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A diverse native meadow designed for part-shade sites, especially savannas, open woodlands, woodland edges, partially shaded yards and landscapes with scattered mature trees.
Shadows & Sunbeams is generally best suited to about 30–50% shade, but can often perform well with up to approximately 60% shade. Most of the species also tolerate full sun, although Shadows & Sunbeams is not normally our first recommendation for an entirely full-sun site.
Soils: Dry through mesic / average moisture; not intended for wet soils
Light: Part shade, generally 30–60% shade; best around 30–50% shade
Typical appearance: Generally around waist high, depending on growing conditions
Bloom season: Spring through fall
Winter interest: Native grasses provide structure, seasonal color and attractive seed heads after the growing season
Diversity: 20+ wildflower species when wildflowers are included, plus 4+ grass species when grasses are included
Shadows & Sunbeams is designed to establish a full stand. Choose the size of your planting area under Coverage and your wildflower-to-grass ratio under Mix Balance.
If you’re purchasing for cost-share programs, visit our Cost-Share Shop.
Price range: $29.00 through $4,451.00
Choose how much emphasis you would like to place on wildflowers or grasses. The Wildflower Dominant, Balanced and Grass Dominant options are all appropriate choices. The best option depends on the appearance, habitat and budget you have in mind.
A flower-heavy planting with enough native grass to add structure, enhance wildlife and pollinator habitat, provide winter interest and help reduce weed pressure.
An even combination of wildflowers and grasses for a planting with a strong mix of seasonal color, structure, habitat value and winter interest.
A grass-heavy planting with a substantial wildflower component for seasonal color, pollinator value and diversity. This option may also be a good choice when erosion control or budget is a major concern.
The full Shadows & Sunbeams Wildflower Component without the Companion Grass Mix for Part Shade. This option is especially useful when you want to overseed wildflowers into an established native grass planting or strengthen the wildflower component of an existing planting.
You can also order Only Wildflowers for an all-wildflower seeding if that is specifically what you want. However, we generally do not recommend an all-wildflower seeding for a new stand-alone planting. Including native grasses usually provides better structure, stronger competition with weeds, additional habitat value and more winter interest.
The full Companion Grass Mix for Part Shade without the Shadows & Sunbeams Wildflower Component. Choose this when you specifically want an all-grass seeding, when you want to overseed grasses into an established wildflower-only planting or when you want to strengthen the grass component of an existing native planting.
The percentages above show the estimated percentage of the stand represented by each component – in theory, the percentage of the ground covered by that component as the planting develops. They do not guarantee the exact percentage of mature ground cover. Soil, weather, shade, management and individual species performance will influence how the planting develops over time.
Shadows & Sunbeams is designed for places where shade is a meaningful part of the site.
It is especially well suited to savannas and open woodlands, where scattered trees allow sunlight to move across an understory of grasses and wildflowers. It also works well along woodland edges, beneath scattered mature trees, in partially shaded yards and in other places where the site receives a mixture of sun and shade during the day.
A common situation is a woodland that has been thinned to create or restore a more open savanna-like condition. If undesirable herbaceous vegetation is already present, it should be adequately controlled before planting. In other situations – especially where a dense tree canopy previously excluded most ground vegetation – there may be very little existing herbaceous growth to control.
Shadows & Sunbeams is designed for dry through mesic soils. It can handle sites ranging from somewhat dry ground to ordinary average-moisture or “good” soil, but it is not our choice for genuinely wet soils.
If the site is both partly shaded and genuinely wet, Wet Meadow is generally the better starting point because the wet soil becomes the more important limitation.
Shadows & Sunbeams is generally designed for approximately 30–60% shade.
Conditions around 30–50% shade are especially well suited to the mix. It can often perform acceptably as shade approaches 60%, but performance becomes less predictable as the canopy becomes heavier and less light reaches the ground.
Most of the species included in Shadows & Sunbeams can also tolerate full sun. However, if the entire site is essentially full sun, we would normally choose another meadow mix based on soil moisture rather than choosing Shadows & Sunbeams simply because it can survive there.
For full-sun dry or droughty ground, Dry ’n Rocky Meadow is usually the better choice. For full-sun mesic or average-moisture ground, Prairie Patchwork Meadow is usually the better choice.
Many properties contain more than one light or soil condition. You do not have to force one mix across the entire planting area.
A site with scattered trees may use Shadows & Sunbeams beneath and around the trees, then transition into Prairie Patchwork Meadow or Dry ’n Rocky Meadow as the planting moves into fuller sun. This approach allows the plant community to change with the site rather than asking one mix to perform equally well everywhere.
Shadows & Sunbeams was designed first to create a beautiful native meadow where sunlight and shade mingle.
Its aesthetic design is based primarily on:
Actual height will vary with rainfall, fertility, soil moisture, shade and individual species. Some plants may grow above waist height, but the planting as a whole is intended to feel like a manageable meadow rather than a wall of tall vegetation.
The appearance changes throughout the year. Spring flowers give way to different summer blooms, followed by another palette in late summer and fall. There may be natural pauses between peak bloom periods, just as there are in native plant communities, but the goal is changing seasonal color rather than one short flush of flowers.
After flowering has finished, the grasses continue contributing to the landscape. Dormant grasses add structure and winter color, and some carry attractive seed heads well after the growing season has ended.
Although Shadows & Sunbeams was designed around landscaping and aesthetics, its diversity also makes it useful for pollinators, wildlife, restoration and erosion control.
Its connection to savannas and open woodlands is especially important. These landscapes historically combined scattered tree canopy with a diverse herbaceous layer of grasses and wildflowers. Shadows & Sunbeams is designed to help recreate that type of understory where site conditions are appropriate.
The same flowers that provide color can provide nectar and pollen for bees, butterflies and other insects. Seeds, insects and vegetation provide food and habitat for wildlife. Deep-rooted perennial plants occupy the soil and provide lasting vegetation.
When erosion control is especially important, we generally recommend choosing either the Balanced or Grass Dominant version.
Shadows & Sunbeams is not normally a forage mix. It may occasionally have a place within livestock pasture, particularly in a savanna or silvopasture setting, but it was not designed primarily around grazing suitability. If forage production is the primary goal, an HNO forage recommendation will usually be more appropriate.
Shadows & Sunbeams is built around a full stand of perennial native plants, with annuals and biennials added for extra color and seasonal interest while the perennial community develops.
Annual and biennial species may bloom during the first or second growing season, while many of the longer-lived perennial species take more time to establish. Over time, the perennials become the long-term foundation of the meadow, allowing the planting to persist, reproduce and continue functioning for many years.
Shadows & Sunbeams is not simply a few shade-tolerant species planted together.
When wildflowers are included, the Wildflower Component contains at least 20 species of native wildflowers. When grasses are included, the Companion Grass Mix for Part Shade contains at least four native grass species.
We intentionally combine plants with different sizes, rooting patterns, growing seasons, bloom periods and growth habits. Different species also respond differently to the shifting pattern of sunlight and shade beneath trees.
We design this mix at a full seeding rate. Our goal is for the desirable native plants to eventually occupy the available growing space rather than intentionally leaving large openings between plants.
Some seedings are intentionally designed at partial rates so volunteer annual plants such as Ragweed, Foxtail and other annual vegetation have room to establish. That can serve certain specialized habitat or management goals, but it is not how we generally design HNO mixes, including our wildlife plantings. Most customers would rather have the species they planted filling the site than large openings occupied by volunteer weeds.
With this mix, we are aiming for a dense native plant community. If establishment goes well, as the planting matures – often around the third growing season and beyond – the desirable native plants should increasingly grow shoulder to shoulder. Fewer open spaces means fewer opportunities for unwanted annual weeds and invasive plants to establish.
A full seeding rate does not mean the planting will be weed-free. The existing soil seed bank will usually contain plenty of weed seed, and annual weeds can be especially noticeable during the first year while the slower native seedlings are establishing. The goal is that, over time, the desirable native plants occupy more of the available growing space and provide stronger competition.
The result is a planting designed as a plant community, not just a collection of seed.
The exact species and proportions in Shadows & Sunbeams may change from batch to batch depending on seed availability, seed source, crop conditions and the seed lots available when a batch is made.
Rather than defining Shadows & Sunbeams by one permanent recipe, we build each batch to meet the same overall design goals: a diverse collection of native species adapted to dry-to-mesic part-shade conditions, with seasonal interest and a strong perennial foundation.
Species commonly used in the Shadows & Sunbeams Wildflower Component include: Smooth Blue Aster, White Beardtongue, Common Black-Eyed Susan, Brown-Eyed Susan, Gray-Headed Coneflower, Pale Purple Coneflower, Purple Coneflower, Plains Coreopsis, Tickseed Coreopsis, Gray Goldenrod, Rigid Goldenrod, Showy Goldenrod, Leadplant, Slender Lespedeza, Ohio Mint, Hairy Mountain Mint, Partridge Pea, Purple Prairie Clover, Wild Quinine, Rattlesnake Master, Sampson’s Snakeroot, Sensitive Brier, Ox-Eye Sunflower and Yellow Wingstem.
The Companion Grass Mix for Part Shade commonly includes: Bottlebrush Grass, Broomsedge, Deertongue Panic Grass, Purple Top, River Oats, Early Wild Rye, Southeast Wild Rye and Virginia Wild Rye.
Exact contents vary by batch. The seed tag supplied with your order lists the actual species in the mix you receive.
If the inclusion – or exclusion – of a particular species is important to your project, contact HNO before ordering and we can tell you what is in the current batch.
Shadows & Sunbeams is your base mix – a complete planting designed for the site conditions described above. Enhancements allow you to add extra emphasis to additional goals without having to design a custom mix from scratch.
Choose your base mix for your site conditions, then choose enhancements for the additional goals that matter to you. Enhancements are selected for those goals rather than for a particular soil type.
You may select more than one enhancement.
Adds wildflowers selected especially for their value to butterflies, native bees, hummingbirds and other pollinators. Some species may grow taller than the typical Shadows & Sunbeams meadow.
Adds species selected for their value to birds through seed, insects, habitat structure or other wildlife benefits. Some species may grow taller than the typical Shadows & Sunbeams meadow.
Adds flowering species selected especially for their attractiveness and usefulness to honey bees. Some species may grow taller than the typical Shadows & Sunbeams meadow.
Adds native plants with known edible uses, including species with traditional food uses and plants featured in HNO’s edible native plant resources and recipes. Some species may grow taller than the typical Shadows & Sunbeams meadow.
Adds desirable native species selected for strong competition in established native plantings where weed pressure is a concern. Some species may grow taller than the typical Shadows & Sunbeams meadow.
The Weed Competition Enhancement is intended to strengthen desirable native plant competition. It is not a substitute for appropriate weed management.
Some enhancements consist primarily or entirely of wildflowers. If you select Only Grasses as your base mix and then add a wildflower enhancement, your finished planting will contain the grasses plus the wildflower species included in that enhancement.
A native wildflower meadow develops differently than an annual flower garden.
Year 1: Much of the activity is happening close to the ground and below it. Annuals or biennials may provide some early flowers, but many perennial native plants are still putting energy into roots and establishment. Also, during this first growing season, if annual weeds are severe competition with the young seedlings, mowing high can be a helpful weed control tool; to learn more about it, check out our First-Year Mowing Guide.
Year 2: You should be able to see the perennial plants more clearly, especially if you know what to look for. There may still be annual and biennial blooms, depending on how those species develop and the conditions during the first two growing seasons.
Year 3 and beyond: Perennial blooms often begin to appear around the third year, although this is not guaranteed. Establishment depends on weather, weed pressure, soil conditions, management and other factors. As the perennial plants mature, they increasingly form the long-term character of the meadow. After this third growing season, you can also begin to use controlled burns to manage and invigorate the native plants.
A first-year native planting can look surprisingly weedy while the slower-growing native seedlings establish. Don’t judge the long-term success of the meadow by whether it looks like a mature wildflower planting during its first summer.
Good establishment starts before the seed is planted.
The basic goals are a clean, firm seedbed and good seed-to-soil contact. Existing undesirable vegetation should be adequately controlled before the native seedlings emerge.
On woodland or savanna restoration sites, however, look at what is actually present before assuming herbicide or other vegetation control is necessary. Where a formerly dense canopy has recently been thinned, there may be very little existing herbaceous vegetation beneath the trees.
It is also important that the seed reaches the soil rather than getting caught in dead plant material, tree leaves or other surface debris. This can be particularly important beneath trees where fallen leaves may cover the soil.
Native wildflower and grass seed should be planted shallowly. The goal is seed-to-soil contact – not burying the seed deeply. In most situations, seed should be no deeper than approximately 1/8 to 1/4 inch, and some seed remaining visible on the soil surface is perfectly acceptable.
Winter is generally the preferred time to plant Shadows & Sunbeams. Many of the wildflowers and some of the grasses require a period of cold, moist conditions to break seed dormancy. Planting during winter allows the weather to provide this cold-moist stratification naturally.
Cold-moist stratification can also be done artificially in a refrigerator. See HNO’s Cold Moist Stratification Guide for instructions. Shadows & Sunbeams can be planted in spring without artificial stratification, but lower germination – especially among the wildflowers – should be expected.
Shadows & Sunbeams may be broadcast by hand or planted with a drill or broadcast equipment capable of handling fluffy native seeds, depending on the size and condition of the site. In thinned woodland or savanna settings, stumps, standing trees, steep ground or scattered woody material may make hand seeding, aerial seeding or other broadcast methods more practical than conventional field equipment.
For detailed instructions, use HNO’s Establishment Timelines, Seedbed Preparation Guides and Seeding Method Guides to develop a plan for your particular site. Our New Dirt Work Establishment Plan also includes guidance for establishing native vegetation where topsoil has been removed or soil conditions have been substantially altered.
Shadows & Sunbeams is intended primarily for the tallgrass prairie region and the tallgrass savannas and woodlands of the East.
It is generally appropriate across much of the central and eastern United States, from the central Great Plains eastward and from the upper Midwest south toward the Gulf Coast, where local soil, rainfall and climate are reasonably similar to the conditions described for this mix.
It is not intended as a shortgrass-prairie mix for the dry Great Plains farther west, and it should not be treated as a Florida-specific mix. If you are outside the general region described above, contact us before ordering. We may be able to recommend Shadows & Sunbeams, suggest another mix or help you find a regionally appropriate option.
For Shadows & Sunbeams, think generally 30–60% shade. Sites around 30–50% shade are especially well suited to the mix. As shade approaches 60%, the mix may still perform well, but establishment and flowering become less predictable as available sunlight decreases.
Yes. Most of the species in Shadows & Sunbeams tolerate full sun. However, if your entire site is essentially full sun, this is usually not our first recommendation. We would normally choose Dry ’n Rocky Meadow, Prairie Patchwork Meadow or Wet Meadow according to the site’s soil moisture. Shadows & Sunbeams is designed for places where shade is a meaningful feature.
It is an excellent meadow choice for savannas and open woodlands. Large, scattered trees with a native grass-and-wildflower understory are characteristic of savanna conditions. Shadows & Sunbeams is designed for the mixture of sunlight and shade found in those environments.
Yes. Where trees have been thinned to open the canopy and create more savanna-like conditions, Shadows & Sunbeams can be a good way to establish the herbaceous layer beneath and between the remaining trees. Whether existing vegetation needs to be controlled depends on what is already growing there. Some heavily shaded sites have very little herbaceous vegetation once the trees are thinned, while others contain undesirable vegetation that should be controlled before planting.
Use the site changes to your advantage. Plant Shadows & Sunbeams where the trees create meaningful shade, then transition into another meadow mix where the site opens up. For example, you might use Prairie Patchwork Meadow in sunny mesic ground or Dry ’n Rocky Meadow in sunny dry ground.
Choose Wet Meadow if the ground is genuinely wet. Wet soil is a stronger limitation than moderate shade, and Wet Meadow itself tolerates substantial part shade.
Yes. It is designed for dry through mesic soils. Unlike Wet Meadow, it does not require consistently moist or wet ground.
Think generally around waist high, rather than lawn height or a wall of very tall vegetation. Actual height depends on species, sunlight, soil moisture, fertility, rainfall and other growing conditions. Enhancements may also introduce species that grow taller than the typical meadow.
The goal is changing bloom from spring through fall, not an identical amount of color every week. Different species take turns flowering, creating a changing seasonal palette with occasional natural lulls between peak bloom periods.
Yes. The mix contains a diverse group of flowering native plants that provide nectar, pollen and habitat for many insects. Customers who want to place even more emphasis on pollinators can add the Pollinator Enhancement.
Yes. Native wildflowers, grasses and the insects associated with them provide food, cover and habitat for many kinds of wildlife.
Choose the option that best matches the planting you have in mind. If you primarily want flowers, choose Wildflower Dominant. If you want a grassier savanna or woodland-understory appearance with wildflowers mixed through it, choose Grass Dominant. If you want a strong representation of both, choose Balanced. The wildflower component is more expensive than the grass component, so if budget is a concern, you may also want to choose a version with less wildflower seed.
Grasses occupy spaces between wildflowers, add structure, enhance wildlife and pollinator habitat, provide fall and winter interest, help reduce weed pressure and provide fuel if prescribed fire eventually becomes part of the management plan.
Yes. Choose Only Wildflowers under Mix Balance. This option is especially useful for overseeding wildflowers into an established native grass planting, strengthening the wildflower component of an existing planting or creating an all-wildflower seeding. An all-wildflower seeding is generally not our recommended choice for a new stand-alone planting because grasses provide important structure, habitat, winter interest and competition with weeds.
Yes. Choose Only Grasses. This option is useful for an all-grass seeding, overseeding grasses into an established wildflower-only planting or strengthening the grass component of an existing native planting.
Yes. You may combine multiple enhancements if several goals are important to you.
The species listed on this page are examples of plants commonly included in Shadows & Sunbeams. Exact contents can change between batches. The seed tag supplied with your order identifies the actual contents of the batch you receive. If a particular species is especially important – or if there is a species you do not want – contact us before ordering to ask about the current batch.
Choose the Coverage that fits your project and use Quantity for multiples. For example, a 2,000 sq ft project can be ordered by selecting 1,000 sq ft and a quantity of 2. If you’re not sure how many square feet or acres you have – especially with an irregularly shaped planting area – contact us and we can help estimate the area and determine how much seed you need. Planning a larger project? Contact us before ordering. Larger quantities may qualify for additional quantity discounts.
Choosing native seed is easier when you match the plants to the site.
If you’re not sure whether Shadows & Sunbeams fits your amount of shade and soil moisture, whether another meadow would be a better fit, which Mix Balance to choose or which enhancements make sense for your goals, contact Hamilton Native Outpost. We are happy to help you think through the planting.
| Weight | N/A |
|---|---|
| Light | Full Sun to Part Shade |
| Soils | Dry, Average |
| Height | 8"- 48" |
| Bloom Month | May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct |
| Specialty Uses | Butterfly, Wildlife, Landscaping |
| Planting Season | Dormant, Spring |
Pure Live Seed (PLS) is the portion of good viable seed per pound. It is a measure of the seed that is alive and able to sprout into plants. This product is sold by PLS ounce/pound. To provide one ounce/pound of viable seed, you will receive more than one ounce/pound of product. Read more about PLS here.
