Pollinators

For all the homeowners who complain about low wet areas in their yards, here is a shrub that will flourish along with willows. Cephalanthus occidentalis grows between 3-6 feet tall with a roundish shape. Creamy white flowers appear in late June and persist for a long period of time. Ideal for a naturalized setting, plant it along with elderberry, ilex, and willows. Buttonbush will also thrive in wet clay soils. You will find it growing along rivers and stream beds throughout Vermont.

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These are the summer-blooming hydrangeas. The most well-known, and for years the only one available, is the variety ‘Annabelle’. It was discovered growing wild in Anna, Illinois in 1910. Its large snowball-like blooms really stood out, as they still do today. A hedge of these makes quite a summer show as their blooms spill and billow with abandon.

Recently, plant propagators have been on a quest to make something perfect even better and have hybridized pink-blooming varieties. These would be ‘Incrediball’, Invincibelle II’ and ‘Incrediball Blush’. All of these have airy, blush-pink flowers with a hint of white.

A note on growing, these all bloom on new wood. This means all the stems must be cut back either in late autumn or early spring or you will barely get a flower. This feature is what makes them so attractive in our growing zone since they may experience some winter dieback any way. Water well the first year upon installation. As years pass by they will become quite drought tolerant. All of these varieties prefer to grow in shade to part sun.

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We planted this native viburnum in our shrub row at the nursery in the early 1980s. While other shrubs have been culled, replaced or died out, this bush is still beautiful. Shiny green leaves, white flowers, and dark blue berries give it year-round interest.

It also has a dense, ground-up growing habit which is good if you hope to block a view as we were. Ours is planted in decent soil and is lightly fertilized every few years if we remember to do so. It never requires watering and we have chosen to allow it to grow naturally. By now it is probably 12-15 feet tall and many a bird has nested in it.

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Winterberry is one of our most favorite shrubs. We grow several varieties of both male and female plants in containers and field-grown, balled and burlapped sizes. The females have berries but you need to have a male planted somewhere on the property for pollination. Since the males ‘Jim Dandy’ and ‘Southern Gentleman’ do not get very big you can tuck them in amongst the females and they will all grow together.

Last fall we planted one of each of the varieties that we grow in a low wet area along our drive from Route 7. They are quite happy; growing nicely and flowering prolifically this spring. If you keep bees, Ilex flowers are addicting to honey bees. This fall and winter we anticipate an abundance of berries in shades of red. Winterberry prefers moist soils. At the nursery we have noticed that they will grow in full hot sun or a mix of sun and dappled shade.

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Aronia or ‘Chokeberry’ is another native plant that we think homeowners would love. It is non-invasive, tolerant of moist soils, and has a beautiful flower. It produces heavy crops of antioxidant-rich fruit in the summer and the leaves turn brilliant scarlet in autumn. Chokeberry is the new “hot” fruit in health-conscious circles. It is quite sour so you may want to have some local honey on hand to mix with it.

Many of the Aronia varieties have a spreading habit and are thus used in bank stabilization situations. You can install a beautiful naturalized planting with these, buttonbush, and winterberry. Do so and soon your yard will be full of berries and birds.

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People are more familiar with the red and yellow-stem dogwoods as their branches are very showy during the winter. The Grey-stem dogwood is a native that historically was planted at the edges of open fields as a wind and snow fence. There are a few fields in town where all the grey-stem dogwoods that bordered the road were cut down. Now those roads are a snowdrift nightmare in winter.

Grey-stem dogwood are fast-growing even in the most difficult of soil conditions. They are pest-free, have white flowers followed by very attractive white berries, and attractive purplish-red foliage in autumn. Mass planted for a quick-growing living fence, you will see that they are tough as nails. Like all dogwoods they can easily be pruned should they get taller than you want.

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This native shrub has a range from Nova Scotia to Minnesota, and Florida to Louisiana. Its natural habitat is swamps, marshes, and wet roadside ditches. At home you would use it wherever you would plant a willow shrub or an Ilex.

Swamp Rose will grow in full sun or part shade and attain a height and spread between 3-6 feet. Its arching branches are covered in very fragrant pink blossoms for 6-8 weeks in June and July. Seeds are propagated by birds eating the rose hips and dropping the seeds. What an attractive addition to the yard!

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Rosa virginiana is another lovely North American native rose with fragrant pink flowers in June. This shrub can be found growing in full sun in well-drained sandy soil. Its dark green, glossy foliage is a beautiful backdrop for the blooms as well as the dark red rose hips that persist into winter (bird food). Very prickly branches act as a natural barrier. If it ever gets too big for your liking simply cut it to the ground and it will regrow with perfect form. Since it is salt tolerant it could be used along a street that routinely gets winter salt sprayed.

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We grow a few types of perennial Asclepias that go by different names. Butterfly Weed is an easy-to-grow perennial provided you give it basic garden soil in a sunny, well-drained site. The bright orange and yellow flowers really shine on hot sunny days. The few in our display gardens always have butterflies fluttering around them. Each year the clump gets a little bigger but it always stays tidy.

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In recent years many varieties of bee balm have cropped up on the plant market and this one is a favorite due to its short stature and compact growing habit. If you have limited space in your full-sun garden but really want to attract hummingbirds, this is the plant to grow. We suggest you cut out a few stalks on the plants once they achieve their height for the season to allow air to circulate. This will help during hot muggy summers.

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This native Joe Pye Weed was discovered growing in a clump of the species in Pennsylvania. Its stiffer branches and upright, compact growth habit distinguishes it from other species. Butterflies are attracted to its domes of magenta flowers in late summer. Plant in moist soils in wild/naturalized settings or rain gardens.

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This native soft-stemmed, shrubby perennial is the perfect solution for gardeners who want a shrub that dies to the ground in winter. The purple stems produce clusters of pale white flowers in July through August, followed by a spectacular display of fruit. This is our go-to plant when we need some heft in the shade garden. Aralia will grow 4-6 feet tall and prefers moist soils.

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Carex pensylvanica is a native sedge happy to grow in dry shade. It will grow in sun also as long as the soil is moist. The golden arching foliage makes a graceful mound in the garden. Use it at the front of a border where it will contrast nicely with dark green foliage.

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Bouteloua gracilis has fine-textured tufted grass with gray-green leaves and masses of delicate flowers with a hint of blue to them. It is the shorter growing of the two. ‘Blonde Ambition’ has taller, more upright stems and flowers that wave delicately in the breeze. We suggest using either in an open wildflower setting. Plant with Echinacea, Coreopsis, or Salvia. Both varieties require a sunny, well-drained situation.

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Packera obovata will easily naturalize in moist soils. Bright yellow daisy flowers welcome spring followed by lush oval foliage. Over time this will form a lovely groundcover in the shade.