northeast-flora-and-fauna

Last summer at Duke Farms we planted some Southern Arrowwood (AKA Arrowwood Viburnum ), though those were young plants that don't give you a good sense of what they look like when they mature. I'm pretty sure I found full grown Southern Arrowwood at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (albeit not the swampiest part of the refuge). This picture was taken in early autumn, and you can see the abundant berries this plant produces. Though I believe the berries are edible, they weren't listed among one of the viburnums typically eaten. I assume this means you probably wouldn't enjoy eating them yourself, though I'd sure birds and maybe some mammals are happy to eat them. September 30, 2021 at Great Swamp Photo 168357792, (c) jpviolette, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC) These plants were probably on the small side of mature plants, closer to 6' than the 10' they can get up to. Although you can see the relatively straight woody "trunks" that Native Ameri...

Here's some Arrowwood Viburnum that I (and others) planted this week. Monday mornings I've been participating in Duke Farms' Trail Steward program, which has mostly consisted of inhibiting invasive plants. (Japanese Barberry, Multiflora Rose, and Canadian Thistle, I'm talking about you.) This past Monday we went from playing defense to going on offense; we're attempting to replace the invasive plants with native plants including these Arrowwood Viburnum plants. If all goes well, these will grow into 6-10' woody shrubs that will provide nutritious berries for our birds. As native plants, they also provide food for caterpillars, including the Hummingbird Clearwing Moths. The arrowwood part of the name suggests that when grown, it's branches were good for making arrow shafts. My impression is that the main reason you don't see lots of this growing wild in New Jersey is because of our over-population of White-tailed Deer who presumably eat it to death. June...