Subject: [Tweeters] fruit to attract yard birds (jstewart@olympus.net)
Date: Mon Jul 30 17:36:23 PDT 2018
From: Dee Dee - deedeeknit at yahoo.com

Good suggestions so far...want to add that NW native Evergreen Huckleberry bushes are drought tolerant, evergreen, prunable/hardy, and attractive in the landscape. In addition, mine have proven the most popular all-around shrub in my yard (Edmonds area, within a couple of blocks of the Sound, to give an idea of my micro-climate). I mentioned drought-tolerant however an occasional watering in long dry spells like we've had this year, will help ensure more wildlife-supporting berries.

My 3 shrubs are the variety Vaccinium ovatum 'Thunderbird' (which was the only kind I could find back when we were landscaping)-;I don't like the idea of digging them up out in our dwindling wild areas unless you know they would be destroyed in any case such as when land development is about to occur). There are doubtless other nice varieties.
For supporting wildlife, they are superb, producing attractive, abundant blossoms and then berry crop over a sustained period. Whether for the fruit or the insects that live in the bushes, the shrubs are used by just about everyone in my yard, including regulars (e.g., hummers, white-crowned sparrows, house finches, towhees, robins, juncos, Bewicks wrens, flickers-;including the one who took a nap tucked into one of the bushes for over 15 minutes-;and others) to passersby like yellow-rumped warblers, bushtits.... And by the way, the tangy-sweet fruit make a nice people-snack when out in the yard, although I try to limit what I take to just a refreshing few now and then, since they are there primarily for the critters!

Dee W
Edmonds