# Bird & Berry Hedgerow

> A native hedge for birds: serviceberry, elderberry, chokeberry, nannyberry, winterberry, hawthorn and crabapple, fruiting from June to the following March.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/bird-hedgerow/

A mixed native hedge that fruits from June through the following March, with dense cover for nesting and thorns at the edges.

## Plants in the set

- [Downy Serviceberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/downy-serviceberry/index.html.md) (*Amelanchier arborea*): Small tree, zones 4 to 9, 15 to 25 ft, not yet priced online. First to bloom in the woods, first fruit of summer, and orange-red fall color; a four-season small tree.
- [Black Elderberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-elderberry/index.html.md) (*Sambucus canadensis*): Shrub, zones 3 to 9, 6 to 12 ft, not yet priced online. Broad white flower plates in June, purple-black berries in August, and a magnet for dozens of bird species.
- [Black Chokeberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-chokeberry/index.html.md) (*Aronia melanocarpa*): Shrub, zones 3 to 8, 3 to 6 ft, not yet priced online. White spring flowers, glossy black antioxidant-rich berries and some of the best red fall color of any shrub.
- [Nannyberry](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/nannyberry/index.html.md) (*Viburnum lentago*): Shrub, zones 2 to 8, 12 to 18 ft, not yet priced online. A big, adaptable viburnum with creamy flowers, edible blue-black fruit and wine-red fall color.
- [Winterberry Holly](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/winterberry/index.html.md) (*Ilex verticillata*): Shrub, zones 3 to 9, 6 to 12 ft, not yet priced online. Bare winter branches lined with scarlet berries, on a deciduous holly that loves wet ground.
- [Washington Hawthorn](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/washington-hawthorn/index.html.md) (*Crataegus phaenopyrum*): Small tree, zones 4 to 8, 20 to 30 ft, not yet priced online. White June flowers, glossy red fruit that hangs into winter, and a thorny crown that shelters nesting birds.
- [American Crabapple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-crabapple/index.html.md) (*Malus coronaria*): Small tree, zones 4 to 8, 15 to 30 ft, not yet priced online. Fragrant pink-white blossoms in May and hard green fruit that makes exceptional jelly.

## Why these seven go together

A hedge that feeds birds in every month is a matter of sequence. Downy serviceberry ripens first, in June, and is stripped by waxwings and orioles within days. Black elderberry follows in August, chokeberry and nannyberry in late summer and fall, and then the winter plants take over: winterberry, whose scarlet fruit is passed over in fall and eaten in the hard weeks of February, and Washington hawthorn and American crabapple, which hold fruit into spring. Every one of the seven flowers first, in April, May or June, for the bees.

The hedge is cover as well as food. Hawthorn and crabapple are thorny and hold nests; elderberry is a favorite nest site; the dense mixed growth is where a catbird or a towhee lives.

## Where it fits

A property line, a fence row, the edge of a lawn against woods. Hawthorn and crabapple want full sun; the rest take light shade. Ordinary soil suits all seven; elderberry, chokeberry, nannyberry and winterberry also stand wet ground, and hawthorn, chokeberry and nannyberry take dry. Together they are hardy in zones 4 through 8.

Heights: chokeberry 3 to 6 feet, elderberry and winterberry 6 to 12, nannyberry 12 to 18, serviceberry and crabapple 15 to 30, hawthorn 20 to 30. Set the small trees at the ends and along the back, the shrubs between, about 6 feet apart, and let the hedge fill in.

## Planting the hedgerow

Plant dormant in a strip cleared of grass, mulch with leaves, and cage or fence the row for two years against deer and rabbits. Winterberry needs a male within about 50 feet for every ten females, so plant five or more and let the odds give you both. Elderberry suckers and can be cut to the ground every few years; the rest need only the removal of dead wood.

Skip the insecticide: the caterpillars on the hedge in May are what the nestlings eat, and a sprayed hedge is a quiet one.

Order the plants individually from their pages, or email captain@bluewhaletrees.com to have the whole set put together at the sizes on hand.

## Other bundles

- [Honey Tree Trio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/honey-trio/index.html.md): Three of the finest nectar trees in eastern North America. Black locust and basswood give the lightest, most sought-after honeys; black gum flowers between them and colors scarlet in fall. 3 plants.
- [Shade Understory Pack](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/shade-understory/index.html.md): Five plants that are happiest under a canopy of oaks: flowers from March to November, fruit for thrushes, and the host plants of two swallowtails. 5 plants.
- [Wet Spot Pack](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/wet-spot/index.html.md): For the corner where the lawn drowns every spring. Every plant here tolerates standing water, and together they give fragrance, winter berries and year-round structure. 6 plants.
- [Dry Sandy Site Pack](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/dry-sandy/index.html.md): Pine-barrens and prairie toughness for sand, gravel and drought: two shrub oaks, two fruit plants, prairie leadplant and the best fall color on a dry bank. 6 plants.
- [Native Edible Orchard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/edible-orchard/index.html.md): A food forest from native species only: fruit from June to October, nuts in the fall, and no spray program. 6 plants.
- [Rare Oak Collection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/rare-oak-collection/index.html.md): Five oaks almost nobody grows, from two-foot scrub oaks to an eighty-foot bottomland giant. A living collection for a large property or a conservation planting. 5 plants.