Choose native shrubs to avoid insect pest problems

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If you want a low-fuss landscape where you don’t have to worry as much about pest problems, look to native plants. Besides being beautiful and well suited to your region, they are naturally resilient to pest pressure. Think about it. When you look in the fields and forests, you might notice a few tent caterpillars or nibbled leaves. Overall, there is rarely a situation where the entire native tree or shrub is decimated.

There’s no question I love the flowers and perennials better suited in other climates. As I grow older – and supposedly wiser – I’m working more native plants into the landscape. This is because once they’re established, they require very little care.

Recently I’ve given several talks on planting fruiting shrubs to provide longterm fruit production with minimal effort because it simply makes so much sense. Once established, these hardy native shrubs, or at least regionally similar varieties, take care of themselves with very little insect pest pressure even if deer and birds are a completely different topic!

Some of my favorite fruiting shrubs include:

American Plum – It surprised me to find such a productive fruit on the prairie. They were a food source even during the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Growing 10-15 ft. tall, they don’t take up a lot of space laterally, yet produce a fair amount of small plums well-suited for making jam. I’ve never had any insects on them, although it’s a race between the deer and I when the plums are ripening.

Chokecherries – These are native shrubs that grow in many parts of the country producing a bounty of lip puckering fruit. While they readily grow wild, I’ve planted numerous chokecherry bushes so it’s easy to harvest without competing with the bears. For those not sure how to best handle the challenging pits found in chokecherries, I have two words: pressure steamer. This is one of the best kitchen gadgets every created, and make dealing with difficult fruit so much easier.

Elderberries – Growing up in Ohio, we had lots of elderberries. And after a few years of coaxing, I have several impressive bushes around here, too. They are beautiful shrubs, even if you don’t utilize the delicious fruit, with large, white flowers. On top of it, the berries are beautiful. If you do wish to harvest them, you’ll most like have to do something to protect them from the birds. They’re the only pest I’ve had a problem with so far.

Nanking cherries – These are one of the first shrubs to bloom in the spring, even before the heavenly scented golden currants found along the river are blooming. As a matter of fact, they are blooming now. As long as we don’t have some freakish freeze (okay, maybe not so freakish) they will be loaded with marble sized tart cherries in July that are ideal for jelly. While traditional pie cherries often have worms in them unless you spray the tree in the spring, I’ve never found one in the Nanking cherries. The only drawback is the birds like them.

Others I’m including in my low-maintenance, yet productive line up, are goji berries. They are a phenomenal super food that grows 4 ft. tall. They produce lots of orange-red berries, edible fresh or dried. Sea buckthorn is another excellent option heralding from Siberia that boasts fruit with more vitamin C than oranges. It takes a few years before it produces anything. You also do need male and female plants, but it is super hardy and very beautiful.

If you’re looking for varieties that you can plant and forget, except when it comes time to harvest, consider any of these tasty options.

Meet Amy Grisak

Amy is a freelance author and photographer in Great Falls, MT who specializes in gardening, foods, and sustainable agriculture. She provides information on every kind…

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