The April freeze and the summer drought will likely reduce the normal food supply for wildlife and birds this year. Many hollies were in bloom during the Easter weekend freeze event. The lusterleaf holly pictured to the right should be covered in berries now in October but all you see is the dead female blooms. This site is evident everywhere in our region and is indicative of the type damage done to many fruit bearing plants that wildlife depend. Many nut/acorn bearing trees lost their crop to the freeze or subsequent drought.
A few plants like American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) and Hearts-a-bustin (Euonymus americana) do have a good crop of berries. The pictured Euonymus is not normally a significant contributor to bird diets but may prove helpful this year.
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