Crossvine
Bignonia capreolata
Year-round foliage for privacy and shelter when the rest of the garden sleeps, good through zone 9 and spreading 6–10 ft.
- Full–part sun
- Dry–average
- 25–50 ft
- Blooms Apr–May
Native shrubs, groundcovers, and ferns that hold their leaves through winter for year-round green, screening, and cover. Alabama sits in a landscape of Gulf Coastal Plain & Cumberland Plateau, and the natives that thrive here are the ones built for its hot, humid subtropical character. The list below — led by Crossvine and Foamflower — is filtered to species genuinely native to Alabama and the wider flora of the Southeast and hardy through zones 7–9. Evergreen natives carry the garden through the bare months, giving structure, privacy, and winter shelter for birds when the deciduous plants have dropped their leaves. Site broadleaf evergreens out of harsh winter wind and afternoon sun to prevent leaf scorch, and water them deeply going into a dry fall so they enter winter fully charged.
Each one native to your region and hardy in zones 7–9 · see this collection in other states.
Bignonia capreolata
Year-round foliage for privacy and shelter when the rest of the garden sleeps, good through zone 9 and spreading 6–10 ft.
Tiarella cordifolia
Doesn't drop its leaves — winter green, cover for birds, and structure, foamy white flowers and hardy in zones 3–8.
Phlox subulata
Keeps its foliage all winter for cover when the deciduous plants are bare, 4–8 in tall and for sand, rocky, and loam ground.
Ilex glabra
Carries the planting through winter with leaves intact, reaching 4–8 ft and inconspicuous flowers.
Polystichum acrostichoides
Year-round foliage for privacy and shelter when the rest of the garden sleeps, hardy in zones 3–9 and happy in rocky and loam soil.
Seed packets, plugs, and starter plants for many of these species ship to your door.
Browse on AmazonSome links here are affiliate links — we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. The surest source of locally-adapted stock is a native-plant nursery or a native plant society sale in your area.