This is a larval host plant to Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus). You may see three flights from February November in the deep south and two flights from May-September in the north. Leaves are toothed on the margin with 2 small red or green glands at the base of the blade. Prunus avium is generally grown as an ornamental cherry tree. It is native to Europe and Asia and has been cultivated in the U.S. since colonial times.
If space is available, a grove of crabapples provides for a multitude of wildlife ranging from birds and pollinators to multiple small mammals and deer. The native Southern crabapple is a shrub or small tree, 20 to 30 feet in height. Leaves are elliptical or oblong with a blunt tip and wavy saw-toothed margins and hairy when young. They are dull green above and paler underneath.1
This tree blooms with abundant clusters of double pink blooms in the spring and is considered one of the showiest of the Japanese cherries. When the leaves fill out they provide excellent shade. This plant is the domestic cherry in Japan and is called ‘Sato Zakura’ which means ‘domestic cherry’.
This tree is native to East and South China, Japan, and Korea. Cherry blossoms are the national flower of Japan and symbolize life, good health, and happiness. The epithet, serrulata, means saw-like teeth and likely references the serrated leaves of this species. Birds relish the fruits, though they are not plentiful.
Green hawthorn is an adaptable, urban tolerant tree that offers winter interest with its abundant and attractive orange red fruit. It has pretty red to gold foliage in fall and handsome silver-gray peeling bark that shows orange underneath. Leaves are dark green foliage in the summer that changes to red to gold in the fall.
Most crabapples are considered four-season trees. Crabapples are best suited to zones 4-8. They enjoy 6 hours of sun a day to look their best, Flowering crabapples are available in pink, white or magenta blooms, and all fruiting trees will have tiny fruits that look like berries but can be up to 2 inches wide. That’s the crabapple itself!
Black cherry is the largest cherry native to Kentucky. It is a valuable forestry plant because the wood is prized for carpentry. The fruit of black cherry has a bitter sweet flavor and is used to make jelly and wine. Birds, squirrels, deer, raccoon, black bears, ruffed grouse, opossum and turkey are among the animals that eat the fruit of black cherry.
Apples are predominantly grown for sale as fresh fruit, though apples are also used commercially for vinegar, juice, jelly, applesauce, and apple butter and are canned as pie stock. The simple leaves are roughly oval in shape and usually have fine teeth along the margins. Apple flowers are showy with five white petals, often tinged with pink, and numerous stamens.
London plane tree is a hybrid cross of American sycamore and Oriental planetree. It is believed that this hybrid was developed in the 1640s by an accidental cross of the Oriental plane and American Sycamore either in Spain or London. The hybrid was recognized and categorized in 1789 by a Scottish botanist,
This plant works well as a specimen plant in woodland landscapes as it has an interesting, scraggly form and numerous persistent cones. It is also suitable for native, nighttime, and winter gardens. The seeds are a food source for many birds. Virginia pine is not considered particularly attractive by many people, but it can be a popular Christmas tree species in the South.