{"id":3415,"date":"2021-06-07T05:59:09","date_gmt":"2021-06-07T13:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3415"},"modified":"2021-06-07T05:59:09","modified_gmt":"2021-06-07T13:59:09","slug":"bunchberry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/bunchberry\/","title":{"rendered":"Bunchberry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bunchberry\"<\/a>I have always wanted an arboretum.\u00a0 The world is full of beautiful trees and woody plants and if someone were to hand me a few extra acres\u2014say 50 or so\u2014I would grow more of them.\u00a0 Right now, as the great spring flowering continues to unfold; I feel the lack of an arboretum most keenly.\u00a0 I see the cascades of fragrant white flowers on the black locusts, or Robinia pseudoacacia, and imagine them outside my bedroom window.\u00a0 I would happily grow at least 20 kinds of magnolia, not to mention ornamental cherries.\u00a0 For later in the summer, I would plant the beautiful native Franklinia alatamaha or Franklinia tree, as well as the elegant, camellia-flowered Japanese stewartia, known botanically as Stewartia pseudocamellia.\u00a0 And, of course, I would want a Persian ironwood tree or Parrotia persica for its incomparable autumn color<\/p>\n

Sadly, I am unlikely to become the proud owner of an arboretum\u2014unless I win the lottery.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, I do what I can and my suburban garden is home to numerous roses-of-Sharon, in tree and shrub forms, as well as a yellow-flowered hybrid magnolia, Magnolia \u2018Elizabeth\u2019.\u00a0 I take pride in my Halesia carolina or Carolina silverbell tree, which thrives in my front strip, not far from a struggling red maple.<\/p>\n

Unless I dig up the middle of my front yard, I am out of room.\u00a0 That is why I was so excited on a recent garden center prowl to find bunchberry or Cornus canadensis.<\/p>\n

Bunchberry, also known as creeping dogwood, bunchberry dogwood and dwarf cornel, is a groundcover that grows no more than eight inches tall and twelve inches wide.\u00a0 It is closely related to those beloved garden favorites, flowering dogwood or Cornus florida, and kousa dogwood, known botanically as Cornus kousa.\u00a0 The bloom time for bunchberry, in late spring or early summer, mimics that of the later flowering dogwood trees as well.\u00a0 In fact, the white flowers look like miniature versions of those found on Cornus florida, with each bloom consisting of four, petal-like bracts surrounding the tiny true flowers in the center.\u00a0 The glossy green leaves are ovoid, grouped in whorls, and attractively ridged.\u00a0 As with the flowering dogwood trees, bunchberries produce small clusters of red fruits in summer.\u00a0 The leaves turn scarlet in the fall before departing the scene.<\/p>\n

I planted my new bunchberry in a semi-shaded spot adjacent to the silverbell tree.\u00a0 This mimics its native North American habitats at the shady edges of woodland areas.\u00a0 If my plant is happy in that situation, it will begin to spread by underground rhizomes.\u00a0 Bunchberry is not given to bad manners, so even if it spreads, it will not take over the front strip.\u00a0 The plants like somewhat cool conditions, so I am hoping that the shade will keep mine happy during the summer.\u00a0 I will do my part by watering consistently.<\/p>\n

One thing that I will not do is walk on my bunchberry.\u00a0 Unlike some other ground covering plants, it does not take kindly to foot traffic.<\/p>\n

If you are looking for native North American and\/or habitat plants, bunchberry is your ticket.\u00a0 According to an article published by the Canadian Broadcasting Company, the red berries are loved by \u201cbears, hares, and even humans.\u201d\u00a0 I have not tried them, but supposedly they can be used to make jams, pies and other tasty things.<\/p>\n

Apparently those bears and hares eat the berries but ignore the leaves.\u00a0 The same is reportedly true of deer.\u00a0 This is a definite plus in my suburban garden where we have regular visits from four-footed marauders who treat my planting scheme like an all-you-can-eat buffet.\u00a0 The flowers attract butterflies and other pollinators and the birds compete with the local wildlife for the berries.<\/p>\n

I like shade plantings that form a tapestry, with a patch of variegated ajuga, snuggling up to a few blue-green hostas that are cheek by jowl with a nice pulmonaria or two.\u00a0 If you want to add bunchberry to your garden tapestry, your best bet is probably a good local garden center, particularly if it carries plants produced by Monrovia.\u00a0 White Flower Farm sells bunchberry, but it is currently out of stock there.\u00a0 You can sign up on their website to be notified when it returns to inventory.\u00a0 Find White Flower Farm at P.O. Box 50, Route 63, Litchfield, Connecticut 06759; 1-800-503-9624; www.whiteflowerfarm.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Paper catalog available.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have always wanted an arboretum.\u00a0 The world is full of beautiful trees and woody plants and if someone were to hand me a few extra acres\u2014say 50 or so\u2014I would grow more of them.\u00a0 Right now, as the great spring flowering continues to unfold; I feel the lack of an arboretum most keenly.\u00a0 I … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[2519,2518,2520,2524,2521,2523,155,448,2525,2522],"class_list":["post-3415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-bunchberry","tag-cornus-canadensis","tag-creeping-dogwood","tag-dogwood-family","tag-dwarf-cornel","tag-flowering-groundcovers","tag-habitat-plants","tag-native-plants","tag-perennial-groundcovers","tag-shade-groundcovers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3417,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3415\/revisions\/3417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}