I just recently noticed that a few spicebush berries have turned red.

Last year, the pileated cleaned one bush out of berries in about two days. It was great to watch this huge bird bouncing around on the small branches, gulping berries as fast as he could.

Now why is it that I did a search for this...starting at forest farm, and they say zone 6 (for the native). Then I just do a search on the world wide web and find a place that says zone 4? I read on a couple different sites that it likes wet soil, then I find a site from IN where it says it's found in dry soil...boy...how confusing!

You're getting this picture thing down good Sarah!!

Terry

WOw that's teriffic!
I can't wait till my little Spicebush starter plants are big enough to bear fruit.
Thanks for the pics Sarah-
-stephen

Terryr, as far as I can tell, spicebush grows everywhere here in zone 5 - I have it in soils from wet to dry and everything in between. It's a good thing I like it so much, or I'd be in trouble...

NJTea I'm not sure if I have ever seen a pileated if I did it was two and a half years ago at Bowman's wildflower preserve.

Terry I bought this at Bowman's which is north of here and if it survived there it should survive here. I like to use usda plant guide as reference where plants grow. And Illinois shows which counties it's found in.As far as the picture thing goes it's luck if it comes out.
Stephen, it shouldn't take long when you see flowers in spring and you can't miss them they are beautiful. you know that they should become berries. That's why I posted these pictures the berries are hiding on the trunk of the shrub behind the leaves so they were hard atleast for me to see. Sarah

Here is a link that might be useful: usda plant guide for spicebush

Stephen, you do need to have male and female Lindera to get berries. If you can see well enough to distinguish male flowers from female you'll know which bush to expect the berries on. (Never use a preposition to end a sentence with.)

Spicebush and winterberry holly are probably the most wonderful of shrubs to have in the yard.

Here's another question Sarah...do you have to have 2 in order to get fruit? I ask because at forest farm they say they have a female one for sale. What about a male? My searchs haven't come up with male and female so I'm wondering.....And yesterday at a nursery they had some. I asked if I needed another one for it to bear fruit (these had none), and the lady told me I didn't need more than one...course she said the same thing for viburnams too.....lol...

Terry

You need a male and female for berries. I have three two females and a male I pestered the poor fellow at Bowman's wildflower preserve and I was lucky to eventually get both around April they had the most beautiful flowers on them and Rita from New York was asking about the flowers since they looked different so I posted these pictures a male

female

So...do I have to be lucky enough that I get a sales person that knows the difference? And I have to make sure I go when they're blooming? ugh...this is going to be a challenge..

Terry

Well Terry there are two ways to go about it You can go to a wildflower preserve or arboretum where they have expert botanist's and horticulturalist to help you or a University For example the University of Delaware has a spring and fall plant sale at their horticultural Department and you can ask one of the staff or professors there That's how I got a male and female bayberry and juniper or go to a native plant nursery where they will hopefully be honest Not all regular nurseries know. Here's a link to Illinois nurseries

Here is a link that might be useful: Native plant nurseries in Illinois

Terry, I've never seen anybody else on the forums post about a similar experience, so it might be unlikely to work, but if you're patient or the gambling type you might just buy one female spicebush and see what happens. The spicebush that came with my house definitely produces berries and volunteers, but to this day I still haven't seen where a male spicebush in my neighborhood is.

The nursery catalogues usually recommend buying several plants to insure berrying. In my case, they work so well in my yard I wouldn't mind. This year I was pleasantly surprised to find 4-5' spicebushes priced at $22 at an ordinary local nursery. DH is tired of waiting for some of our volunteers to grow up, so we ended up buying 2 of the 3 the nursery had in stock.

All,
Do both male and female spicebushes work as butterfly host plants? I'd guess yes, but don't really know.

Thanks.

loris, my thought was that this place had 2 shrubs for sale. Neither had berries. I would of thought that if one was male and the either female, it would have had berries. And, I'm sure they had more than the two this spring, yet no berries. These were 3 gallon plants, about 3-3 1/2 ft tall. Too young?

Terry

Terry,

I think that's tall enough. A spicebush that started growing in my yard without my knowing it (it was hidden between a fence and some tall shrubs) had berries the first fall I knew about it. If my memory's right, it was about the height you mentioned.

Maybe somebody else will know for sure.

Those were larger than mine when I bought them and mine produced flowers and berries this year I've had them for two years and they are about that size now 5 feet or so. Sarah

How big do spicebushes have to be to produce flowers/fruit? I really want to get some, but I can't find any that are already sexed. So I'm planning to buy a lot of six of them in 3" pots. The probability of getting all male or all female is very small, so my plan was to keep one or two females and one male, and trade or sell the rest. How long would I have to wait for them to flower, though? Do they grow quickly?

I waited two years they are approximatly 5 feet tall maybe less. I guess they were less than 3 feet when I bought them They get 10 feet tall and grow slowly They are under neighbor's weed tree I guess I will trim the part on my side the weed tree is tartarian honeysuckle. Sarah

My happy spicebushes grew like mad, over 2' in a year - I think it depends on the conditions they're in. In moist soil and sun, they grow like weeds.

I think maybe I'll do what garden4wildlife is going to do...with the exception that I'll keep all of them!

garden4wildlife, where are you getting yours? I see Sunlight Gardens in TN has them..

Terry

I ordered a bundle of 25 three years ago and only kept a few because I thought they wouldn't be able to handle drought. Now I wish I had planted more. They're tougher than I thought they'd be. This summer was a good test. We were very short on rain and even the ones I didn't water pulled through. They're planted in full shade, with some mean root competition. They're growing slowly of course but I'm thrilled that they're alive and even if the ones in shade don't get a lot of berries, they still provide food for spicebush caterpillars.

I'm thinking of getting them on ebay - 3 for $4 from a professional seller who sells a lot of natives. I've bought plants from him before and I was satisfied. They were small - they are in 3" pots, afterall - but healthy and in good shape. I figure I can get 6 of them for about $15 (including shipping) and just see what happens.

I had my spicebushes for 2 years before I got berries. I was going crazy this spring when mine finially flowered for the first time trying to figgure out weather they were male or female. Turned out I have 2 females (set berries) and 1 male so I was very lucky. I bought mine as unsexed plants from a local nursery when they were about 20 inches high.