A Native Winner

Having discouraged the cultivation of a popular and ubiquitous shrub in my last post, I wanted to provide a replacement that would fill the same niche, but without the honeysuckle's drawbacks. The above pictures are of the American Cranberry Bush. Its Latin title is Viburnum trilobum. As can be seen from the close-up, it has great beauty in flower, and from the more distant shot can be discerned its great use as a border shrub that will grow twelve feet high in sun or light shade. Moreover, these stunningly beautiful flowers become lush red berries that saturate the shrub with bright color in the fall, when the leaves also turn a beautiful red color.

What differentiates it so desirably from the alien honeysuckle is that, as a native to the region, it has evolved with the insect and animal species endemic to American temperate regions. This translates into use by nesting birds in the spring and summer, and hard pressed birds and animals desperate for nutritious food in the winter, when its berries are at their sweetest. My experience has been that waxwings find the beautiful red berries indispensable in middle to late winter, especially during times of snow cover and storm. And certainly a flock of Cedar Waxwings in the garden on a gray February day is a sight we could all use.

I've found this shrub species very easy to grow with no special requirements, and they grow quickly too. In the relatively short time I've had them established in the border of the garden, there have been numerous birds that have nested in their branches, most consistently the highly desirable catbird. If you do begin to weed out the honeysuckles from your existing shrub borders, consider replacing them with Viburnums, and start with the American Cranberry Bush.