By Gail Cocker, Simcoe County Master Gardener, SCMG
A lot has been written recently about the merits of planting natives in your garden; vital for our local ecosystem by providing essential food and shelter for native insects and wild animals. Other merits for planting natives is that many are deep-rooted and can slow down stormwater run-off and reduce erosion. They are adapted to thrive in our soil and local weather conditions and will need no fertilizer or extra watering once established.
But if you already have an established garden the thought of starting over with native plants can be daunting. Instead, you might concentrate on adding a feature shrub or a small native hedge to your yard to attract wildlife. Native shrubs offer pollen and nectar for pollinators, food for important insects including butterfly and moth larvae and provide habitat for beneficial insects and birds. More insects means more food for the birds. And many shrubs produce tasty berries that birds are attracted to.
If you have limited room there are a number of low growing shrubs, native to Ontario that would be perfect. Under 4’ tall, they can be planted in front of a window or form a compact hedge. Smaller shrubs you might want to consider if you have a full sun location include New Jersey Tea (Ceanothus americanus), Snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus) and Bush Honeysuckle (Diervilla lonicera).
New Jersey Tea has become quite popular of late in our area, with its white flowers in the spring followed by interesting seed heads over the winter which the birds appreciate. It is a tough shrub that will grow in sandy soil, quite drought tolerant. This shrub requires a well drained location. It has a long tap root so once established it is hard to transplant. The New Jersey Tea is a host plant for caterpillars and some butterflies, its flowers are popular with pollinators such as native bees and birds.
One of my favorites is the bushy shrub, Snowberry, which tolerates part shade and can manage in poor soil. Unlike New Jersey Tea, you might want to prune snowberry to keep it contained, although it is a good for naturalizing a larger area if you have the space. Snowberry can get as wide as 6’. The small pinkish white flowers appear in summer and are attractive to hummingbirds and native bees, but the real show are the plump white berries that provide winter interest. The structure of the bush provides good cover for nesting sites.
The Bush Honeysuckle is another tough plant that will thrive in full sun or part shade and is drought tolerant. Like Snowberry, this shrub produces suckers, which if left can cover a large area. You can keep it smaller by pruning off these suckers. I have a mass of these shrubs on a south facing slope and in the spring the yellow flowers are very cheery and attractive to hummingbirds as well as bumblebees. But the highlight for me is the fall colour of red and burgundy leaves.
If you have the space for a larger feature shrub I have a couple of suggestions for you to consider. A multi-stemmed Serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) can be a real highlight in your garden – a small tree or large shrub with a dome shaped crown. In the early in the spring, small, white, star shaped flowers emerge providing critical pollen and nectar before other plants are available. This is followed by a bird buffet of small, blue black berries in early summer. The foliage puts on a show in the fall with leaves of yellow, orange and red. I find the structure of the plant very elegant in the winter garden with its light grey bark and elegant growth habit. This plant does well in full sun to part shade although best fall color will occur in full sun.
The native Witch Hazel, (Hamamelis virginiana) can grow as tall as 15’ and is another native specimen with an interesting growth habit, this time with crooked branches. The highlight is the bright yellow flowers that appear in late October and will persist after the yellow leaves drop. The Witch Hazel is a lifeline to many pollinators when the days are short and little else is flowering; the strong fragrance of witch-hazel flowers draw late season bees and moths looking for food. The Witch Hazel is a good choice for moist, shaded sites like underneath a large tree, but it will produce more blooms with more sun.
The simple addition of one native shrub can make a difference to our pollinators and local wildlife.
