Native Plant Finder

Annual - herbaceous plants with a life cycle completed in one year or one season.

Biennial - herbaceous plants with a life cycle completed in two years.

Bulb - herbaceous plants with a short underground stem surrounded by fleshy leaves or scales.

Perennial - herbaceous plants with a life cycle of three or more years.

Grass/Sedge - annual or perennial mostly herbaceous plants; grasses with round (in cross-section), jointed stems, narrow leaves, and grain seeds while sedges have triangular (in cross-section), jointless, narrow leaves, and nutlet seeds.

Fern - perennial, herbaceous, non-flowering, seedless plants that reproduce by spores borne on the undersides of fronds (leaves) or on specialized spore-bearing structures.

Shrub - a perennially woody plant usually branching from the base with several main stems; generally less than 15' tall.

Tree - a perennially woody plant usually with a solitary trunk or main stem; generally more than 15' tall.

Vine - a plant which climbs by tendrils or other means, or which trails or creeps along the ground.

Deciduous - plants with leaves that are shed annually or at the end of the current growing season.

Semi-Evergreen - plants that generally tend to be evergreen in mild climates, but shed leaves in colder climates.

Evergreen - plants with foliage that remains green and functional on a consistent basis for more than one year.

This information is based upon the typical blooming period at Mt. Cuba Center.

Early Spring - 3/15-4/15

Mid-Spring - 4/15-5/15

Late Spring - 5/15-6/10

Early Summer - 6/10-7/5

Mid-Summer - 7/5-8/10

Late Summer - 8/10-9/10

Early Fall - 9/10-10/1

Mid-Fall - 10/1-10/30

Late Fall - 10/30-11/10

Winter - 11/10-3/15

Full Sun - 6+ hours of sun/day; sites with sun throughout most or all of the daylight hours.

Filtered Shade - 4-6 hours of sun/day; sites with changing sun and shade conditions, receiving relatively high light intensity that constantly changes from minute to minute during the day.

Partial Shade - 2-4 hours of sun/day, morning or afternoon; sites that generally receive a few hours of sun each day that occurs in the morning or afternoon followed or proceeded by several hours of shade.

Shade - 0-2 hours of sun/day; sites that receive very short periods of sun during the day with most of the day spent in shadows of indirect light.

Dry - soils that are consistently well-drained and dry with very little moisture retention capacity; even after periods of sufficient moisture these soils lose moisture quickly.

Average - soils that contain good porosity with silt and clay to retain adequate moisture for a few days; soils become dry after several days without rainfall.

Moist - soils that remain moist and well-drained for long periods of time but never waterlogged.

Wet - soils that remain very moist to permanently wet with poor drainage except during extended drought.

Soil Ph or soil reaction is a measure of the soil acidity or alkalinity going from pH 0 to pH 14 with pH 7 being the neutral point. Soil pH influences the solubility of nutrients. It also affects the activity of micro-organisms responsible for breaking down organic matter and most chemical transformations in the soil. Soil pH thus affects the availability of many plant nutrients.

Acidic - pH lower than 6.5; soils that are acidic generally have a low availability of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus; the solubility of aluminum, iron, and boron is high and low for molybdenum; the availability of these nutrients affects the plants that can grow in these soils.

Alkaline - pH higher than 7.2; calcium and magnesium are usually abundant; Molybdenum is also available if it is present in the soil minerals; may have an inadequate availability of iron, manganese, copper, zinc, and phosphorus and boron.

Adaptable - pH 6.2 to pH 7.3; soil is generally favorable for most plant growth because most plant nutrients are readily available in this range; favorable for microbial activities that contribute to the availability of nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus in soils.

Sandy - soils with 50 to 75 percent fine sand mixed with silt and some clay; extremely well drained with low nutrition.

Gravelly-Loam - soils with 35 to 50 per cent sand/small gravel and occasional rocks mixed with some organic matter, silt and/or clay; well-drained with poor to modest nutrition.

Loamy - soils with 10 to 25 per cent sand mixed with silt, some clay and limited organic matter; average soils with modest to good nutrition.

Clay - soils with more than 25 per cent clay and significant silt; dense and heavy soils with modest nutrition.

Humus-rich - soils with more than 30 percent organic matter, sometimes mixed with small amounts of sand, silt and/or clay; highly organic soils that are seasonally moist with modest to good nutrition.

Boggy - soils with more than 50 percent organic matter, sometimes mixed with sand, silt or clay; frequently moist to wet with poor nutrition.

Aquatic - soils with more than 50 percent silt and clay, sometimes mixed with sand and organic matter; permanently standing water with poor to modest nutrition.