Winterberry holly (Ilex verticillata)

After being planted almost a decade ago, the grove of native shrubs planted along the riparian zone of Buell Brook has finally become well established. A number of the shrubs experienced a major growth spurt this past year and some are well over head high. These shrubs were planted as part of several student projects in the Natural Resource Management course taught at SEBS. The objective was to stabilize the riparian zone along Buell Brook and enhance the native shrub diversity in the EcoPreserve. The plantings include winterberry holly (seen above), sweet pepperbush (Clethra alnifolia), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), red osier dogwood (Cornus sericea).  Further upstream are several witch hazel (Hamamelis virginiana) that were already growing but in poor shape due to deer browsing.  These shrubs have also responded once fenced in to keep away the deer.