Shrubs

Shrubs are famous for creating year-round interest in the garden, with abundant flowers, unique fruit, brilliant fall color, and sculptural forms in winter. Native shrubs are superior when it comes to creating habitat for wildlife.

In both urban and rural settings, these shrubs can supply the food, cover, and nesting sites required for an array of wildlife. Pollinators, birds, insects, and mammals all depend on the flowers, fruit, nuts, leaves, or wood of native shrubs. Spring and early summer are standard flowering times for native shrubs, and the abundant blossoms offer easy and ample foraging for pollinators and provide welcome color in the landscape. The fruit and nuts that develop later are important to migrating birds in the fall. Some shrubs retain their fruit through the winter and provide a critical food source during times of great scarcity. These possibly not-as-tasty fruits are ignored in the fall when other more desirable fruits and seeds are readily available.