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charmed_gw

So discouraged (natives hard to find!)

charmed
16 years ago

Today I called ahead to a local nusery to find out if they had 'Cranberry Viburnum' by which I meant the American Cranberry, or Viburnum Trilobum, but I didn't know I had to specify. Anyway, I got all the way out there, and it turns out the viburnum they had was European, and produced little or no berries (I'm very interested in providing berries for the birds.) I browsed a bit, and found an elderberry which I thought was native, but when I googled at home I found that it too is a European version. I'm so discouraged. It's been really hard for me to find natives, and I can't understand why there are so many non-native species of a genus that occurs here in America as well. Anyway, I haven't decided for sure what to do -- the plant tag says that the elderberry ('Sambucus nigra') does produce berries that will attract songbirds, but I have a feeling I'll be dissatisfied even so since it's not native. Has anybody else had a lot of trouble starting a native garden?

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