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January 27, 2022February 14, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Lookin’ Good, Leucothoe!

Leucothoe has a lot going for it:

It is a beautiful, flowering, evergreen, deer-resistant, low-maintenance, native shrub. It works very well as a foundation plant, groundcover, hedge, tree-underplanting, or pathway lining. With all these virtues, why is this excellent plant so under-used in our suburban landscapes?

Maybe it’s because nobody knows how to pronounce it? We’ve heard it said:

Lew-COE-tho-way, Lew-COE-tho-wee, and LEW-cuh-tho – and all those from experts! We favor the first choice, but if you’re shopping for it, the nursery staff likely will understand any of those options.

Or maybe Leucothoe suffers from the horrifying Greek myth behind the name? Poor Leucothoe was an innocent young woman whose father punished her, for entirely wrong reasons (look it up!), by burying her alive, whereupon she turned into a plant! Of course, it wasn’t this plant, because this plant is native to the Eastern US, and the ancient Greeks didn’t even know it existed.

Leucothoe in early summer with Christmas fern

Whatever the reason, Leucothoe definitely should be better known. There are actually two species of Leucothoe native to the East Coast. Leucothoe fontanesiana ranges from Louisiana to New York, while Leucothoe axillaris naturally appears only as far north as Delaware. It is not easy to tell the two species apart, and there are cultivars with fancy leaf colors derived from both. We see Leucothoe axillaris sold here frequently as Coast or Coastal Leucothoe. Leucothoe fontanesiana tends to grow a little taller, so read the nursery tag to see what the grower indicates for size.

So why should you know this plant? Leucothoe is beautiful, with gracefully arching stems and shiny, evergreen leaves. It is easy to grow, and incredibly useful. It typically grows about 3 feet high, and slowly spreads wider. It is naturally an understory plant, so it is happiest in shade, but will live in sun if it has enough moisture. Leucothoe is perfect as an evergreen ground cover, especially near wooded areas where pachysandra or ivy would pose an invasive threat. It will retain moisture and suppress weeds, so you can use it instead of mulch around trees or shrubs.

Leucothoe in winter as an evergreen ground cover

Leucothoe evolved growing in the relatively mild winters of Southeastern forests. It is a Zone 5 to 7 plant, so it should be protected from the coldest winter wind. You can use it as a foundation plant on the shady side of the house and not worry about having to prune it for size. It can drape over a stone wall or define the edge of a garden path. Pro tip: although sold in nursery pots with instructions to plant in a hole the same depth as the pot, we find Leucothoe likes to have its roots spread out wide and shallow, which makes it easier to plant around established trees and shrubs, too.

Leucothoe is great under trees and larger shrubs

Leucothoe flowers in late spring with little white bells that look like lily-of-the-valley, though the leaves hide the flowers to some extent. New leaves emerge in red or bronze shades before turning deep green. In winter, the shiny green leaves are very welcome.

Leucothoe survives heavy deer predation in a local park

Did we mention deer-resistant? We have found Leucothoe thriving in the woods in winter in areas known to be major deer hang-outs. And on our grounds at the Nature Center, Leucothoe is the only native woodland plant that really holds its own against the invasion of English ivy.

On the forest floor, Leucothoe fights back against invasive ivy and burning bush

So, consider Leucothoe as a native substitute for English ivy, Japanese pachysandra, vinca, or wintercreeper – all known to be seriously invasive if they reach wooded areas. Leucothoe forms a shiny, dark green skirt for the base of trees, leggy shrubs, or fences. It looks good all winter, and will still be looking good when the daffodils bloom in spring.

This blog is authored weekly 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.

January 13, 2022February 14, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Winter’s Green

Recently in Around the Grounds, we featured native shrubs that add splashes of color to the winter landscape. (Read our Winterberry and Red Osier Dogwood posts here.) While brilliant berries and colorful bark are important for winter interest, evergreen shrubs are the backbone of the garden, providing structure throughout the year. And, as we remind ourselves, green is a color, too!

Unfortunately, our suburban landscapes tend to use a very limited repertoire of evergreen plants. We think there are better and more interesting choices than boxwood and taxus for residential foundation plantings. Take a look at some of the evergreens we’ve used at the Nature Center:

Inkberry shrubs define the edge of our patio garden all year

One of our favorites is the native Inkberry (Ilex glabra). Inkberry resembles boxwood, with similar dark green, shiny leaves. And, like boxwood, it can be pruned into a hedge, or a sphere, or any shape Edward Scissorhands might fancy. We prefer to let it take a natural, rounded shape with dense branches as hiding places for songbirds.

Inkberry looks similar to boxwood or Japanese holly, but is hardier

Unlike boxwood, Inkberry is adapted to our climate because it is native here. Boxwood originated in southern Europe, northern Africa, and western Asia; all climates very different from ours. Gardeners here are advised to wrap boxwood with burlap in winter to protect it from cold, wind, and salt – not a great look for “winter interest.”

Unlike Inkberry, boxwood needs protection from winter weather

Inkberry is not only cold-tolerant, even to temps below zero, but it enjoys our acidic soil and doesn’t mind sitting in water after heavy rainfalls. It is deer-resistant and salt-tolerant. It does prefer full sun, but can handle some shade. The straight species will get 6 to 8 feet tall, but it can be sheared and shorter cultivars are available.

We’re not sure why so many suburban dwellers like plants pruned into ball shapes, but we do know a native evergreen that will take that shape without any help! Growers have developed cultivars of our native Arborvitae that grow naturally into a ball shape without pruning.

Globe Arborvitae grows in a spherical shape

Arborvitae (Thuja occidentalis), also known as Eastern or Northern White Cedar, is very familiar as a tree; often used as a hedge or screen. It is native to our region and has wildlife value as a nesting site and seed supply for birds. Be advised that it is also famously attractive to deer. Some sellers of Globe Arborvitae claim the shrub is more deer-resistant than the tree, but we planted it close to a busy patio just in case. There are numerous cultivars of Globe Arborvitae available, with varying maximum sizes and slight color variations. Because we always prefer native plants, we would choose this little shrub over either boxwood or taxus – and we don’t have to prune it!

On our patio, Globe Arborvitae echos the rounded form of Inkberry

Another delightful evergreen shrub developed from a native tree is Pinus strobus ‘Soft Touch’ or Dwarf Eastern White Pine. ‘Soft Touch’ makes a great foundation plant. It is slow-growing, eventually taking a flattened shape no more than 2 feet tall, and wider than it is tall. It stays a lovely bright green all winter long. Its needles really are soft to the touch, and it’s hard to resist giving it a pat every now and then.

Dwarf White Pine ‘Soft Touch’ at the Manor House foundation

At the entrance to the Nature Center, we use another dwarf evergreen as a container plant. Dwarf Alberta Spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’) also was developed from a very large native tree, the White Spruce. This dwarf variety is very slow-growing and maintains its classic Christmas tree shape without pruning. It can live for years in containers, but should eventually be given some space in the landscape. It can become a 10-13 foot tree in time, so we will have to turn ours loose on the grounds in a few more years.

Consider adding winter’s native greens to your landscape

December 30, 2021February 14, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

‘Tis the Season to be Holly

Holly has been associated with winter holidays since long before Christmas celebrations began. It is thought that ancient Romans decorated with holly for Saturnalia, the winter feast in honor of Saturn. Druids and Celts believed the plant had magical powers because while all other trees lost their leaves, the holly not only stayed green, but displayed brilliant red berries in the darkest days of winter. So, holly branches have been cut and used for winter decorations for thousands of years. Our seasonal color scheme of red and green no doubt originated with holly.

Midwinter sunlight catches American holly near the Meadow

How fortunate that European settlers in the American colonies found a new species of their favorite winter plant growing here! American holly (Ilex opaca) differs from European holly in subtle ways and it can be difficult to tell them apart. The leaves of the American holly are not as shiny as the European variety, and the berries are often single rather than in clusters.

American holly trees typically grow 15 to 40 feet tall and 8 to 15 feet wide, but they can reach 60 feet where they are happy. They prefer well-drained, moist, acidic soil, and full sun for best berry production. Like other hollies, they are dioecious with male and female flowers on separate plants. For best fruiting, a male tree should be within 50 feet or so of the female.

An American holly tree in the suburban landscape

American holly is well-adapted to our area, of course, because it evolved here over thousands of years. It is less vulnerable to winter winds than many of the European varieties and it enjoys our acidic soil. It is a care-free evergreen and makes an effective year-round privacy screen. In a mixed evergreen border with Rhododendron maximum, White pine, and native junipers, it is not only attractive, but provides food and safe nesting habitat for birds.

A native mixed evergreen border with American holly

And when the winter holidays are here? What better combo than White pine, Winterberry, and American holly for the cheeriest “winter interest” in the neighborhood?

American holly, Winterberry, and White pine at the entrance to the Meadow at the Nature Center

We think that’s just jolly!

This blog is authored weekly by Cathy Ludden, local expert and advocate for native plants; and Board Member, Greenburgh Nature Center. Follow Cathy on Instagram for more photos and gardening tips @cathyludden.

December 24, 2021February 14, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

Deck the Halls…and Gardens

Every landscape needs “winter interest,” and several of our favorite native shrubs are real show-offs this time of year.

Without a doubt, the star of the season is Winterberry (Ilex verticillata). Winterberry is a holly, but unlike most hollies, it is deciduous – meaning it loses its leaves in the fall. And that’s a good thing! The berries start turning red in October while the leaves are still green. Weeks later, the leaves drop off revealing brilliant clusters of berries that remain all winter.

Or, at least, the berries could remain all winter unless the local birds have other ideas. We assumed for a long time that the berries needed all winter to ripen, because neither rain nor snow nor dark of night caused them to disappear until robins returned in the spring.

But in some years, mockingbirds, blue jays, and cardinals seem to celebrate the holidays with Winterberry snacks. So, we can’t totally promise the berries will remain all winter. But the robins definitely will finish up whatever is left in the spring.

If you have a boggy area on your property, Winterberry is a great choice – it will live in standing water and will happily send out shoots to form a thicket. So, it’s a great choice for a rain garden or a problem wet area. It does well in average garden soil as well, with full sun and regular moisture, and can be controlled easily by removing new shoots.

Like other hollies, Winterberry is dioecious, meaning both male and female plants are necessary for berry production. Bees visit the flowers on the male plant and carry the pollen to the flowers on the female plants to fertilize the ova and produce berries. Your local nursery will sell you a male shrub to plant somewhere near the female so bees can find both plants when they bloom in the spring. The flowers are small and white and not very noticeable, but the shrub is a lovely deep green all summer long.

Winterberry can grow 8 to 12 feet tall, but can be pruned for shape and size. There are cultivars that naturally stay much smaller – ‘Red Sprite’ takes a rounded shape and stays 3 to 4 feet tall. You’ll need ‘Jim Dandy,’ the male pollinating plant, to get berries on ‘Red Sprite.’ We suggest avoiding the recently-introduced Asian hybrids of Winterberry. The value of their berries for native birds and the risk of them becoming invasive are unknown.

Full-sized Winterberry in front of the Manor House at the Nature Center

‘Red Sprite’ is a compact form of the native shrub

This time of year, you may find whole branches of Winterberry mysteriously disappearing when it’s time to decorate for the holidays. The Garden Club of Irvington recently collected Winterberry and other foraged materials from our grounds to decorate the Nature Center. The impact of Winterberry on our fireplace mantles is spectacular! (Word of caution: the berries can be toxic to dogs, cats, and toddlers, so it’s best to keep them out of reach.)

A member of the Garden Club of Irvington decorates the Manor House mantel

Deck the halls with boughs of Winterberry

Winter solstice is nigh, and the Winterberry is bright!

November 24, 2021February 14, 2025 Cathy Ludden Around the Grounds, Native Plants

From Ho-hum to Home Sweet Home

People call these ornamental shrubs. But are they? Ornamental, really?

All around us we see the same limited palette of non-native, often dangerously invasive, and dull landscape choices. In pursuit of the aesthetic of “neat and tidy,” these shrubs are often hacked into unnatural shapes that do little to inspire or attract. Most of these plants offer less than two weeks of landscape interest (looking at you, forsythia and burning bush) and just occupy space the rest of the year.

Two years ago, when we re-designed the foundation plantings around the Manor House at the Nature Center, we included under-used native shrubs that can beautify and diversify typical suburban plantings while providing necessary food and shelter for pollinators and birds. These are plants that look good while doing good.

A variety of all-native plants in our foundation landscape design

Under windows, or anywhere you need shrubs that stay fairly low, consider Itea virginiana (Virginia sweetspire). Itea blooms with delicate, but showy, white flowers in spring, attracting lots of butterflies. It has lush green leaves on arching stems all summer and rarely needs pruning. In fall, the leaves turn multiple shades of purple and red and hang on until the very end of the season. Itea will tolerate a half-day of shade, but its fall color is best in full sun.

In a spot where you can use more height, try the magnificent native Viburnam nudum, also called Witherod or Possum Haw. This shrub attracts butterflies in spring with big fans of white blossoms. Its leaves are shiny and deep green. Then, in late summer, it produces berries in multiple colors that ripen into raisin-like fruits birds love. And for its last act before winter, the shiny leaves of Witherod Viburnum turn fall colors that put burning bush to shame.

Viburnam nudum gracefully grows 6 to 12 feet tall

Late summer berries will ripen from white to pink to blue

For mid-summer razzle dazzle, you can’t beat Shrubby St. John’s wort (Hypericum prolificum). This shrub is a great foundation plant with a naturally rounded shape and airy grey-green leaves on warm grey stems. Its fall color is mostly yellow, but it holds its leaves until very late in the season. It is one of the first plants to leaf out in the spring, so it looks great all year.

Shrubby St. John’s wort near the Manor House entrance

But its real star power shines in mid-to-late summer when it produces loads of bright yellow powder-puff flowers for at least a month. The flowers have no nectar, but are loaded with pollen. Bumblebees nuzzle into the flowers making all of the little stamens tremble and vibrate.

But you don’t have to worry about the bumblebees stinging – they are so obsessed with collecting pollen, they don’t notice you at all. It’s fun to watch them, and you can almost hear the shrub buzz as you walk by.

Foundation plantings should be interesting, diverse, and useful to the ecology. If we can have multiple-season interest with native shrubs, why limit ourselves to the same old/same old “ornamental” plants we see too often?