Pollinator Bundle (5 Seedlings)

Five seedlings chosen to feed bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds from early spring through summer. Eastern redbud, buttonbush, and American beautyberry are the core, and the other seedlings vary with the season.

When your box arrives

Open the box the day it arrives and plant within 2 to 3 days if you can. Your seedlings are dormant and bare-root, so no leaves and no soil is exactly how they should look.

Check the peat around the roots. It should feel like a wrung-out sponge. If it has dried in transit, sprinkle it with water and re-wrap.

If you can't plant right away, keep the bundle wrapped, damp, and cool. An unheated garage, shed, or cellar between 35 and 45°F will hold the seedlings for about a week. Keep them out of sun, wind, and freezing temperatures.

If you need longer than a week, heel them in. Dig a shallow trench in a shaded spot, lay the roots in, cover them with loose damp soil or mulch, and water.

On planting day, soak the roots in a bucket of plain water for 1 to 2 hours and carry the seedlings to the site in the bucket. Bare roots can dry out in minutes of sun and wind.

Where they go

Plant in two rows: the redbud and your tallest other seedling in back on the north side, the shrubs in front on the sunny side. The bed takes about 35 by 30 feet.

Put the buttonbush at whichever end of the bed stays wettest. Flip the layout left to right if your low spot is on the other side.

The two open spots are for the other seedlings in your box. Use their labels and the section on other seedlings below to decide which goes in back and which in front.

At a glance

The three core plants bloom one after another, so something is flowering from March into August. Beautyberry then carries the bed into fall with fruit for songbirds.

These are seedlings, so every plant is genetically its own. Size and timing will vary a little from plant to plant.

Planting, step by step

Plant any time the seedlings are dormant and the ground isn't frozen. All five go in the same way.

1. Stake out the five spots from the layout before you dig. Call 811 a few days ahead to have buried lines located.
2. Clear grass and weeds from a circle 3 feet across at each spot.
3. Dig a hole twice as wide as the spread roots and just as deep as the root system. Rough up the sides if your soil is clay.
4. Set the plant so the root collar sits level with the ground. The collar is the color change where roots meet stem.
5. Spread the roots outward and downward. Never curl or bend them to fit the hole.
6. Backfill with the soil you dug out. Skip fertilizer, compost, and potting mix in the hole.
7. Firm the soil with your hands to close air pockets, then water with 2 to 3 gallons.
8. Mulch 3 to 4 inches deep with wood chips across the cleared circle. Keep the mulch a few inches off the stem.
9. Put a wire cage or tree tube on before you walk away.

On heavy clay, plant the redbud and beautyberry on a low mound 6 to 8 inches high. Buttonbush is the exception. It is happy in ground that stays wet.

Eastern redbud

The redbud opens the season. Its pink bloom covers bare branches in March and April, when little else is flowering.

Site. Sun to part shade in soil that drains. It tolerates clay as long as water doesn't stand. It is the only tree of the core three, so give it the back of the bed.

Bloom. Expect the first flowers 4 to 6 years after planting. The flowers are edible and make a tart, bright garnish for salads.

Pollinators. Early native bees and bumblebee queens work the flowers. Leafcutter bees later cut neat round notches from the leaves to line their nests. The notches are harmless and a sign the planting is doing its job.

Care. Redbuds resent being moved, so choose the spot once. Prune right after bloom, and only to remove dead or crossing branches. Water during dry spells for the first two summers.

Buttonbush

Buttonbush wants the wettest spot you have. Its white pincushion flowers draw more butterflies than anything else in the box.

Site. Full sun to part shade in wet or reliably moist soil. Pond edges, ditches, rain gardens, and the low spot under a downspout all suit it. It tolerates standing water and struggles in dry ground.

Bloom. Fragrant, round white flowers open from June into August, usually starting 2 to 3 years after planting. Round seed heads follow and feed birds through winter.

Pollinators. Swallowtails and other butterflies, bumblebees, and hummingbirds all visit.

Care. Water weekly in dry weather until it is established, and longer if the site isn't naturally wet. It flowers on new growth, so prune in late winter. An overgrown shrub can be cut back to about a foot and will regrow. The leaves are toxic to livestock, so plant it outside the pasture fence.

American beautyberry

Beautyberry feeds bees in summer and songbirds in fall. Its clusters of bright purple berries are the showiest thing in the bed from September on.

Site. Sun to part shade in moist soil that drains. More sun means more berries. Give it the front of the bed, where you can see the fruit.

Bloom and fruit. Small pink flowers open along the stems in June and July. Purple berries ripen in September and October and hang on after the leaves drop, often starting the second or third year.

Pollinators and birds. Bees and small butterflies work the flowers. Songbirds eat the berries through fall and early winter.

Winter. Beautyberry is reliably hardy to zone 6. In a hard winter the stems can die back to the ground. The plant resprouts from the base, and because it flowers on new growth, it still blooms and fruits that year. In zone 5, plant it in a sheltered spot and mulch the base heavily in late fall.

Care. Cut all stems back to about a foot in late winter for a fuller shrub and heavier fruit. Water during dry spells for the first two summers. It leafs out late, so don't give up on it in April.

Other seedlings in your box

The other seedlings change with the season and supply, so each one comes labeled with its name. Plant and care for them exactly as described in this guide, and use the label to choose the spot.

When the label is missing or you aren't sure, plant in full sun and average soil, about 8 feet from its neighbors. Most native seedlings do well there, and a dormant plant can be moved the following winter.

Not sure what you received or where it should go? Email us a photo of the plant and your planting area, and we'll help you place it.

First-year care

Water, weed control, and protection from deer decide whether a bare-root seedling makes it through year one. Everything else can wait.

Water. Give each plant 3 to 5 gallons once a week from leaf-out to leaf drop whenever rain falls short of an inch. One deep soak beats a daily sprinkle. Buttonbush wants more: soak it twice a week in dry weather.

Weeds. Keep the 3-foot circle clear of grass and top up the mulch each spring. Never use a string trimmer near the stem.

Deer. Keep a wire cage or 5-foot tube on each plant until it is growing strongly above browse height. Deer eat beautyberry and buttonbush foliage, and bucks rub young redbud trunks in fall.

Voles and rabbits. Wrap the base with an 18-inch cylinder of hardware cloth. Pull mulch back from the stem before winter so voles can't nest against the bark.

Pruning. Remove only broken or dead wood the first year.

Fertilizer. None in year one. From year two, a spring ring of compost under the mulch is plenty.

Pollinators. Skip insecticides on and around these plants, including lawn treatments that drift. Leave fallen leaves and old stems in place over winter, since many native bees and butterflies shelter in them.

Troubleshooting

Most first-year worries are normal behavior for a bare-root seedling. Check here before giving up on a plant.