Seed Dispersal and Plant Propagation
Fruit-eating birds like cedar waxwings play a crucial role in spreading seeds across your landscape. When you grow native elderberry or berry-producing viburnums (Viburnum dentatum, native to eastern North America, non-invasive), you’re not only providing food but also facilitating the next generation of plants! Watching flocks swoop in to feast and later find saplings sprouting elsewhere is garden magic at its finest.
Those volunteer seedlings can fill bare spots with native diversity, reducing your workload and promoting a self-sustaining habitat. I love stumbling upon a young elderberry sprout that owes its existence to last year’s waxwing banquet!