Shrub: evergreen

This fine selection of our native inkberry has a broad upright habit and holds its foliage at the base of the plant. This compact holly tolerates heat, drought, sun, shade and transplanting and grows exceptionally well in urban areas. A Pennsylvania Horticultural Society Gold Medal Plant Award Winner, it is pest and disease resistant. Flowers give way to jet black inkberries which mature in early fall and persist through the winter to early spring unless consumed by local birds. Benefits:

Excellent evergreen native that holds its leaves at the base of the plant

Outstanding year round cover for wildlife

Great nectar source for small pollinators

Birds eat the small black berries that hold well into winter

Tolerates heavy pruning and a variety of growing conditions

One of our best loved native shrubs, mountain laurel is a hardy broadleaf evergreen that blooms in late spring. 'Pink Charm' has dark red-pink buds that open to rich pink flowers with a narrow dark pink band inside the flower near the base. It sets flower buds well, even at a young age. Benefits:

Large showy flower clusters

Lustrous evergreen foliage

Nectar source for pollinators

Year round protective cover for wildlife

When it comes to providing nectar for hummingbirds, trumpet honeysuckle is one of the earliest and longest blooming plants you can grow. Hummers flock to the tube-shaped deep red flowers with yellow throats as soon as they begin to bloom. Whorls of bright red fruit form in late summer. The fruit is eaten in fall by waxwings, bluebirds and other birds. The slender twining stems provide cover and nest sites for a variety of birds. Oval, blue-green leaves are evergreen in warmer winter climates. This is the host plant for the day-flying hummingbird clearwing moth. Benefits:

Excellent nectar source for hummingbirds

Showy clusters of fragrant flowers

Birds dine on the red berries in fall

Provides great cover and nesting sites for a variety of birds

This low growing, dense, spreading shrub feautures tiny evergreen, prickly edged foliage that is held tight to the groundon prostrate branches. Perfect for massing in the front of semi-shaded borders, it thrives in rocky soils where little else will grow! Great cover and erosion control.

Originating on Vancouver Island,  this slow growing shrub with a rounded flat top thrills with needles that are dark green under and silverish-blue on top for a stunning look in a small garden with a bluish cast. Its branches are great nesting sites for many birds and offer great cover.