Growing Bayberry: Tips at a Glance
Hardy bayberry shrubs and trees thrive in USDA growing zones 3-9 and can withstand salty waterfronts or windy roofs. Also happy in a woodland garden, they produce handsome gray-blue berries used in scented candles.
- Type Shrub or tree
- Lifeppan Perennial
- USDA Zones 3-9
- Soil Poor, light, textured
- Light Sun lover
- Water Moderate
- Growth Fast
- Design Tip Perimeter hedge
- Other Uses Wax and scent
- Peak Season Dramatic winter foliage
Bayberry: A Field Guide
Bayberry shrubs and trees have a hardy soul and a useful beauty. Typically evergreen, they can thrive on a salt-drenched beachfront, a windy city rooftop, or along a wooded trail.
Planted as a hedge, Myrica‘s dense foliage provides dramatic bronze or burgundy winter color and protection for wildlife. This upright shrub—typically five to eight feet wide and tall—has dense, long leaves and a name derived from the Greek myrike, or “fragrance.” Bayberry’s tiny gray-blue berries were used to make candles in days past and provide migrating birds with extra fuel.