Bloodroot

Canada anemone (Anemone canadensis) is a vigorous, spreading native perennial of moist meadows, streambanks, and ditches across much of northern and central North America, grown for clean white cup-shaped flowers held over deeply cut, sharply toothed foliage in late spring and early summer. Be warned first: it spreads aggressively by underground rhizomes and can become a thug in a normal bed, running well beyond where you plant it and knitting into large colonies. That habit makes it an excellent plant for naturalizing a damp bank or filling a tough, contained spot, and a poor choice for a tidy mixed border where it will overrun quieter neighbors. Each flower carries five showy, petal-like white sepals around a boss of yellow stamens (the true petals are absent) on erect hairy stems to about 12 to 24 inches. It wants medium to wet soil in full sun to part shade and is hardy roughly from USDA zone 3 to 8.

A low, clump-forming native woodland violet of eastern North America, grown for its early spring blue-to-purple flowers with conspicuous white throats held over glossy, heart-shaped leaves. It does not run, but self-seeds freely - to the point of being weedy in rich, moist ground. A larval host for fritillary butterflies and a nectar source for early bees and butterflies; the leaves are high in vitamins A and C.

A native eastern North American semi-evergreen perennial with heart-shaped foliage and frothy white-to-pink spring flower spikes - among the most reliable native shade groundcovers for woodland gardens. Spreads by stolons in some forms; clumping in others (cultivars selected for both habits).

A low North American native prairie perennial whose nodding, reddish-pink to purplish globular flowers in spring are upstaged by what follows: as the seeds form, the styles elongate into upright, feathery gray plumes that collectively read like wisps of smoke - the source of its many regional names (prairie smoke, old man's whiskers, long-plumed purple avens). A soft, hairy plant to about 16 inches with fern-like, pinnately divided leaves; it spreads slowly by rhizomes into a low groundcover and prefers cool-summer climates and dry, well-drained soil.

A low-growing native eastern North American perennial groundcover producing small intensely-flavored red berries in early summer + white five-petaled flowers in spring. The genetic parent (with F. chiloensis) of the modern cultivated strawberry (F. ×ananassa). Berries smaller than cultivated but exceptional flavor. Spreads via runners (stolons); makes excellent edible groundcover under fruit trees.

A native spring-blooming herbaceous perennial of eastern North American woodlands, forming a low spreading carpet of fragrant pale-blue to lavender flowers above evergreen-ish foliage. Naturalizes by ground-running stems that root at the nodes - among the best native groundcovers for dappled-shade beds, woodland edges, and as a living mulch above spring bulbs.

A full-shade woodland-floor community for deep shade beneath a closed canopy: an understory shrub, spreading groundcovers, spring ephemerals, and a large fern - eastern North American natives that expect low light and leaf-litter soil.