You can't miss with Western bleedingheart (Dicentra formosa) for its tall pink flowers (careful, it's "invasive"); piggyback plant (Tolmiea menziesii) for its green foliage and spidery purple flowers; wild ginger (Asarum caudatum) for ground cover; brook saxifrage (Boykinia elata) with airy white flowers; sugar scoops or Western foam flower (Tiarella unifoliata); or Douglas or Pacific coast iris.

For spring flowers, our native columbine is a pretty red and yellow bloomer that will nod a nectar-invitation to the hummingbirds. Aquilegia eximia and A. formosa self-seed and are often easily found at nurseries.

We have a native wake-robin, or trillium, Trillium ovatum or californicum, which is a beloved woodland native that blooms early in white, fading to maroon. The rhizomes should be planted where they can be left alone to increase.

Native lilies include Lilium pardalinum or "tiger" or leopard lily. The tiger lily will spread by rhizomes and blooms orange with brown spotting. Grow lilies with ferns, columbines and stream orchids.

Stream or brook orchid, Epipactis gigantea, is an easy orchid to grow, unlike lady or fairy slippers. The leaves are dormant in winter, appearing in spring, followed by the orchid flowers of pink, brownish, green or yellow on 12-inch stalks.

Another woodland plant worth trying is the "inside-out" flower, or Vancouveria planipetala or V. hexandra. The winter-dormant foliage is as bright, delicate and pretty as a maidenhair fern's, its airy white or yellow flowers with turned-back petals appearing from late spring through June.

For a blue-flowering perennial, choose one of our two native lobelias, Lobelia dunnii. If you want a vivid red flower, Lobelia cardinalis will attract hummingbirds. Both are winter dormant.

These are suggestions; there are more available, so check with your favorite nursery. Some may be difficult to find, or may have to be found on the Internet. Also, attend the California Native Plant Society plant sale in October. Have fun!

Take an inspirational walk with Dave Henson, the executive director of the Occidental Arts & Ecology Center. He'll show off the gardens and talk about his vision and efforts for the center. The walk is on July 17 at 10 a.m. The suggested donation is $10.

The center's next plant sale will be in August. The Web site is: oaec.org. Call them at 874-1557, ext. 201, for more information.

There is no general meeting of California Native Plant Society, our local chapter, in July or August.

(Judy Brinkerhoff has been studying native plants for more than 20 years. She is the author of two other Sonoma County gardening columns. E-mail her at joodbrink@com cast.net.)