Landscaping For Birds

Many want to birds to come to their yards and gardens and wonder what they can plant to encourage these winged creatures. I took a walk though our nursery this week and saw an abundance of plants that will attract songbirds. Here are just a few ideas for your landscape.

First of all, although we tend to think first of plants that offer food for birds, shelter is also important. Providing a variety of larger growing evergreens and deciduous plants in groups offers birds places to hide from predators and build nests. Junipers, especially our native eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) are great for shelter and food because many birds eat the berries. Other native plants such as bayberry, chokeberry and highbush blueberries are also fantastic food sources. The bayberry has the added advantage of being able to grow in very poor soils.

The bottom line when planting for birds is to include many different plants, with emphasis on natives. Given a wide variety, they’ll flock to your yard!