Plants, Trees and Grasses of the Durbin Estate Project

Plants used at Durbin Estate
Trees used at Durbin Estate
Grass Plugs used at Durbin Estate

Plants

Native flowering plants were planted to enhance the beauty and contrast of the newly developed vernal pond. The plants will also help provide food and habitat for amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. The plants will need to tolerant long periods of having wet roots, and be able to tolerant dry soil for when the pond goes dry.

Hibiscus coccinea (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Scarlet hibiscus Scarlet rose mallow Swamp hibiscus	Crimson star-shaped, red flower 4"-8" 4' to 7" tall Fruits are 1", tan, dry, hard capsules, with hairy seeds.	June - September	Nectar for hummingbirds Blooms attract butterflies, and Mallow Bee Leaves, flower buds, and seeds are food source for caterpillars Foliage is food for the Pearly Wood Nymph moth Deer will browse the foliage

Solidago patula (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Roundleaf goldenrods	golden yellow flower head	late summer	Indigo Bunting bird (seeds) Eastern Goldfinch bird (seeds) Swamp Sparrow bird (seeds) Ruffed Grouse (leaves) Greater Prairie Chicken (leaves) White-Tailed Deer Cottontail Rabbits (young foliage) Insects: including small bees, wasps, flies, small butterflies, skippers, and beetles. Insectivorous birds benefit indirectly from goldenrods because of the numerous insects that they attract. Meadow Voles eat both the seeds and foliage.

Caltha palustris (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Yellow marsh marigold Kingcup Cowslip water dragon	Buttercup-like yellow flowers 1"-2" 1'-2' tall thick stems	April - July	shelter for frogs nectar for insects, flies, honey bees attract hummingbirds attract butterflies

Helianthus angustifolius (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Swamp sunflower Narrowleaf sunflower	Golden, daisy-like 3" flowerhead with dark brown cone	early autumn - first freeze	Nectar for butterflies and native bees Seeds for song birds and game birds such as doves, quail, cardinals, and goldfinches

Cephalanthus occidentalis (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Common Buttonbush	5' - 12' up to 20' tall Spreads 4' - 8' Showy fragrant flowers Ball-like inflorescence containing tiny, tubular, 5-lobed, white flowers Flowers turn into a hard spherical ball-like fruit Glossy green leaves	June to early autumn	Seeds for waterfowl and birds Nest protection for Wood Ducks Foliage for deer Nectar for insects, hummingbirds insects and birds Attracts bees and butterflies

Iris fulva (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Copper Iris	2' - 3" tall 1' - 2' spread Terr-cotta colored flowers Long dark green, sword-like leaves Quick growing Beardless Crestless	Mid spring to early summer	Nectar for hummingbirds Blooms attract butterflies, and Mallow Bee Leaves, flower buds, and seeds are food source for caterpillars Foliage is food for the Pearly Wood Nymph moth Deer will browse the foliage

Iris versicolor L. (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Blue flag iris Harlequin Blueflag Northern Blue Flag	Flowers are light blue to deep violet on a stem up to 2' tall Blue-green sword-like leaves that iris fulvacan be 2' -3' tall and burgundy at base	Late May - early June	Nectar for hummingbirds Blooms attract mason bees and flies

Lobelia cardinalis (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Cardinal flower	Scarlet-red blooms Long blooming period Dark green foliage Stems are up to 4' tall Spread 1' - 2' Flowers are vibrant red, deeply five-lobed, up to 2" long	July - September	Nectar for hummingbirds Attracts butterflies Foliage feed deer and rabbits

Ludwigia alternifolia L. (to view image, click here)

Common Name

Features

Blooming Season

Benefit to Wildlife

Bushy seedbox
Rattlebox
False loosestrife

2' - 3' tall
1' - 1.5" spread
Yellow blooms
Box-like fruit
Reddish stems
Leaves are 2"- 4", deep green,
short, pointed and lance-shaped

June - September

Seed heads add texture
to winter landscape
Foliage feed deer
Stems feed muskrats
Leaves provide food for
caterpillars

Trees

Forty Bald cypress trees were planted in the bio-retention basin to help adsorb the storm-water run-off and to help prevent standing water.

Taxodium distichum (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Bald cypress Swamp cypress	Grow in wetlands Develop pneumatophores known as knees Develop buttressing, a swelling at the base to help stabilize themselves Absorbs a tremendous amount of water each day Act as a filter for runoff Absorbs harmful chemicals Bark is thin and fibrous	Buds appear in late December early January and bloom in March and April Pollen is release when the flowers bloom A fertilized female conlet turns from green to brownish-purple as it matures from October to December	Seeds for squirrels, wild turkey, wood ducks, evening grosbeak, waterfowl, wading birds and migrating geese Cypress domes provide breeding sites for frogs, toads, salamanders and other reptiles.

Fifty white pine trees were planted along the walking trail to separate property boundry's and to be used for the natural walking-trail fence.

Pinus strobus (to view image, click here)

Common Name

Features

Blooming Season

Benefit to Wildlife

Eastern white pine
Soft pine

Evergreen tree
Large, straight-stemmed
with pyramidal crown
Leaves are clustered, soft blue-green needles that
stay on the tree year round
Produces cones
Luxuriant appearance
Longevity 150-200 yrs. or longer

Male cones bloom in
late winter and release
a yellow pollen in the spring to fertilize the female cone

Decomposed needles enrich soil
Provides food and shelter
Seeds from the cones are
nutritional for squirrels, birds, rabbitsand racoons
Provides shelter and nesting
area for birds in the winter

Grasses

Seven thousand grass plugs were planted along the slope of the banks and in the drainage channel to slow the velocity and help prevent soil erosion in rain events.

Chasmanthium latifolium (to view image click here)

Common Name

Features

Blooming Season

Benefit to Wildlife

River Oats

Spangle Grass

Wildoats

Uniola

Grows in clumps 2-5 feet tall. Low-maintenance.

Preferred habitat is wetlands, flood zones stream banks and low meadows.

The stem and leaf is upright, narrow and arching, alternate on the stem, lance-like, smooth (hairless) with rough margins.

From June to October the seed-heads are in attractive panicles on gracefully drooping pedicels and change color throughout the season from an early translucent green to a rich brown later in the summer and fall.

The seeds are eaten by granivorous birds and small mammals.
Leaves provide graze for mammals. Stems and leaves used as nesting material by birds.
Larva host for Pepper & salt skipper butterfly, Bells road side skipper butterfly, Bronzed roadside skipper butterfly

Elymus hystrix (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Bottlebrush grass	Used for erosion control and cut flowers. Greenish-brown, bristly spikelets in several to many clusters along a terminal spike atop an erect smooth stem. Adapts to wide range of soil conditions including heavy clay.	June - Aug	Attracts butterflies Larval host and/or nectar source for Northern Pearly Eye moths

Panicum virgatum L. (to view image, click here)

Common Name

Features

Blooming Season

Benefit to Wildlife

switchgrass
tall panic grass
Wobsqua grass
blackbent
tall prairiegrass
wild retop
thatchgrass
Virginia switchgrass

Can grow up to 7ft. tall
Clum-forming, warm-season grass with open, lacy sprays with small seeds. Purple stigmas at flowering time. Bright green leaves occur up and down the stem, turnig bright yellow in fall. Used primarily for soil conservation, forage production, game cover, ornamenttal grass, biomass crop, fiber, electricity, heat production and biosequestration of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
Hardy, deep-rooted, perennial rhizomatous grass.
Drought-resistant ornamental grass in average to wet soils.

Aug - Nov

Attracts birds and butterflies. Seeds eaten by ground-feeding songbirds and game birds.
Provedes cover and nesting material
Larval host for banded skippers and most of the satyrs.

Elymus virginicus L. (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Virginia wildrye Bald Rye grass Wheat grass Terrell grass	Drought tolerant Found along river banks, woods, thickets, woodland but rare in open ground. Very short rootstock, grows in dense tufts Stems grows 2-4 ft. tall, tinged with purple. Leaves are long and broad, bright green Flowers are in a spikelike inflorescence	yellow blooms Mar - May	seed and forage for birds and small mammals used for denning and nesting material attracts butterflies essential larval host for most branded skippers and most of the satyrs

Andropogon gerardii (to view image, click here)

Common Name	Features	Blooming Season	Benefit to Wildlife
Big Bluestem grass Turkey foot Prairie tallgrass Tallgrass	Drought tolerent Blue-green stems 4-8 ft. tall, fine to medium blade width Display a variety of colors from steel gray to wine red rhizomatous, sod-forming grass It occupies ravines, lower portions of gentle slopes, and well-watered lowlands where the soil moisture content is high	Aug. - Nov Red, Blue, Brown Russet in winter	seed and forage for birds and small mammals larval host for Delaware Skippers and Dusted Skipper Provides cover for at least 24 species of songbirds and nesting sites or seeds for Grasshopper Sparrow, Henslow's Sparrow, and other sparrows, as well as nesting sites for Sedge Wrens and Western Meadowlarks. Attracts Birds and butterflies

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