If bird-watching is your favorite hobby or you just want to help your local ecosystem, adding native plants to your garden is a great way to attract winged creatures and keep them thriving. You can start small with a few blooms, like asters or echinacea, which provide seeds in the winter. Or you can transform your outdoor space with specific trees, shrubs, grasses, and flowers that will support a wide variety of birds throughout the year.
“To best serve birds, it's ideal to have a layered landscape of locally native plants including an overstory, understory, shrubs, perennials, and groundcover,” says Elise Howard, gardening expert and author of Plant This, Not That: Over 200 Native Plant Swaps for a More Sustainable, Pollinator-Friendly Garden.
An overstory is the tallest element in a garden or landscape, like trees. The understory is the mid-level growth under the tallest layer and can include smaller trees, bushes, and ground covers. And perennials add color and personality, bringing the whole landscape together.
Howard shares a few recommendations for bird-friendly plants that you can add on their own or combine. (To find species that are native to your area, use the National Wildlife Federation’s Native Plant Finder.) Add a few feeders and a water source, and your home will be the best bird-watching spot on the block year-round.
Trees
You might only think of trees as being a place for birds to nest and rest, but Howard says that certain ones provide essential food as well.
- Oak
“In the spring, the number one plant for supporting the caterpillars that most birds need to sustain their young is an oak tree that’s native to your region,” she explains. There are many varieties to choose from, including white, live, water, and red, so research what species is native to your area.
These spring-flowering trees produce berries that are an important food source in the fall and winter, and they also host caterpillars.
- Fruit trees
Trees can provide more food beyond caterpillars and insects. “Adult birds thrive on the fruit of native trees and shrubs, like the American plum, which are widely native,” Howard says.
Shrubs
These low-maintenance shrubs produce berries that birds (and sometimes people) love.
- Blueberry
“Fruit-producing shrubs, like blueberries and huckleberries, are another powerhouse feeder for birds,” she says. Plus, when they flower in the spring, you’ll also be supporting pollinators. - Holly
In the winter, the bright red berries on these bushes beckon many species of birds to swoop in for a bite. - American beautyberry
This leafy shrub is known for producing clusters of bright purple berries in the late summer into fall.
Grasses
Howard recommends adding native ornamental grasses as well. “All of these plants offer a safe, concealed habitat as well as food for various species,” she says. “They also provide nesting material and host insects, which are another important food source.”
- Blue or sideoats grama
These wispy grasses produce tiny seeds that songbirds can eat in the winter months. - Little bluestem
This plant is also a good source of seeds. It grows in clumps, which smaller birds often use as a shelter, especially in the winter.
Flowers
Native flowering plants add color to your garden in the summer, and in the late fall and winter, they turn into an important food source for birds like cardinals, finches, and sparrows. “So many native flowers provide food for overwintering birds—as long as you leave the flower heads and let the seeds ripen,” says Howard.
- Goldenrod
Howard recommends zigzag, stiff, and Western varieties, which attract smaller birds like goldfinches. - Coneflowers
Birds love the long and spiky seeds from these long-blooming perennials. - Black-eyed Susans
Howard recommends black- and brown-eyed Susans, which have small dark centers filled with seeds that are the perfect size for songbirds. - Asters
These petite blooms produce fluffy seed heads in the colder months, which are a food source for nuthatches, cardinals, finches, and other small birds.
