Local nursery with native trees

As an advocate for more native plants in our landscapes, I am often asked, "Where can I find these plants you are talking about?" And often, I am at a loss. Most of the plants for sale at the garden center, while beautiful, are not native to the southeastern United States. And while these exotic plants have many exceptional attributes- shade creation, aesthetics, erosion reduction, bird cover- they are not adequate hosts for many of the insects that our bird species need to complete their life cycles. Natives are important.

Well, I have a great nursery for y'all to go visit- Specialty Trees. A good portion of the trees available are natives and I've listed them below:

Southern Red Maple....Acer rubrum 'Drummondii'
Red Buckeye....Aesculus pavia
Bottlebrush Buckeye....Aesculus parviflora
Sweetshrub....Calycanthus floridus
Eastern Redbud....Cercis canadensis
Texas Redbud....Cercis texensis
Kentucky Coffeetree....Cladrastis kentukea
Swamp Cyrilla....Cyrilla
Loblolly Bay....Gordonia lasianthus
Carolina Silverbell....Halesia tetraptera
Spicebush....Lindera benzion
Tuliptree....Liriodendron tulipifera
Large-leaf Magnolia....Magnolia acuminata
Southern Magnolia....Magnolia grandiflora 'D.D. Blanchard'
Black Gum....Nyssa sylvatica
Sourwood....Oxydendrum arboreum
Swamp White Oak....Quercus bicolor
Overcup Oak....Quercus lyrata
Chinkapin Oak....Quercus muehlenbergii
Nutall Oak....Quercus nuttalli
Live Oak....Quercus virginiana
Bald Cypress....Taxodium distichum
Weeping Bald Cypress....Taxodium distichum 'Cascade Falls'
Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum....Viburnum 'Rusty Blackhaw'

Now, I have a plan for your trip to Specialty Trees (you need to make an appointment before you go to make sure Tony is there). The nursery is off of Highway 174 on the way to Edisto Beach, south of Charleston. Call 843-324-1437 or e-mail specialtytrees@mac.com to schedule a trip to this wonderful nursery.

I recommend meeting with Tony around 10 or 11. If you don't have a truck, he'll deliver your tree to town later.

Afterward, head towards Edisto and eat lunch at Po' Pigs BBQ; It's so delicious. On your way back, stop at King's Market for some cut flowers, chicken salad, tomato pie and double-yolk eggs for later. Once you get home, consider a nap.

Trust me on all of this....I have done this itinerary before.

Here are some of the Redbuds that are currently flowering at the nursery:Mexican White Oak, just leafing out. The new growth is pink and downy:

Hope y'all will listen to me and visit Specialty Trees. If you go, be sure to tell Tony that you heard about it here.

Happy Spring!
Kari