Re: shrubs for shade, clay and birds

Diane

Your situation sounds very much like mine.  I'm in northern Illinois, my
soil is heavy clay,  and my yard is covered with 100 year old oak and
hickory trees  -- a large portion of which I've naturalized.  A shrub that
is naturally occurring in my yard that I would recommend to you is Gray
Dogwood (Cornus racemosa).  This shrub has white flowers in the spring, and
white berries on red stems in the fall.  In my yard, it grows to a maximum
of 8', and slowly increases the clump size via root suckers.  The root
suckering is not invasive in my clay soil, and is not difficult to keep in
check -- frankly, in a naturalized environment, I find the clumping very
attractive.  You may have to search a while to find a source for Gray
Dogwood, because it's not well known in the nursery trade.  You didn't
indicate where in Illinois you live, but if you're interested, you might
try Plum Creek Nursery in Crete, Ill.  I've had good luck finding
out-of-the-ordinary shrubs and trees there.

There are some other shrubs that I would recommend that are naturally
occurring in my yard - Red Twig dogwood, common Honeysuckle, and Cranberry
(Viburnum family).  Since these are naturally occurring, I can't give you
specific cultivar names.  I would also expect that most dogwoods that are
hardy in zone 5 would do well in your situation.

Good Luck

Pete Postlewaite

At 04:56 PM 2/28/00 -0600, you wrote:
>I'm in zone 5 and need to find some shrubs for a shady area beneath oak
>trees.  The ground is pretty much clay and they would get little direct
>sun.  I can build up an area around the base of the shrub which would be
>better soil but the roots would likely still be in the clay.  I would
>also like these shrubs to have berries appetizing to birds and to be
>native to my area (Illinois/Midwest).  Not too much to ask, right?  Any
>help would be appreciated.  Thanks in advance.
>
>diane in illinois
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