I have 3 Northern bayberries. In winter, they do get ratty. Two loose their leaves completely and 1 holds on to some of the leaves. Just bought a 4th, a female, (proven by presence of berries). My other 3 plants are males (proven by pollen in spring and the lack of berries). The plants are about 4-5 ft apart and are doing fine. The tallest is probably about 10 ft tall. I will be removing the 2 smaller males and putting in a female (it took a lot of work tracking down a known female- got it from a native plant nursery last week- it still had a few berries left). Hope to feed tree swallows and myrtle warblers now. In MD near Wash D.C., the Southern wax mytles (so. species of bayberries) hold their leaves well during the winter and look nice.

Thanks for the reply. I guess i can space them closer than 6 feet, if i want. I'm planting 5, so hopefully a couple of them are females. I've got the same thoughts as you, if I end up with a bunch of males, i would eliminate some and plant something else.

The berries look small enough that maybe bluebirds will like them too. I guess its possible tree swallows might eat them here as well, the birds return very early in the spring to nest.