Plant Native Merging with Gardening Shady Style


Plant Native will soon be moved to merge with our other gardening blog, Gardening Shady Style. This will work better for all of us, in that all our posts will be located in one place with one url. No more having to read two separate blogs! I

just love gardening, and when I can't be actually digging in the dirt, I like writing about it. Many thoughts and ideas come in to my mind about plants. 

Up until now, I've had a separate place for my gardening ideas, depending on whether it involved native plants or not. Articles about native plants have been posted on Plant Native, while other garden themes were discussed on Gardening Shady Style. It takes a lot of time to read two separate blogs, so soon that will not be necessary. If you haven't checked out our other blog, please hop on over there now to check out Gardening Shady Style.

Autumn Olive: Invasive Elaeagnus Umbellata

The beautiful red berries displayed on Autumn Olive are delicious to birds and other wildlife. Easy to grow, Autumn Olive will plant itself all over your neighborhood after just one season of berries.

Invasive plants such as Autumn Olive should never be planted in the Southeastern United States. Our temperate climate makes it easy for these plants to take over, crowding out native plants that are needed by wildlife.

If it is red berries in fall that you're looking for, there is more than 1 non-invasive alternative for you. I'll list just a few:

  • Holly - there are many forms of holly, both native and non-native. Most hollies are evergreen, but there are some deciduous species available. Berries are usually red, but orange or bluish black berries can be found.
  • Viburnum - Cranberry Bush exhibits bright red berries in fall and also bright red foliage!
  • Callicarpa americana - Native American Beauty Berry certainly looks exotic with its vibrant purple berries in September, but surprisingly it is a native plant found growing in the Southeast. Yes, I know, purple is not red, but I had to throw that one into the list, since American Beauty Berry is always my favorite.
Invasive plants such as Autumn Olive should really be removed from the garden at first sight. I wish I'd known this years ago, since I'm still trying to eradicate the thugs surrounding Shady Gardens. For a closeup look at the berries, follow this link to see the Autumn Olive image.

For help in choosing plants for your Georgia garden, take a look at this great chart I found, Native Plants for Georgia.


Twitter Moms: The Influential Moms Network