Wissahickon Restoration Volunteers
Native Plant Management
The plants chosen for each of our sites vary based on the conditions at the site and the plant availability. We only use native plants that are approved by the Fairmount Park Commission, historically known to occur in the Wissahickon Valley Park. Some of the site-specific considerations that need to be looked at before choosing plants includes: the level of sunlight available, the amount of water available, and the acidity of the soil.
Some of the trees that we use most frequently are: sugar maple, red maple, red oak, white oak, swamp white oak, river birch, sweet birch, redbud, basswood, green ash, hornbeam, American beech, shagbark hickory, American holly, sweetgum, tulip tree, sycamore, chokecherry, black willow, and sassafras.
Some of the shrubs that we use most frequently are: red chokeberry, black chokeberry, winterberry holly, Virginia sweetspire, sweet pepperbush, buttonbush, northern bayberry, witch-hazel, serviceberry, red-osier dogwood, silky dogwood, gray dogwood, spicebush, silky willow, pussy-willow, sandbar willow, bladdernut, low-bush blueberry, southern arrow-wood, nannyberry, and cranberry vibernum.
Some of the flowering perennials and annuals that we use most frequently are: butterflyweed, New England aster, New York aster, joe-pye-weed, boneset, sneezeweed, ox-eye, cardinal flower, great blue lobelia, winged monkey flower, bee-balm, smooth goldenrod, blue vervain, New York ironweed, and golden Alexander.