Unique Native Shrubs

Bumble bees, like this one, are regular visitors to wild hydrangea. Photo by Donna Legare.

North Florida and South Georgia have a wealth of native shrubs. Many are quite common and well known, such as American beautyberry. Others occur throughout our area but are relatively unknown in the gardening community. Of the native shrubs that are available in the nursery trade, a few are especially interesting and deserve use in our landscapes. Some have beautiful blossoms, some offer nectar or pollen to native pollinators, some have excellent fall color, and some provide berries for birds.

Wild hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens) is a lesser-known relative of oakleaf hydrangea. My six-foot tall, bushy plant has produced almost 60 white, flat flower clusters from three to six inches across in June. Bumblebees race all over the flowers, back and forth, presumably collecting pollen on their legs. The flowers also attract many smaller pollinators – bees and weevils (a type of beetle). Wild hydrangea is deciduous. Plant in light shade in moist to average, rich soil.

Virginia sweetspire ‘Little Henry’ is quite showy in springtime and has good fall color.

Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica) is another six-foot tall, deciduous shrub. In the nursery trade special varieties are sold that grow shorter and more compact than their wild cousins. ‘Henry’s Garnet’ grows to six feet and ‘Little Henry’ can reach four feet. Both have three-to-four-inch white flower spikes in spring. They are slightly fragrant and a favorite of many native pollinators, including butterflies. Fall is the second season of interest with beautiful maroon leaf color. The branches have a graceful arching habit. Plant in light shade in wet (rain gardens) to average rich soil.

This southeastern blueberry bee is the primary pollinator of blueberry plants in our region. Photo by Blair Sampson.

We are fortunate to have six species of native blueberries in our region. Two need very well drained sandy soil, usually south of Tallahassee. One becomes a 25-foot tree. For average soils, I love the shrub species called highbush (Vaccinium corymbosum). The plant just outside our home office window is six feet tall but may grow to eight. In April, southeastern blueberry bees pollinate the small white flowers; we can easily observe them from our window. The blueberries ripen in June, and we are happy to share them with the cardinals. They perch in the shrub, plucking off the berry and spitting out the peel. The open form of this graceful shrub makes for great bird and bumblebee viewing. It will grow in a wide variety of soils, from very dry to very wet. Give it full sun to light shade. Quite often this deciduous shrub has beautiful red fall color.

Florida anise, ideal for shady gardens, is an evergreen shrub sporting showy maroon flowers every spring.

Florida anise (Illicium floridanum) is an evergreen shrub growing to twelve feet. The dark red, two-inch-wide flowers are rather unique among native shrubs of our region, with multiple (20) petals. The leaves are dark green and reminiscent of the appearance of North Carolina rhododendron foliage. In your yard, use it as part of an evergreen border for privacy or as a featured specimen. It is most happy in shade with moist (not wet) rich soil. During droughts this is the main plant in our yard that may need extra watering.

If you live near the Gulf coast, or even if you do not, Simpson’s stopper (Myrcianthes fragrans) may be the most unique plant for you. As the botanical name suggests the blossoms are very fragrant. The evergreen leaves contrast beautifully with the fresh, new leaves which can range in color from chartreuse to deep wine. When crushed, the leaves give off a spicy-citrusy scent like nutmeg. Planted in full sun, the plants will grow densely making a great hedge. Despite its natural limited occurrence in Florida, from St. John’s County to the Keys, it does well in North Florida landscapes. The dainty but showy white flowers attract bees and butterflies. Orange to red berries ripen in late summer. Plant it in full sun to light shade. Soils can be coastal sand or average inland soil. Once established it will be very drought tolerant.

These are just five of the many interesting native shrubs underused in our landscapes. Their presence in your yard helps to build a healthier ecosystem for wildlife, from bees and butterflies to lizards to songbirds. The late Tallahassee botanist Dr. Robert Godfrey wrote in his 1988 tree and shrub book, “as is the case with so many plants, their deciduousness mitigates against their more frequent use.” Embrace this wonderful aspect of seasonal change; use these unique native plants in your yard!

Book Review– Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation that Starts in Your Yard

Jody and I started Native Nurseries in 1980, specializing in the sale of native plants. We had attended forestry school, studying wildlife ecology, followed by working at a nature center in Gainesville. During those years we observed many unique relationships between native plants and wildlife – from insects to birds and mammals– and founded our business on those observations. Every native plant seemed to have some relationship with a native animal.

In 2007, entomologist and ecologist Douglas W. Tallamy from the University of Delaware published his first book, Bringing Nature Home, that presented years of research in an eloquent and understandable manner on just how dependent native insects are on native plants, forming the base of a complex food web. Just like that, everything that we had been teaching and promoting based on our own observations, was verified and supported with scientific data.

In Nature’s Best Hope (2020), Tallamy takes his ideas based on his research one step further, encouraging readers to turn their yards into conservation corridors by planting native plants, particularly ones that he considers keystone species, ones that large numbers of Lepidoptera (butterfly and moth) species utilize as food. These caterpillars are then eaten by birds, spiders, lizards and other wildlife. We can increase biodiversity in our community just through the simple act of planting native plants in our yards and parks. He see this as a way an individual can combat the huge loss of biodiversity world wide due to development. Most suburban landscapes are dominated by large areas of lawn and non-native ornamental trees and shrubs that have little to no value to wildlife.

In this book, Tallamy shows you how to get started on your own ecological landscape. This is a fast, interesting, mind opening read! Watch Tallamy’s YouTube videos to learn even more. You may also enjoy his latest book, The Nature of Oaks.

Moths: The Unsung Order of Lepidoptera

Closely related to our much loved butterflies, moths are often under-appreciated in the ranks of pollination. Widespread and numerous, they play key roles in ecosystems and are major players in pollination contribution.

We are familiar with daytime pollinators such as bees, butterflies and hummingbirds that prefer warm, sunny days to visit their flowers. In fact, their muscles need a certain temperature to even function. But who takes over the evening shift when those daytime pollinators complete their nine to five? They turn it over to the unsung and often unrecognized moths. Not all moths are nocturnal; a small number of species of moths are very active in the daytime, while most others are more active at dusk. Moths regulate their body temperature by using flight muscles to make small, rapid vibrations. Their bodies are covered with little heat insulating hairs that make them such efficient pollinators that they can pick up pollen on every flower they land on.

Hummingbird hawk moth on Liatris. Photo by Eleanor Dietrich.

One of the most easily seen garden moths is the hawkmoth, often compared to a hummingbird because it hovers, rapidly beating its wings. They must consume copious amounts of nectar to maintain their high metabolism and speed. These giant moths fly upwind, tracking the evening fragrance of lightly colored flowers. As a naturalist, one of the greatest thrills in the garden is to see a large hawkmoth unfurl its proboscis and drink from a native azalea bloom while hovering in place. Of course that’s one way to observe these pollinators, however, the native azaleas only bloom a few weeks out of the year. Others native plants with staggering bloom times that moths appeal to include blueberries, wild hydrangea, yucca, asters, frog fruit, joe pye weed, boneset, milkweed, horsemint, and goldenrod.

The yucca plant and its moth specialist.

Some native plants even depend on moth pollination for reproduction. For example, the yucca plant is dependent upon the female yucca moth for its survival. In order for pollination to occur, masses of pollen must be forced down into the stigma by the female yucca moth using her specially adapted mouthparts while ensuring cross pollination. Without this process, the yucca flower will not develop into the fruit or seed pod. She also uses the stigma chambers to lay and protect her eggs. By the time the egg hatches into a caterpillar, the yucca will have begun to develop a pod with little seeds. The yucca plant and the yucca moth both benefit in this relationship.

Giant leopard moth on goldenrod. Photo by Eleanor Dietrich.

One of the most important roles that moths play in the ecosystem is as food for wildlife. In fact, an estimated 95 percent of nesting birds rear their young on insects, and moth caterpillars make up a significant part of that number. Both moth adults and caterpillars are key food sources for many animals, including birds, amphibians, reptiles, and even larger mammals like foxes and bears. When you include native plants, the diversity of wildlife supported increases. Less diversity in native larval food plants means less food for moth caterpillars, and therefore, fewer species and numbers of moths. The result – less food to power the web of life. As Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home, states it: “Every caterpillar you make in your gardens becomes either a new pollinating moth or butterfly, or a source of food for a hungry bird.”

Take an evening to go “mothing” in your garden and discover the vast, diverse, and secretive realms of pollinating insects. These tiny marvels of nature enrich your garden, play a crucial role in the ecosystem, and provide the functioning habitat that all life depends on.