Spring gardens are a bounty of colors and fragrance. Here in southwestern Connecticut, the pink candy cotton flowering cherries compete with the sweet fragrance of koreanspice viburnum which is vying for attention with the assorted gumball colors of azaleas and hybrid rhododendrons.
For some, these garden standards define Spring, but it’s important to realize that many are one-trick ponies, offering a few weeks of color in the garden and then that’s it. They do not support local wildlife by offering their leaves as larval host plants, their flowers, especially the frilly double ones, do not offer nectar to pollinators and they do not produce berries or nuts that will feed songbirds and small mammals in the coming months.
If you’d like to make your garden more wildlife-friendly without sacrificing any of the color, fragrance or spring pizzazz, here’s a look at some native spring-flowering trees and shrubs that will be a treat for you and for the local birds, bees, butterflies and more.
What’s blooming in your garden right now?
