Page 22 - Harnett Life Winter 2022

plants). For best show of berries, plant female plants, with at
least one male plant to ensure that pollination will take place.
Flower blooms from April to May. Pollinated female flow-
ers give way to orange-red berries which ripen in September
and persist throughout the winter, until mid-March when new
growth begins. Prune to shape in early spring, just before
new growth begins. It is a host plant for Henry’s Elfin but-
terfly. Butterflies and other pollinators feed on the nectar of
the blooms. Fruits are eaten by songbirds and small mammals.
One word of caution, though: human ingestion of berries can
cause minor toxic reaction.

Blackhaw Viburnum is a large native shrub or small tree that
may grow 20 feet tall and nearly as wide. It provides three sea-
American Beauty Berry sons of interest and is a high-value wildlife plant. The spring
flowers are large white clusters, and the fall leaf colors are reds
3 to 6 feet of space for planting unless regular pruning is done. and purples. Berries mature to purplish-black and are eaten by
Pruning is best done in late winter. It is recommended that old both humans and birds. Viburnums set fruit better with more
canes be removed for rejuvenation of the shrub because the than one shrub for pollination.
flowers and fruits appear on new shoots. Beautyberry’s nat-
ural habitat is open meadows, thickets, or woodlands. In the Blackhaw Viburnum prefers partial sun to partial shade and
spring, green leaves emerge on upright arching stems. Clusters moist to dry well-drained soils. It will grow in deep shade but
of small flowers bloom on the stems during the late spring and will rarely bloom. It is adaptable to many soil types. This is a
early summer. Clusters of purplish to bluish berries develop great shrub for naturalized areas or can be used as a hedge or
August through October and encircle the stem. A pink-fruited specimen. Blackhaw Viburnum is drought tolerant, does well
and several white-fruited forms have been found. The fruits in urban conditions, and can be pruned to a tree form. It is a
may last through early winter. They are a good food source for host plant for Spring/Summer Azure butterflies. Its fruits are
songbirds and small mammals. The leaves, when crushed, pro- eaten by songbirds, squirrels, and chipmunks. Its twig form
duce a chemical that can repel mosquitos. This shrub is suited provides shelter to wildlife. It’s fruits can be eaten raw or used
for mass plantings, large landscapes, naturalized areas, and in jams and preserves.
container gardening. They seem to produce more fruit if sev-
eral more of the same type shrubs are planted nearby. Ameri-
can beautyberry is also at home in a butterfly garden, children’s
garden, native garden, pollinator garden, and winter garden.
The shrub’s clusters of berries are a food source for many song-
birds, including the American Robin, Brown Thrasher, Purple
Finch, and Eastern Towhee. The berries are also consumed by
foxes, opossum, raccoons, and squirrels. White-tailed deer are
known to munch on the leaves in the summer and enjoy the
fruits after leaf drops in the fall. The fruits are clusters of small
bluish to purplish berries that form a whorl and encircle the
stems. They appear in August through October and may last
through the winter. They are a valuable food source for song-
birds and small mammals. Each berry is about 1/4 inch long
with 2 to 4 seeds. Each seed measures about 1/16 inch long.
They are edible to humans but have very little flavor. Wax Myrtle
Wax Myrtle is an evergreen tree that can reach heights of 20 to
Ilex decidua is a deciduous holly that is commonly called Pos- 25 feet tall, but usually is much shorter. The light olive-green
sumhaw. It can be found along streams in wet woods, and in leaves have a spicy aromatic odor when crushed. The bark is
lowland valleys, sloughs, and swamps. It is an upright shrub thin, smooth, and gray-brown - almost white. In spring, small
or small tree with a spreading, rounded crown which typically male and female slim, cylindrical flowers mature. The small
grows 7-15 feet tall in cultivation (up to 30 feet in the wild). Its tree produces bluish-white berry clusters on short stalks that
bark is gray-brown and smooth with occasional warts. Birds, lasts through the winter. It is winter hardy in our USDA Winter
deer, and a variety of small mammals (including opossums, as Hardiness Zone 8, where it is easily grown in average, medi-
the common name suggests) are attracted to the fruit. Plants um- to wet-soils in full sun to part shade. Native to N.C. marsh-
of this species are mostly dioecious (separate male and female es, forests, swamps, and fresh to brackish streams, this plant is

Page 22 Harnett Life ~ Winter 2022