A large multi-stemmed native shrub-to-small-tree of western North America, named for the dusty powder-blue drupes that ripen in late summer over a waxy bloom. Flat-topped creamy-white flower cymes up to 10 inches across rise above pinnately compound serrated foliage in early summer, drawing birds and butterflies. The cooked fruit is edible and prized for jelly, pie, and wine, but the plant earns a "high maintenance" note for suckering, wind/snow breakage, and a roster of fungal and insect pests.

The hardiest and largest of the California lilacs — a fast-growing broadleaf-evergreen shrub of the Pacific coast that smothers itself in dense thyrse clusters of pale-to-deep blue flowers in spring. Glossy three-veined, finely toothed dark-green leaves and a billowing shrub habit make it a signature blue mass on West Coast slopes. Drought tolerant once established, it asks for little summer water and resents overwatering; deer and elk browse the foliage and the bloom is a documented draw for native bees.

A small native tree with white spring flowers, edible summer berries, and copper to red fall color.

A tough, adaptable deciduous large shrub or small tree, Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) opens clusters of bright yellow flowers on bare stems in late winter — among the earliest woody nectar of the year — then ripens glossy red, olive-shaped edible fruit and finishes with good autumn colour. Native to central and southern Europe and western Asia (POWO), it carries the RHS Award of Garden Merit and is rated fully hardy (H6).

A deciduous European hedgerow shrub or small tree grown above all for one of the most arresting autumn shows of any native woody plant — rosy-pink, four-lobed fruit capsules that split to reveal vivid orange-coated seeds, hanging against red-purple foliage. Native across Europe and into western Asia (POWO, Kew), it is a tough, undemanding plant for hedgerows and informal screens that genuinely earns its keep for wildlife: insect-pollinated flowers in spring, seeds taken by birds, and aphid colonies that feed ladybirds and hoverflies. The honest pitch, and it is load-bearing: every part of this plant is toxic if eaten and the colourful fruit is especially so, so it must be sited away from where children might be tempted; it is also a primary winter host of the black bean aphid, so keep it well clear of a vegetable plot. With those two caveats respected, it is a dependable, wildlife-rich native — chosen for honest autumn drama, not for being trouble-free.

A native deciduous willow of northern North America famous for the silky, silvery catkins — the "pussies" — that swell on bare stems in late winter, often while snow is still on the ground. Usually grown as a large multi-stemmed shrub 6-15 feet tall, it thrives in moist to wet soils and tolerates drier ground better than most willows. Dioecious (separate male and female plants), it is one of the earliest pollen and nectar sources of the year and a documented host for a wide range of native bees and Lepidoptera.