Pigeonberry is versatile and low-maintenance.
When it comes to garden utility players, native pigeonberry is among my first draft picks.
It’s not a one-and-done, flashy looker. Rather it’s a subtle charmer with wavy-edged leaves and month after month of small pink and white flowers and tiny but bright red berries.
Nor is pigeonberry (Rivina humilis) a single role player in the garden. This low-maintenance root-hardy perennial can perform multiple duties.
• As an attractive ground cover, it rises 10-18 inches and spreads a foot or two in full or part shade or dappled sun.
• It’s a perfect border for a bed with ‘Soft Caress’ mahonia, Japanese plum yew (Cephalotaxus harringtonia ‘Duke Gardens’) and Mexican bauhinia (a long-flowering swallowtail magnet).
• Pigeonberry also is a woodland companion growing beneath beautyberry, Mexican buckeye or sassafras.
• It fills a container with a loose, natural look or pairs easily with other plants with similar sun and water needs.
Birds love the shiny berries spring until frost. (The berries and leaves are slightly toxic to humans.) Each day, the doves bob among the low-growing pigeonberry feasting on the teeny red orbs — an entertaining, educational lesson in nature for our little granddaughter.
It’s by no means a water hog, but I find pigeonberry looks best with some moisture during a long, hot and dry spell. Otherwise, it will go dormant during a drought.
Rarely do I find reason to trim it, but I do prune freeze-damaged tops to the ground after a cold winter.
Pigeonberry is a reseeder, but not the overzealous type. It gives me just the right amount of volunteers without wearing out its welcome.