Impactful Shrubs

 

What’s in your yard? You probably don’t have room for everything you want, but small and urban yards can plan to maximize the wildlife value of their plantings. We talk about trees a lot, but shrubs can provide good ecological value for smaller spaces. Here are some thoughts on impactful shrubs to plant that make a difference.

Impactful means that they contribute to the food web in one of 3 ways: their fruit is good for wildlife (like birds), their foliage serves as a host plant to insect herbivores (like caterpillars), and/or they are a good source of pollen/nectar for insects (like bees and butterflies).

Blueberry specialist bee helps us get the most fruit

Shrubs that support frugivorous birds (those who use fruit as a major source of their adult nutrition) include native viburnums (Viburnum spp.), hearts a bustin’ (Euonymus americanus), spicebush (Lindera spp.), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), holly shrubs (Ilex spp.), chokeberry (Aronia spp.), shrub dogwoods (Swida amomum, C. foemina and others), St. John’s wort (Hypericum spp.), beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), huckleberry (Gaylussacia spp.), and sumac (Rhus spp.).

Shrubs whose foliage serves as a host plant to butterflies and moths (these feed caterpillars) include spicebush (Lindera spp.), blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), plums (Prunus spp.), and paw paw (Asimina spp.). Some of these support specialist insects like the Zebra swallowtail that can only use paw paw.

Zebra swallowtail as caterpillar and adult

Shrubs whose flowers are a good source of pollen or nectar for bees and butterflies include native viburnums (Viburnum spp.), buckeyes (Aesculus spp.), elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), holly shrubs (Ilex spp.), chokeberry (Aronia spp.), shrub dogwoods (Swida amomum, C. foemina and others), St. John’s wort (Hypericum spp.), blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), huckleberry (Gaylussacia spp.), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), and sumac (Rhus spp.).

Buckeyes are good for bees and hummingbirds

You can see that some plants might serve 2-3 ecological purposes (for example, blueberry and spicebush support both birds and insects), allowing smaller yards to benefit from these shrubs quite a bit. Make your choices count!

Previous blogs on shrubs that you might find useful:

Native Shrubs in the Georgia Piedmont

Native Shrubs for Supporting Birds

Underused Native Shrubs

Enjoy Each Season: Spring

We've been waiting for spring for literally months; now that it's finally here, I have to remind myself to appreciate each plant in its turn. For all their benefit to the ecosystem, spring native plants aren't always as showy or large as the exotics that are so widely planted.

I am enjoying the Sweet Betsy trillium (Trillium cuneatum) just starting to bloom in my yard. We recently rescued some of this petite perennial from a construction project; so many of these small, ephemeral things get overlooked and yet I imagine a time when they might have carpeted the woodlands around here.

Trillium cuneatum

This week I had a chance to stop by Stone Mountain. I was interested to see what spring granite outcrop plants might be blooming. The woolly groundsel (Packera dubia) was just getting started but the elf-orpine (Diamorpha smallii) was not yet flowering. You can see photos of flowering elf-orpine at my Heggie's Rock post from 2013. One young serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea) was flowering like mad, ahead of  all others I've seen. 

Amelanchier arborea

Diamorpha smallii - not quite ready

Packera dubia

On the way back home, I enjoyed the many flowering redbuds that lined the edges of wild roads. By next week, many of them will be done. I was glad I got out to see them at their best. Don't rush through spring - take time to notice the diversity of our native flora during their season.

Redbud (Cercis canadensis)

Surely It’s Spring Compilation

It’s spring – or is it? These longer, warmer days in Georgia have us all seeing a few blooms and anticipating what’s next as we await the official arrival on Thursday the 20^th.

Flowers above (not yet blooming!) are clockwise from upper left: beardtongue (Penstemon), Eastern columbine (Aquilegia canadensis), mouse-eared coreopsis (Coreopsis auriculata), foamflower (Tiarella), pink phlox (Phlox subulata), red buckeye (Aesculus pavia), and Piedmont azalea (Rhododendron canescens).

When it comes to native flowers, what can we expect? And what should we consider when we realize our spring doesn’t have enough native flowers? You can imagine that over the last several years, I’ve written about spring flowers a time or two.

Here is a list of spring topics you might want to read. I hope that you find something inspirational for this season.

Plant specific posts:

Coreopsis 2017 

Violets are Blue Too 2013 and Violets Are Complicated 2017 

Trilliums - a Georgia specialty 2012 

Tiny Spring Anemones 2017 

Houstonia, We Have ... Tiny Flowers (Bluets) 2019 

Green & Gold 2023 

Plant collection posts:

Native Spring Perennials 2011 

Favorite Native Spring Perennials for the Garden 2014 

Bluets, Beauties and Bloodroot – oh my! 2012 

Spring Blues 2011 

Pass the Mustard 2015 

Ephemerals – here today, gone by summer 2011 

Spring Trees – Alternatives 2015 and AlterNATIVE: Native Choices Instead of Ornamental Pears 2020 

Garden Ideas: 

Pollinators in Georgia 2022 

Native Plants in Containers 2013

Field Trips for Spring:

Sosebee Cove Trail in Spring 2015

The Pocket at Pigeon Mountain February 2017

The Pocket at Pigeon Mountain March 2017

 

March 2025 Moment in Nature

Sometimes our #momentinnature moments are fleeting, but this week I got to enjoy one that lasted a long time: miles and miles of time.

We drove down to Florida and the roadside trees in all 3 states were beautifully festooned with yellow flowers. These were the flowers of Carolina jessamine vines (Gelsemium sempervirens) that twined among the bare twigs of the trees on the sunny edge. 

Some had just a few flowers while others created large masses of yellow.  I could not help but smile to see so many.

Unfortunately we were not able to stop and take a picture (below is a photo from 2014 and it really does not do it justice). However, we stopped at Buc-ee's in Auburn, AL and found them using this same plant as a shrub (or at least a very bushy groundcover) See the photo above.  

Roadside Carolina jessamine

The Hidden Life of Trees (the book)

 

I’m always looking for creative ways to reach people about the importance of plants and my husband recently found a book that I think could be a great resource for young folks and people that are more receptive to graphic depictions of information. The Hidden Life of Trees was originally published in German in 2015 by Peter Wohlleben. Later, an illustrated version was published with numerous photos but still lots of text. In 2023, the version that I’m reviewing was published: The Hidden Life of Trees: A Graphic Adaptation.

The book starts with some good explanations of physical processes to set the stage: how do trees breathe, nutrient uptake, pollination, even how new trees grow and the challenges that seedlings have to reach maturity. Also included in the beginning are the role that trees play in their ecosystem: the creatures that trees support over time from leaves, to bark, to nest cavities, and even the support they play in death.

Chapters are titled Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter and the beautiful illustrations follow that progression. A final Section, The Return to Spring, is a bit of a post-2015 exploration of the impact of his first book and musings on the impact of climate change and the human impacts on global forests. The book is a love letter to trees while imparting information about how important they are and helping us to understand how special they are to our world. I downloaded the following page graphics from the publisher’s website:

 

I hope that this creative approach will reach more people through its innovative approach. By the way, other books have also been created using parts of the original to help communicate Peter’s message. You can find them here.

Got (Native) Trees?

 

As housing lots get smaller and smaller, more native trees are cut down for those developments than are planted back. It’s a trend that we need to reverse. And we can do that with our own actions: plant more native trees.

Sweetgums support life!

Whether it is a pristine woodland lot or a scraggly former cow pasture with early-succession trees, these areas contain plants – maples, sweetgums, oaks, tuliptrees – that support our native insects and they get wiped out when development comes through. What is planted back are rarely plants that sustain our insects. We usually get turf grass, exotic shrubs, and one tree in these new ¼-acre yards. The tree might be a native maple, but it just as easily could be an exotic elm or crape myrtle.

The population of butterflies and birds just took a dive in the new area because the carrying capacity of the area is diminished. We know from research that birds need about 70% native vegetation in order to stay at reproducible numbers (maintain the same population). Large trees like oaks, sweetgums, maples and tuliptrees significantly contribute to those kinds of numbers.

Photo from the City of Woodstock's FB page

Friday was Arbor Day in Georgia. I write about this almost every year (and my post in 2022 was a good summary of why we have it in February and why native trees matter) because it is always a good opportunity to remind people of the importance of native trees. Last year, I specifically profiled red maple (Acer rubrum) for my Arbor Day post because of its statewide profile.

I hope you will take some time to look at what you have in your yard and consider adding a new native tree to increase your biodiversity. You might even consider replacing any non-native tree that you have already.

Double- toothed prominent caterpillar on native elm

I don’t have a yard, How can I help?

 

Georgia has 11 million people in the state and not of them have homes with a place to plant things. Some of them are renters and some of them – especially in more urban areas – have very small lots or none at all (e.g., townhomes and condos). The movement for using native plants, conserving habitat, and removing invasive species has never been stronger, but not having a yard doesn’t mean you can’t contribute to that movement.

People all over are inspired to make a positive impact on the environment. Opportunities include the following:

Volunteer – You can donate your time to help guide, to remove invasive plants, to be on a committee or even lead one for your chapter or state organization; there are volunteer tasks for people of all abilities.

Educate others – You can give talks to garden clubs, HOAs, school groups, Scouts. Many of these groups need a 20-30 minute basic discussion of why we should appreciate and use native plants; your efforts can help more people not take the native green for granted. (Hat tip to a DNR friend for that expression!)

Talking about native trees at Arbor Day school talk

Advocate for native plants – We should follow native plant and habitat issues and contact our elected legislators to support them. Recent examples: issues like the recent expansion for the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge Boundary or the proposed change to the State Flower (HB145). Share these issues with others and contact your legislators to let them know which issues are important to you.

Donate – You can help groups that educate people, manage nature centers, and seek out opportunities for land conservation by donating funds that they can use for staff and resources.

Georgia Piedmont Land Trust is one such group.

Plant – Get your hands in the dirt by planting native plants in pots for your patio, in school and church gardens, or in public spaces like libraries and neighborhood green spaces. Squeeze in native plants wherever you can! Seek out “Friends” groups for State Parks and county ones too.

Whether you plant in your yard or you convince/enable others to do it, it’s a win for the local ecosystem. Need some resources? Look to your native plant society for help. As an example, here is a link to education resources developed by the Georgia Native Plant Society.