Native plants for a Cape Cod garden

Yellow fairybells is another interesting native neighbor (meaning it does not occur naturally in Massachusetts – it is found in Appalachia, Arkansas and the province of Ontario). This member of the Lily family displays strongly veined light green leaves – it is somewhat similar to Uvularia grandiflora from afar. The little yellow flowers are beautiful, but like Uvularia sp. the bell shaped flowers are obscured by the leaves. The orange to red berries are much more noticable, but those appear later in the summer. The berries are eaten by birds and small mammals. They can be eaten by people in small quantities. Yellow fairybells does well in moist, acid to neutral soils in shade to partial shade, so it’s a natural for the Cape Cod woodland garden. Over time it will easily establish dense colonies. This is a good companion plant to Phlox divaricata (woodland phlox) and Tiarella cordifolia (foamflower).