Landscaping for Your Birds

Landscaping for your birds

We can encourage birds to make their homes near ours by creating habitats they will enjoy and benefit from. Birds have four basic needs: food, water, cover and nesting sites, so the ideal backyard habitat will meet most of these needs.

Consider this sampling of plants which attract birds:

Fruit-producing trees: cherry, crab apple, hawthorn, mulberry, mountain ash.

Evergreens: juniper, fir, hemlock, boxwood, pine, spruce, cypress, holly

Shrubs: barberry, azalea, choke-berry, viburnum

Vines: honeysuckle, trumpet vine, Virginia creeper

Grasses: quaking grass, pampas grass, oat grass, reed grass

Annuals: bachelor’s button, morning glory, impatiens, marigold, petunia, sunflower, zinnia

Perennials: aster, bee balm, black-eyed susan, coneflower, chrysanthemum, phlox

So, before purchasing a plant for your yard, around your feeding station or water source, consider whether it will provide food, nesting sites or shelter for your birds. With the right plants, you can easily enhance the effectiveness of your feeding station dramatically.