How can you brighten your landscape and help wildlife at the same time? Add in the layer most often left out of home gardens, the shrub layer! Many wildlife species depend on the shrub layer for cover, and that can mean everything from a quick place to flee from a predator to the best place to den or nest.
Many of us might have an American Holly (Ilex opaca), which has spectacular red berries on its female trees. Yes, plants can be dioecious with separate individuals only producing pollen-bearing flowers (males) and ovule-producing flowers (females). If your holly doesn’t make berries, it could be a male or a female with no male close by. The straight native American Holly grows to 40-60 feet tall, so it is a full-size tree. For a shrub size, try the Winterberry Holly (Ilex verticillata) and Inkberry Holly (Ilex glabra). Winterberry has spectacular red fruit on bare branches, while the Inkberry has black-blue berries.
And there are berries on shrubs of every color to add to the landscape, and most grow on shrubs-sized plants. Think about red raspberries and blackberries for a patch near the edge of your property so birds can dart in and out as they enter your space. If your soil is acidic, blueberries are another wonderful addition, and as a bonus, you could replace invasive burning bush (Euonymus alatus) with blueberries, which have a fantastic fall leaf color display. If you want electric, bright purple, there is nothing more beautiful than the native Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana). We are convinced adding beautyberries to our landscape over the last few years is allowing Hermit Thrushes to use our property all winter long, something we did not observe when we first moved in. What brought the thrushes to our property might be another favorite for its dark black berry, one of the many native viburnums – Blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium). There are many choices in the native viburnum genus: dentatum (Arrowwood), lentago (Nannyberry), acerifolium (Maple-leaf). Adding one or a few to your property will make many birds happy! For something white, try the twig dogwoods, like the native Gray Dogwood (Cornus racemosa), which have a very high fat content, so these berries are very important to migrating birds in fall, like warblers, waxwings and thrushes.
A reason to plant native berries is the studies on the nutritional content. The studies consistently show that non-native berries and fruits, often from invasive species like Autumn Olive (Elaeagnus umbellate), have attractive red fruits that are high in carbohydrates and sugars, while being very low in protein and fat. In contrast, native fruits are typically just as high in sugars, while having significant protein and fat content, which is extremely important to bears, other mammals and birds that need to put on weight as winter approaches, maybe for hibernation, maybe for migration.
Happy Gardening!
Robyn
For more information on the importance of berries in your landscape:
