(jaunty music) >>So I've heard the best time to have planted a tree was 20 years ago, and the next best time is today.

So today I'm here at Colesville Nursery to think about trees, but also thinking about the understory.

These plants really need to be able to take some shady and possibly some dry conditions.

I've got a variety of plants that I've found here, so we can start here with this beautiful Camellia japonica.

We've got this white one here blooming, and everybody loves Camellias, it's a very popular plant.

And one of my favorite plants though is our native hydrangea quercifolia.

This one is still holding onto its leaves from last season, but as you can see, during the fall season, you get this beautiful red-purple tinge to the leaves before they drop, and then in the spring you get a white cluster of blooms throughout the shrub.

Here we've got a nice evergreen shrub, this is our native Rhododendrons.

This one is Florence Park.

Boasts nice purple blooms for you in the season, and it is a evergreen, so you can have a four-season shrub.

Over here we have Leucothoe, again another native plant, but look at the different varieties.

So we have this one here that turns purple in the winter, but look at this foliage here.

Nice variegated foliage.

This one is called Leucothoe Rainbow, and it gives lots of interest for four seasons.

Moving along here, we have Illicium.

Another native.

Wow, it just seems like to be running a trend here.

But Illicium, common variety, you can see is green, but through breeding we have different cultivations where you could get a varied variety here or even a chartreuse or yellow foliage.

Now we've got the shrub layer done, let's move on to ground cover.

Now over here we've got an array of Hellebores.

Very easy plant to grow, so many different colors and varieties.

Cast-iron-plant.

This is a very tough, tough plant, evergreen.

It can take really dry, shady conditions, it can take really deep shade and still be happy.

Here we have a selection of Carex.

These two here are Asian varieties, but you could see that they're a nice chartreuse color, or a variegated form, and interesting blooms early in the season.

This here with this limey green is our native, and this Carex will start spreading and getting a nice mass, and you can actually even use this one for a lawn replacement.

So if you're planting big trees or you have established big trees, don't forget to think about the understory.

You can have an array of plants that provide nice shelter for wildlife and nice views for yourself.

So get out there, let's get our hands dirty, and plant the understory of our trees.