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
@clew maybe you already thought of these, but could you alternate the huckleberries with tall Oregon grape? It grows faster than the huckleberries, and birds supposedly eat the berries.
Or if you have room, add a serviceberry on one corner.
If you make it two-layered, perhaps you could add salal on the front of the huckleberries.
Yes. Fair amount of depth, actually.
This is getting complicated to plan. If I can get free cuttings of a bunch of plausible natives I could bung rooted slips all over the area and let them sort it out? Too expensive and diggy with nursery plants.
@clew what are the rough dimensions of the hedge? Is the area full sun or partial shade?
I hear you. I'm doing a couple of short hedges.. maybe 20 feet each, and nursery plants are expensive.
I don't have experience working with cuttings, my concerns would be watering and being smoltered by the much faster growing blackberries. Can you wait until the fall?
I wonder if something like this could work: add an enormous amount of mulch on top of the cut blackberries. In the fall, plant cuttings in small pockets of dirt/compost and see what makes it through.
I've volunteered in local parks taken over with Himalayan blackberry. I've heard two solutions: either dig out *all the roots* or add enormous amounts of mulch (1-2 ft? I don't recall the number exactly).
I'll be doing a trip to the native plant nursery some time in the following weeks, I can ask some questions if you want.
please!
clew
Mar