February 2, 2024
Lauren Vires, Wildlife & Education Specialist, Fairfield SWCD

With spring right around the corner, you may be thinking ahead to warmer days spent working in your yard or garden. What might you plant this year? Have you considered adding more trees and shrubs to your landscape? There is a lot that goes into selecting the right tree. You’ll want to consider the size and shape of the tree, what light requirements it has, and what soil conditions it will thrive in. You’ll also want to consider what your goals are.

Trees are a long-term investment as they will often outlive the ones who planted it. Your interest in producing a certain product, providing shade, adding beautiful aesthetics to your yard, or increasing wildlife habitat will benefit generations to come. If benefiting wildlife is your goal, there are many trees and shrubs you can consider that provide excellent food sources and fill habitat needs for a variety of species.

Nutrient dense nuts, fruits, and seeds are very important food sources for many wildlife species. This is especially true during the winter when insects and other food sources are no longer available. Black tupelo trees, also known as black gum, produce clusters of dark blue berries that ripen around October. These berries are well loved by many bird and mammal species like robins, mockingbirds, woodpeckers, foxes and black bears. It also doesn’t hurt that these trees have an attractive pyramidal shape, and striking red- and orange-colored leaves in the fall. It’s important to note that these trees are dioecious with some trees producing male flowers and others producing female flowers and only those with female flowers will produce the berries.

Oak trees provide great food sources for wildlife in multiple ways. Acorns that are produced by oak trees are high in fat and protein. Acorns are a favorite of deer, turkey, squirrels, mice, wood ducks, and blue jays. Squirrels will even gather and hide these acorns in a cache that they pull from all winter long. Oak trees also serve as a host for hundreds of different kinds of caterpillars. Many of these caterpillars will be eaten by warblers and other songbirds all summer long, many others will complete their lifecycle and go on to reproduce such as luna and imperial moths.

There are several other trees and shrubs that benefit our native insect and pollinator populations as well.
Spicebush is a shrub that serves as a host for the eastern tiger swallowtail and spicebush swallowtail butterflies, as well as several moth species. When these caterpillars aren’t eating away at the leaves of this plant, you might find them in a rolled-up leaf tunnel they’ve created with their silk. An interesting feature of this plant is the pleasant aroma of their leaves when crushed. It smells like a mix of spices, which is where this plant gets its name. The red berries produced by this shrub are also great food sources for many bird species.

Arrowwood viburnum is a shrub that is highly adaptable to many growing conditions and can be a great addition to your landscaping. By mid-to-late spring these shrubs will be blooming with creamy white flowers full of nectar that attract a variety of bees and butterflies. It also serves as the host plant for the spring azure butterfly. By mid-to-late summer these shrubs will produce dark berries that attract a variety of birds.

Overwinter, wildlife are in need of shelter that will protect them from the wind, snow, and cold temperatures. Thicket forming shrubs and coniferous trees can provide that as the intertwined branches and pine needles create more of a barrier to the wintery conditions.

When shrubs like the red osier dogwood are planted close together, they can create a protective hedge. An added bonus of this plant is its attractive red bark and the berries and flowers it will produce in the spring and summer. The eastern white pine can also provide excellent winter cover but also serves as a great source of seeds for many wildlife species as well as nest cover in the spring. Wildlife that may benefit from these winter covers are chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, rabbits, squirrels, and more.

While this is not an all-inclusive list of the trees and shrubs that benefit wildlife, these are a few species that you will find available in the Fairfield Soil and Water Conservation District’s seedling tree sale. Please visit fairfieldswcd.org for more information and order forms. Orders by check/cash are due to the Fairfield SWCD office by March 7. Orders by credit card can be placed online at lickingswcd.com by March 21. If you have questions about this year’s sale, please call the Fairfield SWCD office at (740) 653-8154.