Plant List

The Dennison Garden contains approximately 70 species of native plants. Below you will find a link to a listing of each tree, shrub, fern, grass, grass cover and perennial along with an associated photograph for quick identification.

Shaded Woodland Edge

Shady yard? Native woodland shrubs, wildflowers and ferns thrive in the shade, providing color, texture and wildlife food and habitat.

Lose the lawn! One sixth of Maryland is covered in turf, which requires frequent mowing and leaf clearance. Gas-powered landscaping equipment is 5 to 15 times more pollutive than passenger cards. Lawns are often treated with chemicals that was into streams, and turf doesn't absorb much storm water. It also doesn't tolerate much shade. Consider replacing your lawn with native alternatives, such as sedges.

Formal Patio Garden

Impermeable surfaces in a typical suburban home - roofs, driveways, and patios - generate 2,000 gallons of runoff from a one-inch storm. Permeable patios with unmortared joints that drain into a gravel-filled pit, allow water to seek back into the ground. This reduces run-off into our streams and replenishes the water table. Driveways and walkways can also be made permeable.

Sunlit Pollinator Habitat

Angiosperms - grasses, perennials, shrubs, and most trees - are the chief food source for birds, mammals, and humans. They also provide most of our medicine, fabrics, and timber.

Ninety percent of angiosperms are pollinated by insects, and our insect populations have fallen by almost half, and one-quarter of bumblebee species are close to extinction. We also have 1.5 Billion few birds than we had 40 years ago!

Sloped Stream Bank

Hard surfaces worsen stormwater runoff, stream bank erosion, and water pollution. Ninety percent of our drinking water comes from the Potomac. Imagine drinking all the pollutants that wash off our roads and chemically treated lawns!

Slow it down, spread it out, and sink it in:

Prevent slope erosion with micro-berms, check dams, stone-lined creek beds, and a dense ground layer
Plants filter pollutants and deep-rooted plants, such as many native kinds of grass, hold soil and improve infiltration
Plants that evolved along riverbanks tolerate both flooding and drought, so they can handle the weather extremes brought about by climate change