Mondays with Martha #219 - Native Lakeshore Shrubs - Bearberry

This week I round out my series on native lakeshore shrubs with the small but mighty bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). This blueberry relative is a tough trailing shrub that forms a stabilizing groundcover on dry sites across a range of soil pH, supports pollinators with pollen and nectar in the spring, and provides important emergency food with its winter-persistent fruit to wildlife ranging from black bears to songbirds. Have room for this amazing plant in your yard?!

Resources to learn more:

www.michiganflora.net/record/1208

www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/bearberry.html

www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ARUV

plants.usda.gov/home/plantProfile?symbol=ARUV

www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/places-we-protect/carl-a-gerstacker-nature-preserve-at-dudley-bay/

nature-niche.com/blogs/news/august-2024-native-plant-sale-growing-season-finale