It sounds like you have a very natural setting. Native trees (if you need any accent trees), shrubs and perennials (coneflower, ferns, trilliums, many things) would be "a natural" choice for the bulk of your landscape.

When you are looking for plants that come back after winter, be sure to say you want something that is "hardy". Also, figure out what your hardiness zone is (6a, 6b, 7a, etc.) so that when you buy things you can understand where the zones provided on the tag are right for you.

ngordon,

all you need to suceed is to do some research, and remember, just do a bit at a time, as you can afford it. Don't drive yourself crazy over it! Gardening is supposed to be fun and relaxing.

Check out the Wild Ones: www.for-wild.org
New England Wildflower Society: www.newfs.org
Prairie Moon Nursery: www.prairiemoon.com
Prairie Nursery: www.prairienursery.com
Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center: http://www.wildflower.org/

Also, check your local county extension office..they should be able to point you in the right direction.

Plus, others here will be able to give you good advice on other places you can purchase native woodland/wetland/creekside plants. April

hey thanks for the info and the links. i am going to take lots of time doing this job. i never finish working in the dirt anyway. i love it. so 30 years from now i would still be adding something new. i could never rush in the garden. i enjoy every minute out there. it's my relaxing time.

From my reading of this group, one of the first things people here do with their woodlands is put in paths, so they can walk around and see what's already IN the landscape and enjoy the woodland before changing it. Many people here want to preserve the native plants that exist in their woodlands, or take out the invasive non-natives to encourage the native plants to show themselves.

For the paths, one way to get natural winding paths in the woodland is to enhance the deer paths already there. For the native plants, everyone seems to really encourage identifying what you have before replacing it with something bought. Go get a native plant ID guide and enjoy!

Richard Darke and Ken Druze are good authors to start with.

Take care, lucky woodlandowner!

you mentioned creeks so i would reccomend you do some research on "riparian buffers". key words to use for an internet search, you should find lots of information out there.