Bayberry – Myrica pensylvanica

Bayberry is a beautiful shrub that is native to Eastern North America. It is about as unfussy as you can get with its growing conditions. It prefers moist, sandy, acidic soils, but will tolerate drought, salt, high winds. Its ability to tolerate salt makes it a good choice for roadways which get salted in winter.

It has glossy leaves in the summer and makes the silvery, waxy berries shown in these photos. The lovely reddish background isn’t mulch, but last season’s fallen leaves. You need to plant one male plant among the females to get the plants to set fruit. And the fruit (berries) are covered with a layer of wax that is aromatic and used to make bayberry candles and soaps.

As a child, these bushes grew in abundance at the beach we used to frequent. One summer my mother took it into her head for us to collect the berries to make candles. We spent what seemed like hours picking berries off the bushes, much to the chagrin of the hungry birds. I think the reality that we would need many many more bags of berries than we had to make one candle set in and my mother abandoned that project.