the mutualistic interactions between native plants and native wildlife is essential when we consider spring cleanup. Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) need native host plants as places to lay eggs and as food for their caterpillars. Nesting birds need Lepidoptera caterpillars to feed their nestlings. A decline or absence of native host plants results in a decline or absence of caterpillars, butterflies, and birds. Red admiral (p. 192), green comma (p. 103), mourning cloak (p. 62), and question mark (p. 176) butterflies spend winters in bark and crevices in trees, woodpiles, snags, and logs. Eastern tailed-blue, frosted elfin (p. 329), gray hairstreak, Ozark swallowtail, and black swallowtail butterflies spend winters on or near their herbaceous host plants.5 Leaf litter holds dormant insects, snails, bugs, and worms that support robins, native sparrows, brown thrashers, other hungry spring migrating birds and firefly/lightning bug larvae (glow worms). Spring cleanups that eliminate leaf litter unwittingly create firefly-free zones, depriving people of a magical aspect of summer evenings. Wholesale disposal of woody material, standing native flowers and grasses, and every errant leaf has the unintended consequence of a diminished future with fewer butterflies and birds. Spring is a good time to rethink routine gardening practices that prevent much of our desirable wildlife from surviving. Choosing native woody and herbaceous host plants, forgoing pesticides, and conducting suitably restrained cleanups are sustainable techniques for the many homeowners and gardeners who love birds, butterflies, and fireflies and want to help them prosper.
Native trees and shrubs furnish wildlife with the essential elements of life, including food, shelter, and the ability to reproduce. Although many trees and shrubs introduced from Asia and Europe are beautiful, they can never match the combination of beauty and benefits to birds and butterflies that the native species provide. Eurasian shrubs and trees spent thousands of years developing in parallel with the needs of European and Asian wildlife. In contrast, midwestern shrubs and trees spent thousands of years developing simultaneously with the needs of midwestern wildlife. This shared midwestern developmental history enables true midwestern shrubs and trees to provide midwestern butterflies, bees, fireflies, and birds with the food, shelter, and reproduction sites they need to in order to succeed.
When it comes to planting, spring is a window of opportunity. Will my new tree be one that everyone else has? Will my new shrub be the latest fad, trend, decorative novelty, or whatever happens to fit in with some landscaper’s agenda? Or will I choose native shrubs and trees that thrive in the Midwest, provide fragrance and beauty, and also provide a future for midwestern bees, butterflies, fireflies, and birds? In the Spring chapter, we present a wide array of native woody alternatives, both shrubs and trees, to today’s popular introductions.
Spring Shrubs
Nonnative:
ABELIA, FRAGRANT ABELIA, KOREAN ABELIA. Family: Honeysuckle (Caprifoliaceae). Genus: Abelia (A. mosanensis). Origin: Korea. Height/Spread: 4–6 feet. Ornamental Attributes: Twiggy shrub; fragrant, pinkish-white flowers in spring. Cultivation: Full sun to part shade, well-drained soil, winter shelter. Zones: 5–9.
Abelia (Abelia mosanensis)
Native Alternatives:
CHOKEBERRY. Family: Rose (Rosaceae). Genus: Aronia, Photinia, Pyrus. Confusion Note: It is easy to confuse chokeberry and chokecherry (p. 83). Chokeberry Ornamental Attributes: Showy, adaptable, trouble-free chokeberries provide all-season beauty. Clusters of long-lasting fragrant white, red anther-centered, five-petaled flowers in late April and May; shiny green leaves with brilliant fall color; colorful fruits that persist through winter; multiple stems. Cultivation: Sun or partial sun. “Chokeberries flower prolifically, especially when grown in full sun. In this setting, they usually produce a large quantity of fruit and develop beautiful fall color,” write Weeks and Weeks.6 Wet to dry soils, best in between; thrive in slightly acid soils. Do well in soggy, marshy soils with poor drainage. Adaptable and low maintenance. Most attractive, and best for wildlife massed and in colonies; good for shrub borders and rain gardens; BLACK CHOKEBERRY (A., P. melanocarpa). Height/Spread: 3–8 feet. Ornamental Attributes: White flowers, spectacular glossy red-orange fall color, edible black fruits on red pedicels, exfoliating bark. “The aesthetically pleasing Aronia melanocarpa is being heralded throughout the Midwest for its year-round interest,” according to the Chicago Botanic Garden.7 Note: Endangered in parts of the Midwest. Zones: 3–8; RED CHOKEBERRY (A. arbutifolia, syn. Aronia prunifolia, Photinia pyrifolia).8 Height: 5–7 feet. Spread: 3–5 feet. Ornamental Attributes: White flowers. “The leaves of red chokeberry turn fire engine-red with the onset of cool, autumn weather,” Terry L. Ettinger notes. “In fact, they easily rival the insanely popular—and therefore way over-planted—burning bush for outstanding fall foliage color!”9 Glossy bright red berries. Zones: 4–9; PURPLE CHOKEBERRY (A. floribunda, Photinia floribunda, Pyrus floribunda). Height/Spread: 3–10 feet. Ornamental Attributes: White flowers, purple fruit, deep red fall foliage. Range Note: Hybridization by red and black chokeberry due to overlapping ranges created the purple chokeberry that some taxonomists consider a distinct third species.10 Zones: 4–7. Chokeberry Nature Note: Nectar and pollen attract the small native bees that are their primary pollinators and other small insects that draw in nesting birds seeking food for their babies. Chokeberries host 29 species of Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), including red admiral (p. 192), striped hairstreak (p. 18), and coral hairstreak (p. 18), whose caterpillars serve as food for birds and their nestlings. At least 21 species of overwintering and early-arriving migrating birds use the persistent berries as emergency food, including American robin (p. 62), cedar waxwing (p. 36), eastern meadowlark, black-capped chickadee (p. 322), and northern cardinal (p. 61). The shrubs’ multistemmed habit provides many birds with nesting habitat, and protective cover to ground-feeding birds, including eastern towhee (p. 235), wood thrush (p. 175), brown thrasher (p. 219), and northern flicker (p. 99).
Black chokeberry (Photinia melanocarpa) Also see pp. 264, 337
Red chokeberry (Photinia pyrifolia) Also see p. 338
More Native Alternatives:
ELDERBERRY SPP., p. 29; FOTHERGILLA SPP., p. 27; NINEBARK, p. 44; RHODODENDRON, AZALEA SPP., p. 56; ROSE SPP., p.
