Bird Garden Plants

In the past I had drawn birds with feeders, which meant I had to buy food and go out often to refill them or the birds go elsewhere. This led me to another path of lazy gardeners who simply choose landscape plants that offer winter bird food naturally. Plants grow up, produce fruit and birds arrive. And the longer these bird-friendly plants exist in the garden, the greater the fruit crop and the more avian friends come in winter. Sometimes I think they have a collective memory and will return year after year to sites with a ready food supply.

If you plant your home landscape with consideration for off-season bird foods such as berries, you won't have to lift a finger either. Many of these plants are also quite colorful, and their bright fruits stand out in the dull winter landscape for great visual appeal.
Hawthorne trees planted in the parking lot of my local supermarket are incredible bird magnets. Every time I go there, winter or summer, there is a flock that inhabits their small canopies. These trees bloom in May with potent scarlet flowers, which develop into clusters of showy fruit that hangs on through the winter. The parking-lot birds feed on them all season, then in summer they flock to parked cars, picking their grills clean of the insects splattered there. The most beautiful tree is Paul's scarlet hawthorne, so ask your garden center for Crataegus laevigata 'Paulii' (Zone 4).

Crabapple trees are two-season performers offering a blizzard of white or pink spring flowers and a crop of small fruits in winter. The hybrids grown today are derived from the American prairie crabapple and a number of other foreign species. 'Bob White' crabapple is a great choice for winter birds. Its fruits do not soften until mid-winter after birds have already eaten the early maturing fruit of other crabs. 'Bob White' is hardy to Zone 4 and makes a beautiful smaller accent tree.

The American cranberrybush viburnum, Viburnum trilobum, is an incredibly showy shrub that is native to the far north. Its large May flowers resemble those of the fancy lacecap hydrangeas. These produce clusters of fruits that mature to scarlet red and orange in fall, remaining on the plants until February or later. They are of very high value both to wildlife and as winter garden color on rugged native plants hardy to very cold Zone 3.

Perhaps the showiest shrub for birds is winterberry, Ilex verticillata, which is a deciduous holly native to the eastern U.S. and hardy to Zone 4. This plant drops all its leaves to reveal twigs encrusted with shiny, bright red berries relished by birds. They are also super in winter table arrangements. The berry-bearing shrub is a female, and you must plant a male of the species nearby to ensure fruit production.

Birds just love thickets, so plant shrubs in your bird-friendly groups of trees for a more holistic environment. The more diversity of plants, the greater range of bird species that come to dine. And if you provide them a hearty winter meal, they are likely to hang around and take care of your bugs next year.