Gillette's Habitat Garden123 sq ft · morning sun, dappled to full shade by afternoon · 12-18 in dry eave strip, moister drip line · Mesic Mixed Hardwood (CEGL006047)
The narrow link between the back beds and Bed 2, converting from inherited ornamentals to a native woodland edge. All three peonies came out August 28, 2026, opening three planting spots.
Natives: red columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), wild geranium (Geranium maculatum), woodland stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), wild ginger (Asarum canadense), common blue violet (Viola sororia), hairy alumroot (Heuchera villosa), American alumroot (Heuchera americana), Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides), zigzag goldenrod (Solidago flexicaulis).
Non-natives: August lily (Hosta plantaginea), a variegated June-July hosta, old-fashioned bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis, summer-dormant by September; replacement planned), lungwort (Pulmonaria officinalis), lungwort 'Twinkle Toes' (Pulmonaria, planted September 19), Lenten rose (Helleborus x hybridus), bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla), sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), and a repeat-blooming shrub rose (Rosa sp., origin unknown).
2026: Zigzag goldenrod, tucked into a drip-line gap, bloomed August 29 and is now the bed's late-season anchor. Lungwort performed well, so it's being massed for March and April.
Next: the three peony spots were assigned September 6. Eastern bee balm (Monarda bradburiana, US native, not Ohio) goes in the brightest wall spot for the June gap, hoary skullcap (Scutellaria incana) in the second wall spot for July through September, and a second lungwort in the fence corner, which went in September 19 as 'Twinkle Toes'. Fringed bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia) is still on the list. The rose stays as is. Bigleaf hydrangea, old-fashioned bleeding heart and sweet woodruff are slated to go.