# Shade Understory Pack

> Five native shrubs and small trees for shade under oaks: spicebush, witch hazel, pawpaw, American hornbeam and leatherwood, flowering from March to November.

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

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.

## Plants in the set

- [Spicebush](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/spicebush/index.html.md) (*Lindera benzoin*): Shrub, zones 4 to 9, 6 to 12 ft, not yet priced online. Yellow flowers in March, spicy-scented leaves, red berries for thrushes and the host plant of the spicebush swallowtail.
- [Witch Hazel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/witch-hazel/index.html.md) (*Hamamelis virginiana*): Shrub, zones 3 to 8, 12 to 20 ft, not yet priced online. The last flower of the year: ribbon-like yellow blooms in November as the golden leaves fall.
- [Pawpaw](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/pawpaw/index.html.md) (*Asimina triloba*): Small tree, zones 5 to 9, 15 to 30 ft, not yet priced online. The largest native fruit in North America, custard-sweet and tropical, on an understory tree of rich bottomlands.
- [American Hornbeam (Musclewood)](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-hornbeam/index.html.md) (*Carpinus caroliniana*): Small tree, zones 3 to 9, 20 to 35 ft, not yet priced online. Smooth, sinewy gray trunks, orange-red fall color and complete comfort in shade and damp soil.
- [Eastern Leatherwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-leatherwood/index.html.md) (*Dirca palustris*): Shrub, zones 4 to 9, 3 to 6 ft, not yet priced online. Tiny yellow flowers in the first week of spring, on a rare, slow shade shrub with bark you can tie in knots.

## Why these five go together

This is the understory of an eastern oak woods, sold as a set. Spicebush opens the year with yellow flowers in March, leatherwood follows in the first week of spring, pawpaw and hornbeam fill the middle layer through summer, and witch hazel closes it with ribbon flowers in November as its leaves turn gold. Every one of them is at home in shade.

Two of them are host plants that a butterfly cannot do without: spicebush for the spicebush swallowtail and pawpaw for the zebra swallowtail. Spicebush berries, high in fat, feed thrushes on their way south, and pawpaw carries the largest native fruit in North America.

## Where it fits

The set wants the dappled or high shade under tall trees, in ordinary to moist soil; spicebush, pawpaw, hornbeam and leatherwood all take ground that stays wet, and witch hazel is content with average moisture. Together they are hardy in zones 5 through 8 (witch hazel and hornbeam alone go to zone 3, spicebush and leatherwood to zone 4, pawpaw to zone 9).

Heights run in steps: leatherwood 3 to 6 feet, spicebush 6 to 12, witch hazel 12 to 20, pawpaw 15 to 30 and hornbeam 20 to 35, so the pack layers naturally, with hornbeam and pawpaw toward the back and leatherwood at the front of the view.

## Planting the pack

Plant dormant, in holes no deeper than the roots, under a mulch of the leaves that fall from the canopy above rather than wood chips. Pawpaw fruits only when two unrelated trees stand within reach of each other, and only female spicebush carries berries, so plant three to five spicebush seedlings and at least two pawpaws.

Hornbeam and leatherwood are slow and never need pruning. Leave the swallowtail caterpillars that roll spicebush and pawpaw leaves in summer; they are the point of the planting.

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.
- [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.
- [Bird & Berry Hedgerow](https://bluewhaletrees.com/bundles/bird-hedgerow/index.html.md): A mixed native hedge that fruits from June through the following March, with dense cover for nesting and thorns at the edges. 7 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.