Plants for Attracting Birds

Plants That Attract Butterflies
Want to draw butterflies to your yard? Read about some examples of attractive plants that will help you achieve just that. The pictures I provide of these plants will draw you to them as surely as they draw the butterflies!

Attracting Birds With Dogwood and Other Flowering Trees, Shrubs
Yes, many of us who enjoy gardening also wish to draw birds to our properties. But it is not a zero-sum game: usually, we can beautify our landscapes with flowering shrubs and trees, for example, while drawing birds simultaneously. The spring flowers that so delight us after a long winter sometimes yield to colorful berries later in the year...

Squirrel-Proof Birdfeeders and Other Wild Bird Supplies
Squirrels can be hogs at the bird feeder, can't they? And it is not as if bird food were inexpensive. What is the solution? Inventors have devised several types of squirrel-proof feeders that are clever enough to outsmart these acrobatic rodents.

Flowers to Attract Hummingbirds
We don't have to choose between pretty plants and attracting birds. In fact, some of the dramatic plants covered here draw butterflies, to boot. But there can still be tough choices. A few of these plants can be invasive; despite their elegance and ability to bring birds and butterflies to your yard, you'll have to think twice before planting them.

Attracting Eastern Bluebirds, Robins With Sumac
Are the wild birds not eating your sumac berries in fall? Don't be hasty: an emergency food source rather than a first choice, the berries will be there in late winter or early spring when the birds are desperate. Bluebirds, robins and others will eat the berries in the absence of tastier meals. The fall foliage is nothing to sneeze at, either.

How to Grow and Make Gourd Birdhouses
In addition to growing the plants we have been discussing, there are other ways of attracting birds to the yard. Those ways include installing birdhouses. But maybe you're tired of the same old wooden structures? Growing birdhouse gourds gives you an interesting alternative to hanging out conventional birdhouses for your feathered friends.

Common Milkweed Plants
Many people may view butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), with its bright orange flowers, as their first choice when selecting a type of milkweed to grow to draw butterflies to the yard. But do not forget the common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). Yet another type of milkweed is swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).

Butterfly Gardens: Attracting Butterflies With Trees, Flowers
Are butterfly and hummingbird gardens the same? No, although they share a lot of the same plants. But there's one set of plants for feeding adult butterflies and another for caterpillars. Butterflies also take in water differently than wild birds; learn how to adjust your landscaping accordingly, so as to best accommodate butterflies.

Shrubs to Attract Wild Birds
Sometimes, both benefits of your 2-for-1 deal come within the same season! Such can be the case with the shrubs and vines listed in this resource. Plants such as viburnum and Virginia creeper not only furnish the landscape in autumn with splendid fall color but also draw birds with their berries.

Butterfly Bush for Hummingbirds, Butterfly Gardens
Are you interested in the birds and the bees -- oh, and butterflies, too? Butterfly bush seems to be especially good for attracting tiger swallowtails. It also draws hummingbirds and those under-appreciated pollinators, bees. "But isn't butterfly bush invasive?" you ask. Well, as my article explains, that depends.

Chinese Wisteria Plants: A Vine for Butterfly Gardens?
Chinese wisteria plants serve as host plants for silver-spotted skippers. Will you want to include them in your butterfly gardens? That depends. As my article explains, these vines do not come without their drawbacks.

Book on How to Attract Birds
Perhaps you'd like to curl up with a good book to read about how to attract birds to the yard? Enter this book from the American Audubon Society. For landscaping enthusiasts, the chief appeal of this book is its presentation of suitable plant material, although much more information is packed into its 466 pages.

Trumpet Vines
It is too bad that trumpet vine does not know how to behave itself. It will adorn any trellis it scales with bright orange blooms (which are hummingbird magnets), but is it worth the high maintenance it requires? My dad planted some years ago, and I am still pulling out unwanted offspring that have spread from the original plant.

Holly Trees and Shrubs -- They're "For the Birds"
Winterberry is just one kind of holly. The evergreen types are better known and, like their deciduous cousin, produce colorful berries attractive to birds and humans alike. Evergreen holly can also furnish wild birds with much-needed cover from predators. And I don't have to tell you how ornamental holly is for the Christmas season.

Attract Wild Birds With Winterberry Holly
Winterberry, like sumac, is an emergency food source for birds. Also like sumac, it can have significant ornamental value, as well. Cultivar names for this deciduous holly, such as 'Winter Red' and 'Red Sprite', tell much of the story: this shrub can light up your yard in late fall and/or early winter with its red berries.

Trees and Shrubs for Winter Interest
Many struggle with creating visual interest in the winter yard. There's only so much you can do with evergreens. But there are non-evergreens, too with qualities offering value to winter landscapes. And if one quality a plant has is that it attracts colorful birds to the yard, do not forget to include this fact when grading it for winter interest.