Helping Out the Birds and Bees

This time there was a short drive before I took a little walk, since there was no way I could carry my purchases home. Last week I went to the year-end sale at a local nursery which sells only native plants. On one side there’s a development of new (for the city) housing.

On the other side is a municipal golf course.

The city offered the spot to a nonprofit which operates the nursery. Their definition of “native” is a bit broader than some places. They sell hybrids, and also sell plants which aren’t necessarily found in the immediate area but grow in neighboring regions. But it’s close enough.

The selection was a bit thin, but there were still tons of great plants. They had snowberry shrubs, which I’d never heard of, but I passed because the berries aren’t supposed to be very popular with birds.

They had a nice selection of native viburnum. I previously planted a couple of them and they’re doing well, putting out a few blooms this spring and starting to produce berries for the birds, and the fall foliage is pretty.

They also had a bunch of serviceberries, or shadbush, small trees which are supposed to have beautiful white flowers in the spring and loads of berries in the summer for birds. They’re said to be much better street trees than the dreaded bradford pears.

They had a bunch of saplings of big native trees for sale, such as oaks and maples, and rhododendrons, but my yard doesn’t have space for them.

They had helpful displays of options for planting, such as rain gardens and this grouping of bird friendly plants. I think that’s native honeysuckle growing on the post. I have a few of those, and it produces a lot of blooms for hummingbirds and stands up well to a lot of different kinds of weather.

There is walking involved when you shop there, because the nursery is a little hike from the parking lot. When you buy stuff they’ll drive you and your purchases in a golf cart.

But I opted to load my purchases in one of their wagons and drag it up the path to my car. I ended up buying a serviceberry tree, a blueberry bush, a cardinalflower plant, and swamp sunflowers.

After getting home I planted the serviceberry out front to replace a dead sugar maple which had stood between our sidewalk and street. Planting a tree is a sign of hope for the future, and I hope it thrives through whatever may come.