On Gardening/Attract and Retain Birds with the Right Plants

1-27-97

University Park, Pa. -- Birds are always welcome in the winter, but the right type of feeder and plant material can assure a steady stream of visitors all season long.

The fruit on many plants provides a natural source of food for birds. When designing or adding plants to an existing landscape, select those which provide both food and cover for birds. Many gardeners think plants that provide food are the best way to attract birds. Tree and shrubs that provide winter cover or spring and summer nesting sites can be very useful to the birds as well.

There is a tremendous variety of plants that can meet our landscape needs while providing fruit for beauty as well as for gradual consumption by birds in winter. An understanding of your landscape needs along with the characteristics of specific plants will allow you to establish a plant collection to satisfy both needs; beauty and winter fruit.

Many selections of crabapples like Sargent, Snowdrift or White Angel provide both attractive spring flowers as well as fall fruit crops. These plants can be used in a number of landscape settings.

Excellent fruit crops are produced on Washington and Winter King hawthorn. The bright red to orange-red fruit not only adds color but is attractive to a variety of birds. These 25-foot specimens can be underplanted with other shrubs to serve as additional cover all year.

Many times we fail to appreciate that vines can provide both cover and food for birds. Thick coverings of stems and foliage on a wall or trellis can make ideal nesting sites. Plants of wisteria, Virginia creeper and Japanese creeper (Boston ivy) all form heavy leaf cover in the summer months.

Evergreens are particularly desirable as landscape units as well as for yearly cover for many birds. During the spring and summer the dense foliage provides protection from danger, and in winter it protects birds from the elements. Junipers, pines, hemlock and spruce are some of the many evergreens that prove useful in most landscape designs. All have the density necessary for seasonal protection.

The mugo pine, which is a thick, densly branched narrowleaf evergreen shrub, also provides excellent cover for a variety of birds all year long. When the plant is used near other food sources like fruiting plants or your seasonal seed feeder you have an ideal combination. The mugo pine also provides a welcome change in color, texture and density from the heavily planted Japanese yew used in many landscapes

When selecting evergreen trees for the landscape please remember that most of them tend to develop into rather large specimens. If they are placed with their ultimate size in mind they can provide years of enjoyment for both you and the bird population on your property. If they are set in the wrong location and require yearly pruning you may not enjoy them as much, and it is possible that the extra attention will reduce the plant's value to the birds.

Remember that most birds are quite timid by nature and need the protection of plant material while visiting your feeder. Most plants will also provide ample protection from the neighborhood cats that seem to be all too common in many areas.

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**Dr. Nuss is a horticulturist at Penn State. He coordinates all extension horticulture programs. He has bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in ornamental horticulture and has been on the Penn State faculty since 1966.