Feed the Birds - Plant a Garden

Winter is the time of year when people think most about feeding the birds.  Rather than just hanging up a bird feeder and providing sunflower seeds and cracked corn, why not do something that will feed the birds year round?  With just a little bit of effort you can plant a native plant garden that will provide seeds and fruit to feed your feathered friends year round.  Because these are all naive plants, they will also attract a wide variety of insects to your garden which provide further food for the birds.  As an added benefit, once you have planted these trees, shrubs, and wildflowers you can enjoy their beauty year round too.

What should you plant in your garden for the birds?



Trees and shrubs that provide berries and other fruit:

American Elder

Black Cherry

Highbush Cranberry

Nannyberry

Pawpaw

Red Osier Dogwood

Silky Dogwood

Staghorn Sumac

Trees that provide nuts and seeds:

American Beech

American Basswood

Black Ash

Black Walnut

Boxelder

Bur Oak

Chinquapin Oak

Green Ash

Pignut Hickory

Red Maple

Red Oak

Silver Maple

Sugar Maple

Swamp White Oak

White Oak

White Pine

Wildflowers that produce berries or seeds:

Blue Cohosh

Bluebead Lily

Blue Vervain

Carrion Flower

Common (Canada) Goldenrod

Lanceleaf Coreopsis

Cut-leaf Coneflower

False Sunflower

Gray-headed Coneflower

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Jewelweed (Touch-me-not)

Lance-leaf Goldenrod

Large-leafed Aster

New England Aster

Panicled Aster

Purple Coneflower

Red Baneberry

Spotted Joe-pye Weed

Spotted Touch-me-not

Thin-leaved Coneflower

Virginia Creeper

White Lettuce

Wild Strawberry

Zigzag Goldenrod