Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Balance of plants in the environment Silky Dogwood & Buttonbush

Trying to establish some wildlife beneficial woody shrubs around the pond edge to give it a nice backdrop. More concerned with fish and wildlife benefits than visual appeal though. Wondered if anybody has any experience with either Silky dogwood (Cornus amomum) or Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis). Buttonbush can supposidly grow in shallow water? Also heard Nannyberry, Elderberry, & Wild Plum were good choices. Any thoughts greatly appreciated...

I just planted a bunch of these on a stream restoration project. Both are very easy to establish (given the proper habitat) from cuttings or thicker branch pieces known as live stakes. I've created some very nice marginal fish habitats with buttonbush - they will easily grow in up to three feet of water. Silky dogwood is not as adapted to standing water, or even permanently saturated soil - it prefers seasoanlly saturated soils further up from water's edge. Both are great wildlife plants with attractive flowers and valuable fruits. Buttonbush is by far one of my favorite shrubs - the flowers are very unusual and the older plants have a very nice gnarly structure about them.

Great first post, Jeff. Way to come to the rescue with an answer on a subject that obviously eludes the rest of us. This knowledge/experience base diversity is what makes this forum tick.
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FWIW, I have 100 silky dogwood seedlings on order with another 700 other bushes...all to be planted this spring.

Can I ask where you ordered them from and how much they cost? After reading this and other related posts here I am thinking of planting sweet pepper bush, silky dogwood and buttonbush in a low/wet area. I found a local supplier of the sweet pepper bush and Musser Forests has the buttonbush and silky dogwood.

RobA
Read thru this thread about Mail Order Trees.
If you google the state nursery you seek, you see what is available. For instance: Pennsylvania div of forestry
A couple of notes: There is very little state nursery stock left at this time of year. Most of them take the bulk of their orders during the fall for the following spring planting season. Secondly, most all the state nurseries require some level of committment to plant the stock within that same state. Take it for what it's worth.

Thanks, brettski - I recently found this forum and think it's awesome. I'm an ecological consultant who also does a lot of hands-on restoration work in northern Virginia.

Once you get your silky dogwoods and buttonbush going, let them grow a few years and you will have a ready-made on-site cutting farm. You can either cut them back fairly evenly and use the branch tip cuttings, or thin them out by taking out several stems and cutting them into 1-2 foot long cuttings, or live stakes as the thicker ones are known. For the thicker ones, be sure to cut the base at a 45 degree angle and the top flat. The flat top allows you to tap them in with a hammer if the soil is dense (easy with the hammer - don't split them) and keeps them right side up. Put them in upside down and they won't do a thing.

Rob, pepperbush likes it generally moist but not too wet, and it is generally native only to the coastal plain. It generally likes it sheltered under a tree canopy and will burn up out in the wind. I see you're in southeast PA - try Octararo Nurseries, who grows purely native plants for large scale restoration projects. They are wholesale but will usually sell big orders to landowners.

Thanks for that tip Jeff. Octoraro Nurseries is less than 15 miles from my property. I knew they were wholesale only and figured they wouldn't sell directly to me. I have a friend who is a part-time landscaper that may be able to buy from them. However, I like your idea better and will conctact them directly. They have most of what I need and their inventory and prices are on-line.

The area I want to plant is about 15-20,000 sq ft and varies from really wet to moist to sometimes moist and is partly shaded by some large trees. I have been clearing out the invasive plants, vines and sticker bushes. I'd love to be able to plant some of these bushes and let them take over.

Right you are. I emailed Octoraro today and they said they would gladly sell to me due to the nature of my project and the size of my order. Thanks for the heads up. Now I need to finish cleaning up that area and figure out what to order.

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Big help. As was eluded to earlier I am getting the seedlings from the PA game commission's Howard Nursery. Cheapest place i've found at 15 cents a seedling. Not sure if they will sell out of state but don't see why not. They have a pretty decent selection too. Some of the tree seedlings are priced at 25 cents a seedling. They can send em UPS too if anyone is interested.

Heres the link to selection & pricing.
http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=480&q=167317

Thank you for that link. I looked on the internet to see how and where to buy from PA but couldn't find it anywhere.

I've been away for a few days - Rob, they are good people at Octoraro, I've done some work with them.

I believe they provide the USFWS wetland indicator classifications for their plants in the catalog, it can be a good general guide to how wet each species likes it. In descending order of affinity for wetlands it goes:

OBL Obligate Wetland Species
FACW Facultative Wetland Species
FAC Facultative Species
FACU Facultative Upland Species
UPL Upland Species

Silky Dogwood is FACW, buttonbush is OBL.

If your area is a bit shady try winterberry (FACW).

Nannyberry and Elderberry are others you might possibly consider.