Looking for a up to 6ft shrub for wildlife /berries

I am getting ready to cut down dying elm and it is going to leave me with a big area to fill for the birds. Can someone recommend some bushes/shrub or even trees offering seeds and shelter for birds. Thanks

I have a couple locations they could be 4-6 wide and same in height. Thank you

This message was edited Aug 22, 2011 12:30 PM

How tall and wide do you want it to get?

There are many types of viburnum that give you season changes in color, shelter for the birds, and berries. They are not as dense as evergreens, so it depends on the look you want, but they work well. My favorite is the koreanspice, which is fragrant, but it doesn't grow as high as some of the others -- maybe 4-5 feet instead of 6-8. One to consider is the wentworth.

I think I agree with Allison28...

Here's a thread (and its offspring) to glance through for some ideas.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/682674/
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1193882/

Lots to consume there...

Figured you'd agree with that VV!!! ^_^

We have a doublefile viburnum and the birds love the berries on it.

you could look at variegated Holly, there are some new and really attractive ones now, also the green leaved holly is wonderful as there are different leaf shapes and some now without all the prickles on the leaf. they have red, yellow or cream berries that the birds just love, once these shrub/tree's grow a few feet, the birds start to shelter inside the dense branches and will also nest within. When I plant any berrying shrubs trees, every spring I go out and nip off the growing tips of each branch and this makes them throw out more new shoots that get berries, you can also trim / shape or just leave these to grow to any hight you want, are ever green, colourful and have indoor uses too at Christmas.
Berberis.
Cotoniaster.
Pyracanthus.
and others.
Hope you have your gap in the garden filled soon. WeeNel.

Another thing that comes to mind is evergreen trees. We have Green Giant Thuja, Japanese White Pine, and Vanderwolf Pines in the yard. They offer shelter, nesting areas, and in some cases food. Below are some sites we've used in the past to figure out what to plant in the yard.

Here is the url for plants listed on the National Audubon site. There is a lot of information on planting and maintaining a yard for local and migrating birds. http://web4.audubon.org/bird/at_home/Plants.html

Another fun/educational web site is the National Wildlife Federation's Certified Wildlife Habitate program. http://www.nwf.org/Get-Outside/Outdoor-Activities/Garden-for-Wildlife/Create-a-Habitat.aspx?CFID=21411857&CFTOKEN=6e0644ddcc77fe64-B4208125-5056-A84B-C3F7B0B59FECD6F8

Thank you for the links to the othe pages. Some are wonderful but no name of the bush. Could the names be added and size they grow to? I guess with shrubs you can trim up right?


This message was edited Aug 22, 2011 12:29 PM

This is a really good thread. I have always been interested in attracting birds and insects to my yard. That was a really good link Susan, I got five possible s from there. I just planted a Doublefile Viburnum a month ago and I am really excited about the berries and the flowers. I currently have two service berries (Regent Saskatoon) the birds love the berries, they pick it clean. They get about 6'x6'. I also have a Purple beauty berry and to me the form of this bush is ugly and so is the service berries, but they are for the birds. The Doublefile Viburnum is beautiful enough to have in front yard and serves same purpose, but has flowers that will stop traffic. Love it!

virginiarose is making a very good point - one often only learned by experience.

Some plants just aren't meant to be "specimens" planted out alone. Some are "divas" whose fine form demands to be seen, and are wasted mixed in a crowd.

I imagine Regent Saskatoon is an OK plant up in its native home in the Great Plains way north of the southeast US. In VA, it'll likely be a dog of a plant forever, except that it produces the fruit that are desired. Purple Beautyberry (the native plant, not the Asian version) is gawky with big leaves and a lax habit, but busts out the fruit by late summer and puts on a show.

These plants, along with quite a few other short show-season shrubs, work really well as massed plantings like hedges, screening, or windbreaks. There, none of them have to take a lead role and look great for the camera. Utilitarian always, but in their own season they take turns putting out flowers, fruit, and fall color (maybe). They serve as cover for birds, and structure for the landscape.

Of course, I'm not surprised that you recognized that a Viburnum is a star in your show. I'm having a hard time thinking of one suited for VA climate conditions that wouldn't be fantastic. With most every species able to provide high quality flowers, fruiting, form, and fall color - you could go on and on.

One can never have too many viburnums...

ViburnumValley - What's you favorite viburnum for the yard and attracting birds?

You are right about that VV, I like them all and plan to add more!

Well, SusanKC - as you might imagine, with a handle like I've chosen...there is no one answer.

I decided to collect, propagate, grow, observe (and then blather/pontificate/drone on about) viburnums when it was clear that local proprietors were only offering a handful of this wonderful genus.

I can tell you what plants have been superior performers here in the Ohio River valley and central KY region. I live in Scott County and garden on circumneutral clay loam soils; I work in Louisville for the parks department as a landscape architect and manage plants on tremendously varying soils.

At the Valley, I have more than 100 different taxa (that would be the number of species and selections - total plants run over 1000) growing on my ten acres. I have been growing here for more than 20 years.

I also would caution that not all plants I like should be used by others reading this forum. Even great viburnums can turn out to be pest or noxious plants in some environments. That's painful to say, but true. There are a couple species (Viburnum dilatatum is one) that escape and invade natural areas in the northeast, on acid soils I believe. I have read some reports that Doublefile Viburnum (Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum) may have this penchant as well. Plants behaving this way ought to be avoided, since there are so many other species of plants that can and do the very same things for your landscape and your wildlife. I would always favor the native species FIRST, and supplement with additional ornamental or non-invasive exotics secondarily. The native flora and fauna are what you are trying to support, after all.

Off the soapbox...

NOTE: if you don't already know/realize, viburnums perform peak fruiting when an appropriate cross-pollinator is present with overlapping bloom time. If this doesn't make immediate sense to you, read up. I have made many posts in this regard, and there is ample information out there to be had so that no one waits years and wonders why their one plant only pops a few fruit per year.

So - what do I like?

•Viburnum dentatum: The Arrowwood Viburnum - and its various relatives - is such a stalwart plant for such a wide range of environments, I'd be remiss not to mention it first. Not the species for great smelling flowers (too bad), but a very floriferous and bounteous fruiter in midsummer. The summer birds will quite appreciate your efforts. Most selections are relatively large plants (8-12' tall with age), but respond well to whacking back when/if they reach beyond the limit you might set. Rejuvenation ought to be in everyone's landscape strategy toolbox. Little Joe™ is a compact version; there are others that more slowly reach larger sizes.

•Viburnum dilatatum: This is the pest of the Potomac region (maybe elsewhere), but it has been the star of my landscape since we built our house in 1990. There are a number of selections which generally all perform well. These are typically larger shrubs as well (8-12'), though 'Catskill' is a fine compact selection about half as big. Heavily flowered (though its pungency is off-putting rather than sweet) and ridiculously heavy in fruit, the red jewels hold on through winter for me and are finally taken by birds about the time new leaves start to emerge. You cannot do much better than 'Asian Beauty'.

•Viburnum x pragense: This is an excellent evergreen hybrid. It has glossy medium sized dark green foliage - not big droopy dog ears like the leatherleaf group - and flowers very well. With cross-pollination, this has a respectable fruit set that are red before maturing to black. It takes pruning well, and can make one of the best looking hedges/screens if one is looking for that value. It is not a small plant, if left alone, and will likely reach the 12-15' range with time.

•Viburnum x 'Conoy': You will likely find this diminutively foliaged evergreen listed as a Burkwood Viburnum, but it is so much more than this component of its complex parentage. It has small dark green leaves, very handsome white flowers in mid spring that are lightly fragrant, and - with cross-pollination - will set copious fruit that ripen and hold bright red color for most of the summer until maturing to black. It is very compact in growth, and may reach 6' or more slowly in time.

•Viburnum rufidulum: Another native viburnum, the Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum is a large shrub to small tree in size, reaching 20' tall and wide in time. Consider it to fit the size of a dogwood, crabapple, or redbud when siting in the landscape. This is a totally underused species that can be grown from the Gulf coast to the east coast, and north into the upper midwest in environments like Nebraska and greater Chicago. Glossy foliage, heavy white flowering, reds/purples/burgundies for fall color - all orbiting around the excellent fruiting characters which go through a range of color maturation to end as deep blue to black. This is a tough hombre; look for it.

•Viburnum nudum: One more native viburnum, and this one likes wet feet. A denizen of swamps, it is also totally at home in normal landscapes - though I wouldn't put it in your desert. This species is most often represented by the selection 'Winterthur', which is a great plant. But - like bread alone - this plant needs a cross-pollinating partner for penultimate performance. There are number of other selections that are becoming more available. Keep looking if you don't see one right away. This species offers very glossy foliage in the summer which turns and holds reds/purples/burgundies for a very long autumn display of color. It flowers in early summer - later than the rest of the viburnum crowd - and sets fruit heavily. This fruit then undergoes a wondrous transformation from greenish to chartreuse to cream to pink to blush red to blue and finally a raisiny black in winter. Often, you will find many of these colors present at one time in the fruiting cluster.

Lucky people that live out in the plains should have no other viburnum source on the top of their list besides Classic Viburnums of Upland, NE. Here's their GWD file: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/5988/

I hope you had an extra cup of coffee handy before you started reading this.

No coffee required. More print it out for reading and later reference. We have two doublefiles and love them.

And yes with a handle like that I was hoping for a little pontification.

This message was edited Aug 23, 2011 10:19 AM

"Bless you, my child."

I have a very good propagator/nurseryman friend who just abandoned us here in central KY, and moved lock-stock-and-barrel to Loma Vista Nursery - which is apparently somewhere near your neck of the woods around Olathe.

Look him up, smack him up side of the head, and have him sell you some decent viburnums - as indicated above.

Will do. It is close and it's a nursery that I haven't been to yet.

More than likely, it is a wholesale nursery - but it doesn't hurt to ask. Pretty much a buyer's market these days.

Looks like a wholesale nursery with an on-line order form for the public. But we can still do a drive by. Google earth photo looked interesting.

How long have you been a landscape arch and what do you specialize in?

Kehleyr (et al) probably aren't interested in me hijacking this thread...I'll proffer a Dmail.

Some of the flowering crabapples that retain their fruits into the winter are wonderful for providing all season interest and for attracting birds and bees. Because they're small trees, they make good focal points for an "island" bed too. You might underplant a crab with viburnum or evergreens too.

Kehleyr Someone may have already suggested this shrub to you and I apologize if they did. I have a row of Nandina that is evergreen and has beautiful berries for the birds all winter. They are lovely shrubs and add a hint of red to the leaf tips in winter and are slow growing so pruning is not a big issue. Another one is the golden Euonymus that too is evergreen and is a pretty yellow variegated leaf in the shrub boarders or yards.