native shrubs Archives - Nature Center at Greenburgh

April 2, 2026April 2, 2026 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Before the Bulbs

Is it spring yet?

For many gardeners, the earliest signs of spring are snowdrops, crocuses, and daffodils. But if you know where to look, you can find blooming flowers — and the little critters who need them – even before those bulbs come to life. One of the earliest bloomers in the Northern half of the US also happens to be one of our most interesting and valuable native shrubs: Salix discolor, or the amazing Pussy Willow!

In February, Pussy Willows are already producing the adorable, fuzzy flowers that give them their common name. This type of flower has no petals or fragrance, and is known as a “catkin” from the Dutch word “katteken,” which means kitten. Just as soft to the touch as they look, the silvery catkins are popular in spring flower arrangements and delight children of all ages.

**Pussy Willows start blooming in February**

**The soft hairs on catkins protect the inner flower parts from cold and snow**

Over the next month, the catkins will gradually open revealing numerous string-like filaments. Pussy willow shrubs are dioecious, meaning the shrub holds either male or female flowers. On the male plants, the filaments hold quantities of pollen that give the catkins a bright yellow appearance. The female flowers look more like spiny caterpillars than kittens, so for ornamental purposes, the male shrubs are preferred.

**By mid-April, the catkins have opened and leaves begin to emerge**

Pussy Willows typically are large, multi-stemmed shrubs or small trees, topping out between 15 and 25 feet. Unlike most trees, however, they can benefit from being severely pruned, or “coppiced,” to keep them shorter. Cutting back the branches after blooming will generate multiple slender new stems, increasing the fullness of the shrub and the number of catkins within easy reach in the following season.

Humans have used the flexible young branches of willows for basket-weaving, arrows, rustic fencing, and many other purposes for hundreds of years. One of the most important traditional uses of willow bark was medicinal. Willow bark tea contains salicin, a pain-killer and fever reducer, now synthetically produced as aspirin.

**Pussy Willow’s natural form is a large, multi-trunked shrub, but it can easily be pruned as a hedge or privacy screen**

By far the most important use of Pussy Willow in our gardens, however, is to support native pollinators and other insects. As one of the very earliest plants to bloom, Pussy Willow provides nectar and pollen for early-emerging native bees. In fact, the Andrina family of native bees are willow “specialists” – they must have willow pollen to feed their young. The nectar of willow catkins also supports many other insects in early spring when food is especially scarce.

**A tiny ant finds what it needs on Pussy Willow**

All summer long, the leaves of Pussy Willow feed the caterpillars of more than 450 species of moths and butterflies — second only to oak trees in providing caterpillars for baby birds! Willow is a host plant for a huge number of our most spectacular butterflies: Viceroy, Red-spotted Purple, Mourning Cloak, and various hairstreaks, fritillaries, and dusky-wings.

**Mourning Cloaks are just one of hundreds of butterfly species that depend on willows**

In addition to Pussy Willows, there are at least 90 species of willows native to the US, and 20 or more native to the Northeast. Unfortunately, there are also many non-native species sold in the nursery trade, including the well-known weeping willow (Salix babylonica), that do not provide the same value to our native birds and insects. Be sure to check the scientific name before you add a willow to your landscape. Pussy Willow (Salix discolor), Black Willow (Salix nigra), Shining Willow (Salix lucida), and Silky Willow (Salix sericea) are all good native shrubs, but Pussy Willow is likely the easiest to find.

Pussy Willow is a great choice for sunny wet areas, including rain gardens. It is an ideal solution for a soggy lawn area where rainwater tends to collect. All willows have extensive root systems that seek out water, so they should not be planted near a septic system, but they are perfect near a stream or pond or anywhere you want to stabilize a slope eroded by stormwater.

Deer will browse Pussy Willow, but because the shrub actually benefits from winter pruning, the nibbling is unlikely to harm the plant. Pussy Willows grow fast and are very resilient. In fact, many people propagate them simply by cutting off a dormant stem in winter and sticking it in the ground, or even a glass of water, until roots appear. Hardy in Zones 2 through 7, the only thing Pussy Willow does not tolerate well is shade. You’ll need at least a half day of sun, and plenty of water until the roots are established.

Pussy Willow is an all-around winner: easy to grow, interesting and attractive, incredibly valuable for the ecology, and a real problem-solver for a troublesome spot in the landscape.

So, where will you put it?

September 17, 2025September 18, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds

Where’s Autumn?

The Northeastern United States is famous for fall foliage. “Leaf peepers” come from all over the world to see our native plants in their dramatic fall colors.

Why, then, should a walk around suburban neighborhoods, in the same region during the same season, be so disappointing? Where are the colors?

The plants that thrill “leaf peepers” grew in abundance before the suburbs were developed, and they would still thrive here – if only they were planted! It seems that every suburban yard uses the same non-native “foundation plants” — boxwood, pachysandra, ivy, and hedges of yew or privet or even bamboo! – all completely devoid of our famous fall colors!

C’mon people! We can do so much better than this! Why not plant our yards with the same trees, shrubs, and perennials that make this region a tourist attraction in the fall? Let’s add some color, life, and seasonal interest beyond pumpkins! There are so many great choices with our incredible abundance of Northeastern native plants.

Red maple (*Acer rubrum*)
Photo: Michael Martini

The undisputed rock-stars of fall color are our native Maples, and Oak trees are a close second. If you have a lawn, you probably have room for a Maple or a native Oak. Oaks have enormous value for wildlife — and for homeowners! [See this blog post] Both Maples and Oaks are beautiful year-round, but autumn is their glory season.

Our native flowering trees are also brilliant in the fall. Nothing beats the American Dogwood (Cornus florida) with its intense maroon foliage and vivid scarlet berries. Crabapples (Malus spp.) also produce colorful fruit, and American Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) starts blooming in October!

The Northeast is also blessed with native shrubs that produce kaleidoscopic colors in the fall. While evergreen foundation shrubs are useful, why not add some of the flowering and fruiting native shrubs that bring color and interest in both spring and fall? Here are some easy choices to add to your yard. All of the shrubs pictured below are locally available, easy to grow, valuable to wildlife, have beautiful flowers, and are spectacular in the fall.

Oakleaf Hydrangea (*Hydrangea quercifolia*)

Possumhaw Viburum (*Viburnum nudum*) pictured with
American Witch Hazel

Low Bush Blueberry (*Vaccinium angustifolium*)

American Cranberrybush (*Viburnum trilobum*)

And don’t forget fall flowers and grasses in gorgeous colors!

Aromatic Aster (*Symphyotrichum oblongifolium* ‘Raydon’s Favorite’)

Switch Grass (*Panicum virgatum* ‘Cheyenne Sky’) shown with Ironweed (*Vernonia lettermanii* ‘Iron Butterfly’)

Not only are these plants beautiful, they are incredibly valuable to the ecosystem of the Northeastern US. So many suburban landscapes use non-native plants that offer nothing to birds, butterflies, bees and other insects, and many are destructively invasive as well. If your only fall color is coming from burning bush or Japanese maple, you may want to consider native alternatives for those reasons. Privet, bamboo, ivy, vinca, and pachysandra are all known to be invasive plants and can be replaced easily with native plants that are beautiful in the fall, and year-round.

And wouldn’t you enjoy an autumn view like this?

Willow leaf oak (*Quercus phellos*), American dogwood,
and Pin Oaks

And this?

Oaks, Inkberry (Ilex glabra), Blue Star (Amsonia tabernaemontana and A. hubrichtii), High Bush Blueberry(Vaccinium corymbosum), Common juniper, and Possumhaw Viburnum

The fall glory of native plants lies within your reach!

THIS BLOG IS AUTHORED BY CATHY LUDDEN, CONSERVATIONIST AND NATIVE PLANT EDUCATOR; AND BOARD MEMBER, NATURE CENTER at Greenburgh. FOLLOW CATHY ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PHOTOS AND GARDENING TIPS @CATHYLUDDEN.

July 2, 2025July 31, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Lawn Care, Native Plants

The All-American Yard

Summertime, and it’s the 4^th of July! American Independence Day!

We love celebrating the Stars & Stripes — flying the flag, draping patriotic bunting on the porch, and decorating everything with red, white, and blue.

But wait! Is your landscape part of the theme? Is it proudly American? Or is it decorated with English Ivy, Norway maple, Chinese silver grass, New Guinea impatiens, Korean dogwood, and Japanese honeysuckle? It’s a shame that so many suburban landscapes today are decidedly…. un-American!

Look around your neighborhood.

Do you see big open lawns extending right up to the house? That’s 19^th Century British style!

In the 1800’s, British aristocracy used cheap manual labor to maintain expansive lawns in a display of wealth and power.

Are there yards in your neighborhood with tightly-clipped evergreen shrubs arranged in rows? That style goes all the way back to 17^th Century France!

French royalty favored shrubs clipped into artificial shapes

Should we really be trying to copy that?

American history is closely tied to wilder, natural landscapes and a vast bounty of beautiful and useful plants. Those plants tell our American story!

For example, if you have an Eastern Red-cedar (Juniperis virginiana) in your yard, you should know that in 1584, English explorers were so awed by the incredible beauty and fragrance of Roanoke Island’s Eastern Red-cedars, they decided to make Roanoke the very first colonial settlement in America.

Many of our best native landscape plants today were critical to the life and survival of early American settlers. They used Witch-hazel (read more here & here), Arborvitae, Bee Ba l m, and hundreds of other plants for medicine. They learned which native plants were good for food and which were useful as building materials. They used native plants to improve their lives — native junipers made good pest repellents, and Bayberry scented their candles and removed odors in their homes.

The common names of many native plants still tell us so much about our past. In New England, colonists relied on the bloom time of Amalanchier shrubs to alert them to the beginning of the shad run as fish started migrating up-river from the sea, so they called the plant “Shadbush.” In other towns, settlers called the same plant “Serviceberry” because its bloom time marked the season when traveling ministers who performed wedding and funeral services could begin using local roads again as the snow melted. Those uses may be gone, but the names still link us to our history.

*Amelanchier*, “Serviceberry” or “Shadbush”

You could show your patriotism on Independence Day by planting a White Pine in your yard. Before the Revolution, the English Crown claimed exclusive use of all American White Pines for the British Royal Navy for ship masts. The Crown’s over-reach triggered the first violent protest by Americans against the British, which likely served as inspiration for the Boston Tea Party. In another practical act of rebellion, colonists started making their own ink and cloth dyes from Pokeweed, an American plant, thereby avoiding British taxes on imports.

Indigenous people introduced colonists to Joe Pye weed as an effective treatment for typhus, and so it was named for a highly-respected indigenous leader. Amsonia or Eastern Blue Star was named for a physician who once treated George Washington, and two early American botanists named their discoveries of indigenous woodland plants, Jeffersonia diphylla and Franklinia alatamaha, after our founding fathers. Both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were hobby botanists, and when Washington lost interest in European plants, he began collecting and growing native American Redbud trees, among others, for his own estate.

From the first Thanksgiving through the War of Independence, America’s native plants supported settlers and, quite literally, built America. But today, as more Americans have moved to suburban areas, landscapes composed mostly of lawn grass, with a few tightly-clipped, non-native shrubs, have become standard.

The resulting loss of insects, birds, and wildlife is well-documented and tragic. By eliminating pesticides, reducing lawn, and planting native trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials, homeowners and gardeners can help save and rebuild American biodiversity.

But we can also reclaim American history! Learning about native plants teaches us about our past. The best landscapes give us a sense of place and connect us to what is truly American.

Let’s celebrate the 4^th of July by planting a few great American plants! Many have been featured in this blog over the past several years. Maybe the Goldenrod called ‘Fireworks’ would be appropriate?

So, buy American! Plant American! Go USA!

June 27, 2024February 12, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Walk This Way…

A paved walkway to the front door is one of the most common features of suburban residential landscapes. And it’s important! It is a visitor’s first impression of your home and a major element of “curb appeal.” Landscape design professionals recommend planting your walkway to welcome visitors and visually direct them to the correct entrance while giving them something interesting and beautiful to see along the way.

A well-planted entry walk guides visitors to the front door.

The entry path to the Greenburgh Nature Center in spring.

But a paved walkway presents multiple challenges for landscaping. The process of paving, whether with stone, concrete, brick, or asphalt, often damages the adjacent soil, leaving it compacted, dry, and rocky with bits of concrete and masonry that can significantly alter soil pH and create poor planting conditions.

New construction of paved areas can leave depleted soil.

Paved surfaces are also warmer in summer and colder in winter than the surrounding soil. Pavement reflects summer heat onto adjacent areas and can hold that heat long after sunset. Frozen pavement, on the other hand, can be even colder than surrounding air and soil temperatures, and snow cleared from walkways often includes salt or ice-melting products damaging to plants. With these extremes, it can be challenging to find plants that will look good and survive year-round.

Understandably, many suburban homeowners opt for planting nothing at all along walkways.

Others plant a row of annuals every summer only to watch them wither and die long before fall (New Guinea impatiens anyone?). Most annuals are tropical plants that evolved in the understory of rainforests. The harsh conditions along a paved entry path are a far cry from the rich, wet soil in the shady jungles of equatorial New Guinea!

So, what can you plant along an entry path that will survive tough conditions through summer and winter, and still come back strong in the spring?

Consider plants that evolved in regions with baking hot summers, freezing winters, poor hard packed soil, and weather that can alternate between drought and flood. America’s great prairies and dry meadows are the original habitats of a vast array of hardy native plants. With variations in annual rainfall, soil depth, tree cover, and elevation, an incredible variety of grasses, flowering plants, and hardy shrubs evolved in those challenging landscapes. These native plants are ideal for the conditions so often found on paths from sidewalks and driveways to front doors throughout suburban neighborhoods.

The bonus is that these plants also feed native bees and butterflies and need very little care. Many of them already have been featured in prior posts of this blog. Take a look at these plants as you consider re-designing your entry path, and follow the links below for more information and photos:

Blue-eyed Grass (*Sisyrinchium angustifolium*) is a
cheerful sight lining a sunny path.

Field Pussy-toes (*Antennaria neglecta* or *A. plantaginifolia*) is a grey-green ground cover with
adorable cat-paw flowers.

Prairie Dropseed (*Sporobolus heterolepsis*) is a small
ornamental grass with a soft look and a lovely scent.

mountain-mint — Mountain Mint (*Pycnanthemum muticum*) grows about 2 ½ feet tall,
has flowers that last for months, and smells wonderful.

Yet another prairie plant that looks great along a path is Prairie Smoke (Geum trilflorum). Its nodding pink flowers turn into puffs that give it another common name, Old Man’s Whiskers. The foliage stays fresh all summer and turns a lovely burgundy in the fall. It is not bothered by snow cover in the winter or hot dry summers.

Prairie Smoke in stages of spring bloom.

Another reliable low-growing groundcover that can fill in along a path mixed with shrubs and taller perennials is Barren Strawberry (Waldsteinia fragaroides). Blooming with bright yellow buttercup-type flowers for weeks from spring into summer, and semi-evergreen through the winter, it spreads slowly and is exceptionally hardy.

Barren Strawberry (*Waldsteinia fragaroides*) in March.

The most attractive pathway gardens include a variety of native perennials, grasses, and shrubs to create four seasons of interest.

A mixed border makes a path interesting.

There are a number of tough native shrubs that mix beautifully with perennials to create a real garden on the way to your front door:

Shrubby St. John’s Wort (*Hypericum frondosum*, or *H. prolificum*, or the pictured *H. kalmianum*)
are similar species, but different sizes, and all bloom with bright yellow pom-poms
adored by bumblebees.

Another great shrub for the entry path is Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa). Its flowers may be bright yellow or nearly white, its foliage a soft gray/green, and it blooms all summer long, much to the delight of native pollinators.

An entry path with Potentilla in full bloom.

So, there are many beautiful options for designing a durable planted path to welcome visitors (and nature!) to your front door. Think about pushing your lawn away from the path and giving a bit more space to a native garden that says: “walk this way!”

THIS BLOG IS WRITTEN BY CATHY LUDDEN, CONSERVATIONIST AND NATIVE PLANT EDUCATOR; AND BOARD MEMBER, GREENBURGH NATURE CENTER. FOLLOW CATHY ON INSTAGRAM FOR MORE PHOTOS AND GARDENING TIPS @CATHYLUDDEN.

March 26, 2024January 7, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Ready, Set, Shop!

Are you thinking about what to plant in your garden this year? Nurseries are already displaying their new stock, and native plant sales are popping up everywhere. It’s time to make your shopping list for spring planting. And we can help!

Over the past few seasons, “Around the Grounds” has recommended some great native perennials that will bring life to your garden. Here are some of our favorite flowering plants — with links to blog posts containing photos and tons of information about each of them:

For Sunny Gardens

Sneezeweed (Helenium autumnale) – late bloomer, hot colors

Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) – fall bloomer, essential for pollinators

Milkweed (Asclepius spp.) – long bloom time, critical for Monarchs

Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea or aptera) – blooms early and long

Blue False Indigo (Baptisia australis) – long-lived, shrub-like spring bloomer

Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum spp.) – fragrant long bloomer

Joe Pye Weed (Eutrochium spp.) – tall butterfly magnet

Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) – long-blooming butterfly favorite

White Turtlehead (Chelone glabra) – late blooming bumblebee favorite

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) – red spikes for hummingbirds

Coral Bells (Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’) – deer-resistant hosta substitute

Bluestar (Amsonia tabernaemontana) – shrub-like, blooms early

For Shady Gardens

Native Bleeding Heart (Dicentra eximia) – long bloomer, hardy

Goatsbeard (Aruncus dioicus) – large, showy white flowers

Pink Turtlehead (Chelone lyonii) – shrub-like with pink flowers

Wild ginger (Asarum canadensis) – low ground cover, hidden flowers

Golden groundsel (Packera aurea) – shade/sun flowering groundcover

Creeping Sedge (Carex laxiculmus) – clumping grass that stays blue all winter

Violets (Viola sororia) – early flowering groundcover

All of these plants evolved in our region, are well-adapted to our soil and weather, and support native insect and bird populations. Many are deer-resistant and drought-tolerant. You can learn more about their favorite garden conditions in the linked blog posts.

We’ve also recommended ferns, grasses, shrubs, and trees, so browse older posts by clicking on the “Around the Grounds Collection” button below.

Happy spring shopping! And if you live in the Greenburg, NY area, mark your calendar for our spring plant sale on May 13 where many of these plants will be available.