Ray’s Native Plants
Located in Chapel Hill, NC, I focus on growing plants native to North Carolina and the SE USA from seed.
Ray’s Native Plants
Located in Chapel Hill, NC, I focus on growing plants native to North Carolina and the SE USA from seed.
Thanks to all my customers August 14th-16th. I sold out of some favorites!
We will be a vendor at the NCNPS 75th anniversary on September 26th in Pittsboro. This is a member only event (you can join and register at https://ncwildflower.org/75th-celebration-registration/)
I will announce my next dates via the email list and Facebook posts. Maybe 9-11 October If you have a specific request we can arrange to sell by appointment.
See my updated inventory at: https://sites.google.com/view/rayshillito/native-plant-inventory
Its Aster Time!
Pollinator Garden Perennials:
New York Aster (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii)
New England Aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
Heart-leaved Aster (Symphyotrichum cordifolium)
Tall Thimbleweed (Anemone virginiana)
Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
Foxglove Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)
Yellow Crownbeard (Verbesina occidentalis)
Green and Gold (Chrysogonum virginianum var. australe)
Yellow Avens (Geum aleppicum)
Scarlet Rose Mallow (Hibiscus coccineus) - 3ft tall!
Hoary vervain (Verbena stricta)
Small numbers left of the following:
Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Ditch Stonecrop (Penthorum sedoides)
Late Figwort (Scrophularia marilandica)
Obedient Plant (Physostegia virginiana)
Blue vervain (Verbena hastata)
White yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Grasses and Sedges:
Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) widely used iconic grass
Splitbeard Bluestem (Andropogon ternarius)
Oval Leaf Sedge (Carex cephalophora) for dry woodlands!
Stout Wood Reed (Cinna arundinacea) for shade - few left
Bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix)
Virginia Wild Rye (Elymus virginicus) - few left
Side-oats Gramma (Bouteloua curtipendula)
Poverty Oat Grass (Danthonia spicata) - low growing grass ground cover
Purple Lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis) - plugs
Coming later - seedlings in the greenhouse!
Two-flowered Cynthia (Krigia biflora)
Pussytoes (Antennaria plantaginifolia)
More Purple Lovegrass (Eragrostis spectabilis)
Various Goldenrods
Bradbury’s Monarda (Monarda bradburiana)
Registered Nursery NC#9371
Sneezeweed, Hibiscus etc in the Pollinator garden
I have lots of grasses like Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) and Splitbeard Bluestem (Andropogon ternarius), Side Oats Gramma (Bouteloua curtipendula), along with several others.
Looking for plants for shady spots? I have Oval Leaf Sedge (Carex cephalophora), Bottlebrush grass (Elymus hystrix). I also have Heart-leaved Aster and Phacelia bipinnatifida.
Scarlet Rose Mallow (Hibiscus coccineus)
Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
New York Aster (Symphyotrichum novi-belgii)
Planting Plants Native to NC provides value to pollinators (like bees, butterflies, flies, dragonflies, native predatory and pollinating wasps, and even midges and beetles), and also to birds and other wildlife. I have seen a range of native bumblebees, carpenter bees, sweat bees, and solitary bees, as well as Monarch and other butterflies on my native plants. Those butterflies need native plants on which to lay eggs that develop into the next generation of butterflies. Leaving the stems in place during the winter provides places for bees and other insects to overwinter.
Having a wide range of native plants in your garden/yard means that pests are less likely to be around. I have had no issue with pests and don't have to use use insecticides at all. There is damage to plants by caterpillars, as that is the purpose of Native plants, but it has never yet reached epidemic proportions. Even if you grow vegetables, having locally adapted plants will encourage pest control and attract pollinators to maximize your yield.
We are located on the East edge of Chapel Hill convenient for Durham, Hillsborough, Pittsboro, Mebane, Burlington, Orange, Alamance and Chatham counties, and the rest of Research Triangle Park (RTP) including Raleigh, Apex and Cary.