Last edited Sun Nov 29, 2015, 11:31 AM - Edit history (1)
There are lots of other native shrubs* that will give good fall and winter color that
aren't invasive like the burning bush. Birds eat the fruits and then disperse them
in their crap all over the place including forests and meadows where they become
real pests because they block the sunlight from hitting the forest floor because they
come out in leaf early, our native insects can not use their leaves for food**, song
birds that would normally nest 20 feet + up in trees build their nests in burning bush,
privet, honeysuckle, and so on and their eggs/young become easy picking to raccoons,
possums, and feral cats, and burning bush can choke out native plants too.
* Red Chokeberry, American Wahoo (a native burning bush), black chokeberry,
black haw viburnum, possum haw viburnum, arrow wood viburnum, winterberry
holly (likes wet feet), alternate leaf dogwood, and or red twig dogwood are nice
alternatives. But plant something that is native to where you live.
** It is very important that are native insects eat some of the leaf tissue of our native
plants because they are then harvesting solar energy which powers our ecosystem.
burning bush growing "wild" in a forest in New England .... planted by birds.
BTW your other plant might be purple leaf plum or purple leaf sand cherry
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