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News: Clemson WR Tristan Smith WILL play in 2026 after a South Carolina judge granted his request for a temporary injunction on June 12.
It took a South Carolina judge four days to rule in favor of Smith.
In 2009, dozens of cedar waxwings dropped dead in a Georgia yard. A lab opened them up and found their stomachs packed with one thing: bright red berries picked off the shrub by the porch.
That shrub was nandina, sold all over the South as "heavenly bamboo."
It's not bamboo, but an Asian barberry relative, and its berries contain cyanide compounds. A bird that eats a few is usually fine. But cedar waxwings don't eat a few. They descend in flocks and strip plants bare, and in late winter, when those berries are one of the few foods left hanging, a whole flock can swallow a deadly dose in minutes.
The Georgia birds were found dead beneath the shrubs they had been feeding on. It's happened since, including more cedar waxwings found dead at UNC Chapel Hill.
The berries are also how the plant spreads. Birds eat the fruit and scatter the seeds. Nandina has escaped gardens into woods across much of the South, from Virginia to Texas.
It tolerates deep shade, which means it doesn't stop at the trail edge. It can establish in intact forests and crowd out native plants. State after state lists it as invasive. It's still sitting on the shelf at the big-box nursery.
It's easy to recognize. An upright evergreen shrub three to eight feet tall, with lacy leaves that turn red in cold weather, clusters of white flowers in spring, and bunches of glossy red berries that hang on all winter.
So yank it. Get the roots, because it resprouts. If you can't remove the whole thing this year, at least cut off every berry cluster before the birds find it.
Then plant something that actually feeds them: winterberry, American beautyberry, chokeberry, or native hollies.
The birds deserve better.
The Empire State Building shines red and white tonight in celebration of @Arsenal’s Premier League Title and trophy celebration.
See the lights live: https://t.co/iavtXSm3Fx