Beauty Beneath Black Walnut Trees

Though prized for their valuable lumber, black walnuts are a curse for many home gardeners. Every part of this tree contains juglone, a substance toxic to many plants.

Try growing juglone resistant plants if this is your gardening challenge.

Many of our native woodland wildflower like Jack-in-the pulpit, trillium, and Mayapple will grow under this tree.

Ferns are also a good choice. Their soft texture is a nice addition to the shade garden.

Spiderwort is another shade tolerant perennial and sports white, blue, purple, or pink flowers from spring to mid summer.

The cranesbill geranium has interesting foliage, good fall color and is covered with white, pink, or purple flowers in late spring through early summer.

Both the spring blooming woodland and summer flowering garden phlox tolerate the juglone.

The various sizes and shapes of bellflowers make this perennial suitable for many gardens.

A bit more information: Avoid growing asparagus, tomatoes, peppers, rhubarb, petunias, baptisia, columbine, peonies, blackberries, hydrangeas, lilac, potentilla, red chokeberry, and rhododendron near black walnut trees.