Taking a chance on shrubs
Mountain Holly (Ilex mucronata) Borestone Mountain, ME Shrubs and woody perennials can be wonderful not only majestic in their appearance in a garden landscape, but also in terms of the resources they provide to insects and birds. Because they can store energy, they often bloom even as the snows melt (e.g. willows) or as the earliest bees appear or signal the return of fish to their spawning grounds (shadbush). The problem is that unlike smaller plants, they Hopefully not to dry... represent a major investment of both time and capital. This creates the perfect opportunity for the landscape industry to cut corners by selling cuttings from factory nurseries to our south that lack genetic diversity and are not as well adapted to our climate and the timing of our seasons. Natives can also be replaced with cultivars that do not provide the same benefits. Insects diminish and a recent article published in Scientific American suggests that bird populations in 2017 were 30% re