Beneficial Wildlife Shrubs...

[wiscwhip]

I just came across this document that I think warrants posting on the forum. It gives a brief overview of many of the most beneficial shrubs that we use in wildlife plantings. I found it concise and informative, especially for the novice with basic questions.

http://www.gogebic.org/adobeforms/Native Shrubs for Wildlife Habitat.pdf

 

[scott44]

Good article Whip! Good to know I have 6 of these I've been planting and caging, the first year I planted Nannyberrry and High Bush cranberry they got wiped out.

 

[Native Hunter]

Good read. I either planted or already had many of these. Volunteer Lowbush Blueberry popped out at many spots after logging. I'm on a mission to keep it going at one spot and possibly transplant some to places I can take better care of them in the long run.

 

[JackTerp]

Nice read. I wish I has a listing like this for South Carolina. The summers here would probably be too hot and dry for many of those listed.

 

[chummer]

I will be saving this list, thanks. I do disagree with what it says about elderberry. I planted 25 in tubes and the very few deer I have kept them mowed to the top of the tube all year. My silky dogwood went untouched more than the elderberry. I guess like everything else area preference changes.

 

[dipper]

Anyone have luck starting winterberry from seed? I have a spot that has a lot of standing water Id like to make more bushy

 

[wiscwhip]

Anyone have luck starting winterberry from seed? I have a spot that has a lot of standing water Id like to make more bushy

Buttonbush.

 

[dipper]

Buttonbush.

Is that what it's called too?i have a bunch of seed in the frig

 

[wiscwhip]

No, sorry I wasn't clear. I meant buttonbush(cephalanthus occidentalis) would be a perfect fit for that standing water area that you are looking to fill in, the stuff pretty much grows like a weed from just cuttings and does very well in extremely moist soil and even standing water.

 

[Native Hunter]

No, sorry I wasn't clear. I meant buttonbush(cephalanthus occidentalis) would be a perfect fit for that standing water area that you are looking to fill in, the stuff pretty much grows like a weed from just cuttings and does very well in extremely moist soil and even standing water.

How would you rate button bush as a screening plant in the winter? What would come to mind that might be a better screening plant that would grow in wet soils and quite a bit of shade?

 

[wiscwhip]

It isn't much for winter screening unless you can grow a fairly wide patch of it. One or two rows won't do much. If you could get a wider thicket area, say 5 or 6 rows with high stem counts about 15-20 yards wide, it would likely be fine. I'm not really sure if there are any deciduous shrubs that make all that good of a winter screen even on dry locations unless you have a wide area of it? Most would recommend a conifer for that use. As far as something "better" for winter screening in really wet soils and shade, only one I know of would be balsam fir, which likely wouldn't do well as far south as your location. As the soils get a bit dryer, Canada Hemlock and then eastern white cedar would work if it isn't too waterlogged. Here is a couple pics I pulled off the web, I posted some pics in an earlier thread of the ones in a marsh where we walk our dog, but they are not a good example. You can see how dense this stuff is while it has it's leaves.



It doesn't do much after leaf drop if you don't have a fairly dense stand, as I said not much will, but BB may be better than most, here are 2 pics without leaves. Notice that only having a few would not help you, but if you can get it many yards across the cumulative affect in the distance isn't a bad screen.

 

[Native Hunter]

Thanks for the info. I had never really researched it much. There is one small mucky and shady spot near a property line I would like to add some screening to. It's just hard to find many plants that will screen well in winter for a spot like that. One idea is to let the native serviceberries form a thicket there and remove any competition that comes up in them that would shade them out. We could probably get by with doing that ever 2 years. I already know what it would be - red maple and sweetgum.

 

[wiscwhip]

One nice thing about BB is that it pretty much thrives in standing water, can't say that about to many other shrubs. I was going to suggest that a mixed shrub planting might be best if you are using deciduous shrubs. Start with BB nearest(or in) the water, then serviceberry as you move away from the standing water, and finally, nannyberry, highbush cranberry, and winterberry.

 

[wiscwhip]

Nice read. I wish I has a listing like this for South Carolina. The summers here would probably be too hot and dry for many of those listed.

Here you go Jack. The first one is a link to a website on gardening for wildlife that has some great info on shrubs of the southeast.

www.gardening-for-wildlife.com/shrubs-of-the-southeast.html

The second is a very interesting old(1940) scanned publication titled Shrubs for Wildlife on Farms in the Southeast by the USDA. Old info that is still relevant today and they even explain how to set up wildlife borders and hedgerows. Not as much about the plants themselves, but how and where to place them around a working farm to most benefit the wildlife and farming practices...Oh wait, everybody plows the hedgerows and field borders up now, never mind...ok here you go.

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1815&context=usdaarsfacpub

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks Whip, for posting the first link at #1. Pretty useful info all the way around. I saved it.

 

[Rally1148]

How would you rate button bush as a screening plant in the winter? What would come to mind that might be a better screening plant that would grow in wet soils and quite a bit of shade?

Look into Speckled Alder.

 

[Native Hunter]

Look into Speckled Alder.

Will do. I have some wild common alder growing at another place and could easily transplant it.

 

[bueller]

Elderberries are deer candy around here. One plant in particular I caged for a couple years to get it established. When I took the cage off not only did the deer eat it but the bucks beat the heck out of it in the fall. This shrub went from being over 7 feet high to nothing more than a clump that gets eaten as quick as the new shoots try to form.

 

[Native Hunter]

Elderberries are deer candy around here. One plant in particular I caged for a couple years to get it established. When I took the cage off not only did the deer eat it but the bucks beat the heck out of it in the fall. This shrub went from being over 7 feet high to nothing more than a clump that gets eaten as quick as the new shoots try to form.

Almost the same experience as I have had. And they are so easy to transplant. If you can keep the deer off of them, shoots will pop up everywhere around the main trunk.

 

[bueller]

Almost the same experience as I have had. And they are so easy to transplant. If you can keep the deer off of them, shoots will pop up everywhere around the main trunk.

I planted this row as a screen 4-5 years ago. I figured once they were up and going I could remove the cages and have a screen that would also provide some browse and possibly a rub line.


my test case didn't go so well. the stems rubbed hard by the bucks died off and the browsing pressure took care of the rest.


here is what's left