Week 36 - Bird attracting plants
With large areas of the countryside put over to agriculture with the associated loss of natural habitats and use of pesticides to kill off insects, our gardens are now more important than ever as reserves for wild birds. Growing plants that feed the birds can really help maintain and build populations.
7 great food plants for birds
1. Hawthorn
This native plant is a mainstay of countryside hedges and provides both berries and nesting sites for birds.
2. Pyracantha
These berry-laden plants help sustain birds all through the winter.
3. Ivy
Thick ivy climbing up a wall, fence or tree with its nutritious berries provide a feast for birds, especially in late winter/early spring when other food sources have all been eaten.
4. Crab-apple
Crab-apples are a small tree suitable for may gardens and whilst their small apples are too bitter for human tastes (unless put into jellies), they are loved by birds.
5. Thistles and Teasels
A super tidy gardener may recoil at the thought of growing thistles but their seeds are adored by goldfinches. If you really cannot bear the thought of having thistles, teasels are a good alternative.
6. Sunflowers
Let your garden giants go to seed and the birds will gobble them up in autumn and winter.
7. Insect attracting plants
OK so not a single plant but remember not all birds are vegetarian. Many are insect eaters so planting anything that attracts insects will be good for bringing in birds. Buddleia, herbs, cosmos, yarrow are all good choices and not using any pesticides will ensure you have insects to feed the birds.
For more tips on how to attract birds to your garden have a read of this earlier This earlier Weekly Green Tips I wrote - 7 ways to attract birds to your garden.
Have you seen all the other posts in #WeeklyGreenTips? Click on "Weekly Green Tips" in the labels section in the right hand column for loads more green inspiration.
Great ideas for plant additions to the garden and such an easy way to help our feathered friends! Visiting from Skip the Bag!
ReplyDeleteAnd easier to feed birds this way than a bird table when you have thieving dog!
DeleteI'd love to have more birds...in the front yard, not eating out of my garden. We just put up a bird feeder, but I'll have to see about putting some of these up to feed them. Thanks for sharing on the Waste Less Wednesday Hop. This will be featured next week!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the feature - we are having a cold snap here in France and the birds are filling up in the berries son my cotoneaster plant.
DeleteI've been wanting to have several bird feeders around in our garden, but haven't managed to do that yet. Lovely photos! #animaltales
ReplyDeleteDo it - NOW!!! The photos are royalty free photos from Pixabay - do go and have a look.
DeleteWe unintentionally have most of those in our garden and we do get a lot of birds. My kids love to spot them!
ReplyDeleteHa ha - well done!
DeleteI love feeding the birds. This is a great post, I hope you'll share it at Thursday's Simple Homestead blog hop.
ReplyDeleteI am just off to have a look now - thank you for the info.
DeleteI love your pictures. We have 2 birds feeders at our house - 1 in our flower garden and 1 in outside our family room window. Thanks for sharing your valuable information.
ReplyDeleteThe pictures come from pixabay as my camera skills are not up to this! Do head over and have a look.
Deleteour garden is full of birds at the moment and several green parrots are nesting in our palm tree, we have no idea where all these birds go in the summer, i assume they migrate
ReplyDeleteI never thought about where birds in places like Dubai go in the heat of the summer .... enjoy them whilst they are there!
DeleteHi Rosie, now I know what the lovely heavily berry laden bushes are up in the hills! They are a blaze of colour in winter and that's probably where they got the name from.
ReplyDeleteWe do get a a few birds in the garden despite having five dogs and a cat, I would love to attract more, but with food not in shortage in our area, our attempts (when the children) were small were not successful.
Great tips.
xx
Ah yes, Pyracantha is also known as the fire bush. Now I know where it grows wild!
Deletemy choice of plants here is limited to what will actually grow in the sand and survive the harsh summers. We do however have quite a variety of birds in our garden and some real grass. i also put out fresh water for them daily, but not food as we have a rat problem in the estate currently #animaltales
ReplyDeleteWe have just put a bird feeder in our French garden and I was amazed how quickly they found it! I'm afraid I spend far too much time watching the birds feeding. It's very therapeutic for some reason. Thank you for the very useful suggestions for plants. #AnimalTales
ReplyDeleteoh I love Harden birds. We have loads in our garden and the farmer keeps seeing an owl but I haven't seen it yet. It's just unfortunate that 2 little boys like to help with plants so they never last long here ;)
ReplyDeleteI love all those plants and your post makes me long yet again for our own garden so I can do some real wildlife gardening. Our current ivy is pretty good for birds and insects, I just want MORE! #AnimalTales
ReplyDelete