![\"Acorns](\"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/188.jpg\")
<\/a>Acorns are nutritious food for squirrels & jays.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fruits evolved to offer animals a nutritious food, encouraging them to disperse the seeds of the plant.\u00a0 Frugivores can be free of guilt\u2014fruit is produced to be eaten!\u00a0\u00a0 You can be sure that a fruit will attract some kind of hungry animal just as a showy flower will attract a pollinator.\u00a0 In fact many seeds must<\/i> pass through the gut of an animal before they will germinate.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Two of the top wildlife plants are oaks and pines.\u00a0 Instead of fruit, these trees produce large, nutritious seeds.\u00a0 It may seem strange that a tree could sacrifice so many of its <\/span><\/span><\/span>seeds and still reproduce.\u00a0 But by strategically producing bumper crops in some years and very little in others, the trees provide an erratic food supply to limit the population growth of the seedeaters.\u00a0 Birds, squirrels and other small rodents disperse the seeds by caching them for later use.\u00a0 Forgotten seeds may sprout and grow into new trees. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Blue Elderberry<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Elderberries are next in importance.\u00a0 Red Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa,<\/i> is the most common in our area.\u00a0 Blue Elderberry, S. caerulea,<\/i> can also be found in more open sites.\u00a0 Pileated Woodpeckers, Flickers, Steller’s Jays and many other birds eat these berries.\u00a0 People eat them too, usually cooked or made into jelly or wine.\u00a0 Raw Red Elderberries may cause nausea in people.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Surprisingly, Poison Oak, Toxicodendron diversilobum,<\/i> is listed as the next important species.<\/span><\/span> Wren Tits, Thrushes, Flickers, Sapsuckers and other Woodpeckers eat its white berries.\u00a0 The only places I have seen Poison Oak is on Cutt’s Island and Maury Island.\u00a0 There is a saying: “Leaves of three, let it be; berries white, poisonous sight.”\u00a0 Most people would not want this in their yard even with its high wildlife value!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Salmonberries<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The most important native Brambles,<\/i> for people and wildlife are Salmonberry, Rubus spectabilis,<\/i> Blackcap Raspberry, R. leucodermis,<\/i> and Thimbleberry, R. parviflorus.\u00a0 <\/i>Many birds eat these berries, including Robins, Thrushes, Towhees, Tanagers, Grosbeaks, Waxwings and Grouse.\u00a0 Trailing Blackberry (Dewberry), R. ursinus<\/i> <\/b>is our only native blackberry; it often appears as a weed, but you may want to allow some of it to grow in a wild garden.\u00a0 Himalayan and Evergreen Blackberries, although good for wildlife, are invasive non-natives and should be controlled.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Many of our important berries are in the Heath family, Ericaceae<\/i>. The most common are Salal, Gaultheria shallon<\/i> and Evergreen Huckleberry, Vaccinium ovatum.<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0 People and wildlife enjoy these and other huckleberries, including Red Huckleberry, V. parvifolium.<\/i>\u00a0 Manzanitas, Arctostaphylos sp.<\/i>, are more important in California, but we have two native species:\u00a0 Kinnikinnick or Bearberry, A. uva-ursi,<\/i> a popular groundcover, and Hairy Manzanita, A. columbiana.<\/i>\u00a0 Our only broad-leaved evergreen tree, the Pacific Madrone, Arbutus menziesii<\/i><\/a> has red berries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Evergreen Huckleberry<\/p><\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We have 3 species of Dogwood: a tree; Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii,<\/i><\/a> a shrub; Redtwig Dogwood, C. sericea,<\/i> and a groundcover; Bunchberry C. canadensis.\u00a0 <\/i>Grosbeaks, Waxwings and Woodpeckers eat dogwood fruits.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Other fruiting natives include: Cascara, Rhamnus purshiana,<\/i> Serviceberry, Amelanchier alnifolia,<\/i> Gooseberries and Currants, Ribes sp.,<\/i> Oregon Grapes, Mahonia sp., <\/i><\/a>Pacific Crabapple, Malus fusca,<\/i><\/a> Black Hawthorn. Crataegus douglasii<\/i>,<\/a> Highbush Cranberries, Viburnum sp.,<\/i> Roses, Rosa sp.,<\/i> Honeysuckles, Lonicera sp.<\/i> Mountain Ashes, Sorbus sp.,<\/i> Indian Plum, Oemleria cerasiformis,<\/i> and Snowberry, Symphoricarpos albus.\u00a0 <\/i>Of these, <\/i>Serviceberries, Gooseberries and Oregon Grapes are frequently eaten by people; often prepared into jellies.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In addition to providing food for wildlife and people, berries are often an attractive feature in the landscape during fall and winter, especially the ones with bright red berries.\u00a0 Treat yourself and the local wildlife to a smorgasbord by planting some of these juicy selections.<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fruits evolved to offer animals a nutritious food, encouraging them to disperse the seeds of the plant.\u00a0 Frugivores can be free of guilt\u2014fruit is produced to be eaten!\u00a0\u00a0 You can be sure that a fruit will attract some kind of hungry animal just as a showy flower will attract a pollinator.\u00a0 In fact<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1026,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509\/revisions\/1026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/habitathorticulturepnw.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a><\/a>