Mastodawn

What could I put in a #PNW hedge to replace Himalayan blackberries from the point of view of little birds? I’ll plant sunflowers and scarlet runners for a while, and am aiming for huckleberry and native honeysuckle in the longer term. Left the dead canes in the hedge high up for a few more years of physical protection.

“Berry birds like that isn’t invasive” might be impossible, hm.

ETA constraints: safe for humans to walk past, long term maintenance is one winter prune and mow around

#garden

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Lucas C. Wheeler 10h ago

@clew Are you in an area where you could plant Salal? They can get quite tall and don't have thorns. Not sure how much the birds like the berries...

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clew 9h ago

I could, i associate them now with depressing office park landscaping — but that means they take little care, right? On the list!

@lcwheeler

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Lucas C. Wheeler

@clew I know what you mean. Picturing those neatly trimmed hedges of them surrounding some bleak 70s office building. But I also associate them with the places they grow natively in the forest understory, like over in the Coast Range, a context in which they are very pretty. And I always think their little white-pink bell flowers are nice.