SHRUBS

Native Shrubs

Go native! More and more gardeners are opting for plants and shrubs that grow naturally in our state, or for that matter, were around before we were. Naturalistic gardens, or taking some pointers from Mother Nature, is on the upswing. What better way to have a natural garden than by using plants and shrubs found in nature. Why this sudden craze for native plants? One reason, is that if they’ve survived so well on their own, think about how well they’ll do in your own garden given a little TLC. They have to be durable if they have survived the vagaries of our climate without weekly watering and frost protection. Often, natives have adapted defense mechanisms to pests common in their areas, or they have a high tolerance for pest damage. Therefore, natives tend to be more maintenance free than some of our exotics. But, what are natives, and how do you find them?

Common Natives

Some of the plants and shrubs you have grown for years are native plants and you just didn’t know it. Things like Carolina Allspice (Calycanthus floridus) is native from Virginia to Florida, Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) is native as is the American holly and the Savannah holly. Redbuds and dogwoods, and oakleaf hydrangeas all have their roots here. Natives aren’t just unruly weeds. While some purists believe that you should uproot all non-natives or exotics, there is room for both. If you have an existing landscape, try adding to it some native plants and shrubs--from perennials to trees. If you are starting from scratch, you may want to incorporate more, simply to cut back on the maintenance.

Native Vines

While we aren’t going to list every native plant and shrub available, here are some that should be locally available and would be good to start out with. For vines there is the trumpet creeper--Campsis radicans, with bright orange to red flowers in full sun. It does best where it has poorer soil, tending to grow vegetatively in rich soil.

A kissing cousin is Cross vine, Bignonia capreolata, with dark red tubular flowers which are yellow throated. It grows statewide. Then look at the honeysuckles. We don’t want the invasive Japanese honeysuckle, Lonicera japonica--which isn’t native anyway; but there are some wonderful trumpet honeysuckles from Lonicera sempervirens, which comes in shades of red and orange and a rare yellow. Then there is the standard Virginia creeper, a plant commonly mistaken for poison ivy,. Virginia creeper grows well in shade to partial sun and has one of the prettiest fall colors of any vine or shrub other than poison ivy, which most of us don’t want. For shadier gardens, you can plant a harder to find vine in the climbing magnolia-Schisandra glabra, or there is the climbing hydrangea, Hydrangea anomala, a deciduous vine with flat white flower clusters, and a wonderful peeling cinnamon bark.

Native Shrubs

Some interesting shrubs for the landscape include the French Mulberry or Beautyberry--Callicarpa americana. While the plant is not anything to shout about during the early growing season, it produces outstanding clusters of purple or white berries which encircle the stems from late summer through fall, giving you great color when you really need it. Another old fashioned deciduous native is the Carolina allspice, or sweet shrub--Calycanthus floridus. This shade loving plant grows rapidly and produces flowers at an early age in late spring. The common plant has a reddish brown colored flower with a wonderful spicy aroma, but there is a rare yellow form with an almost citrusy scent available at Ridgecrest nursery. The variety is Athens. Another wonderful shade native is the Euonymus americana, commonly called strawberry bush or wahoo. This plant has tiny yellowish green flowers in the spring, but outstanding strawberry red fruit in the fall which pop open to expose bright red seeds. These can persist well into fall.

An interesting family to experiment with is the witch hazel family. Hamamelis vernalis, the vernal witchhazel and Hamamelis virginiana, the common witchhazel are both native shrubs. Both have very fragrant , spiky yellow flowers, the vernal one in January - March, while the common plant blooms in the fall-- seasons when we need interest and color. Their fall foliage is also outstanding. Another member of this family is the fothergilla. Fothergilla gardenii produces white puffballs of honey scented flowers in April to May, and it too has great fall color. These plants do best in full sun to partial shade and prefer an acid pH.

Hydrangeas

All of us are familiar with hydrangeas, and there are some native plants. One favorite is the Oakleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia. These are great plants for the shade/ woodland garden. They produce lovely panicles of white flowers in early to mid summer, which persist all summer. Then the fall foliage is spectacular. As they age the bark peels and gives them an interesting winter habit as well. Give them room to grow as they can grow six feet or taller and spread wide. Another native hydrangea, is Hydrangea arborescens. This is a native lacecap hydrangea. Some improved cultivars which should be readily available are ‘Annabelle’ and ‘Grandiflora’.

Hollies

Hollies are a popular addition to landscapes, and some of them are native plants. One of the most common hollies--the Yaupon holly is native as is the Savannah and American hollies. One often overlooked member of this family is the deciduous holly--Ilex decidua and Ilex verticillata. Commonly called possum haw or winterberry, these plants have a profusion of berries in the winter, which really stand out once the leaves are shed. Some outstanding selections include ‘Council Fire’, ‘Warren’s Red’, ‘Sunset’ and ‘Winter Red’.

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