Colorado Blue Spruce is a medium to large, evergreen conifer. It is valued for its stiff, blue-green needles and pyramidal shape. Colorado Blue Spruce displays attractive light-brown cones. Use it as a specimen tree in your yard, or plant in groups to use as a border or screen. Colorado Blue Spruce is commonly used as a holiday tree.
Virginia Creeper is a wildlife-friendly, woody, deciduous vine. Insignificant, greenish-white flowers bloom May-August, leading to attractive, dark blue to black berries, valued as food by birds and wildlife. Green, compound-palmate leaves turn deep red-crimson in the fall. Virginia Creeper is a vigorous tendril climber; however, it is not parasitic and will not smother its host. Virginia Creeper is an important host plant for moth larvae (caterpillars), including Abbotts Sphinx Moth (Sphecodina abbottii), Pandora Sphinx Moth (Eumorpha pandorus), Virginia Creeper Sphinx Moth (Darapsa myron), and White-lined Sphinx Moth (Hyles lineata). This is a low-maintenance plant once established. Use Virginia Creeper to add color and accent on climbing walls, trellises, and over rock piles. Prune as necessary.
Switchgrass is a clumping ornamental grass, which may naturalize by rhizomes and through self-seeding. Pink-tinged flowers display from July through February, turning beige in mid- to late summer. The seeds are a good food source for birds. Switchgrass is a host plant for butterfly and moth larvae (caterpillars), including Delaware Skipper (Anatrytone logan) and Dotted Skipper (Hesperia attalus), as well as most banded skippers and satyrs. Cut it back to the ground in late winter-early spring. Plant Switchgrass in masses to use as a screen or in naturalized areas of your yard. Use cut stems and seed heads as an accent in fresh or dried flower arrangements.
Hophornbeam, or Ironwood, is a small to medium deciduous tree. It is monoecious; insignificant, reddish-brown male flowers and greenish-yellow female flowers appear separately on the same tree. The male catkins persist throughout winter. The female catkins lead to uniquely-shaped seed pods resembling the fruit of hops. Plant Hophornbeam in your small yard or woodland garden, or use it as a street tree.
Cinnamon Fern is a clumping deciduous fern. The fronds emerge as fiddleheads. Birds use the “fuzz” covering the fiddleheads as nesting material. Green, sterile fronds bend outward, encircling fertile, erect, spore-bearing fronds, which quickly turn chestnut-brown, giving this plant its common name. Cinnamon Fern makes an attractive accent in landscapes. Use it along the water’s edge and in woodland gardens, rain gardens, swales, or any moist, shady areas of the yard.
Prickly Pear is New Jersey’s only native cactus! Flat, fleshy, oval, evergreen pads stand erect or lie horizontally on the ground. The pads become somewhat dessicated and shriveled during the winter but plump-up again in the spring. Yellow, ornate flowers develop along the top of each pad and bloom June-July. Each flower is diurnal and blooms for only one day. A red edible fruit will follow fertilization. Flowers, fruits, and pads all offer food for wildlife. The pads and fruit are also edible for humans; however, tiny reddish spikes persist and necessitate much care in handling all parts of this plant. Use Prickly Pear in seaside gardens, rock gardens, sunny borders, dry sandy areas of your yard, or as groundcover.
Blackgum is a medium-sized, flowering, deciduous tree, which offers many benefits for wildlife. White, inconspicuous flowers bloom May-June. It is primarily dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate trees, although trees typically host a few “perfect” flowers. Blackgum offers an excellent nectar source for bees. Fertilized female flowers are followed by edible sour fruits, which provide an important food source for birds and wildlife. It is a host plant for many inconspicuous insects, which provide food for migrating and resident birds. It offers showy, red color in fall. Its medium-high wind resistance and tolerance to flooded and salty conditions makes it a valuable Jersey-Friendly tree for your yard!
Jasmine Tobacco is a tender perennial, which is grown and used as an annual in New Jersey. Its fragrant, tubular-shaped flowers in shades of red, white, green, and yellow bloom June to frost. This wildlife-friendly plant will attract a variety of pollinators to your yard, including hummingbirds and butterflies. Plant it in a mass to create borders, use it in your rock garden, or plant it in mixed containers to add color to your patio or yard.