A few years ago, I had an unusual request from one of my clients. My client asked me to design a landscape that would be sensitive to wildlife and attract certain birds to her yard.
At the time, it was an idea just finding an audience that would entertain it.
In the last Master Gardener class I attended, I remembered this contract that I had written for my client. Since I have become more conscientious about designing landscapes that are friendlier to wildlife, I have seen wildlife respond to my efforts.
I have also seen how the opposite works: by addressing only a limited number of the birds’ needs, your yard can be void of the songs and sounds that birds and other wildlife can bring.
I have been feeding birds during the winter for many years, but that means that there is an inconsistent food source when I don’t provide my bird feed during the summer. When you landscape your yard with a food source, will the birds consistently find their way back?
As a landscaper, I have been encouraged to use the chokeberry whose glossy foliage highlights showy flowers and attracts birds. Cedar waxwings and chickadees have chokeberries on their menus. This chokeberry is nutritious and a late-season food source.
I have used chokeberries as a hedge that can endure full sun to partial shade and prefers well-drained soil.
American Beautyberry is a beautiful shrub. I selected it many times for its incredible purple berries, which persist throughout the fall and winter. Mockingbirds, robins, and cardinals enjoy eating the vibrant fruit. I have designed this plant into my winter landscapes for winter interest.
Our beautyberry is drought-tolerant but needs watering during extended droughts.
One of our native Ohio fruit trees, the mulberry, produces an abundance of sweet berries that birds like blue jays and orioles find irresistible. Many other birds will also enjoy the mulberry.
You need to consider mulberry as a mainstay in your yard for the birds to enjoy. Mulberries are not small shrubs but can grow from 30 to 50 feet.
The mulberry tree will need full sun and well-drained soil to do well. If you don’t prune your mulberry to shape annually, you will find that your mulberry will quickly grow into an unkempt condition.
Over the years, I have talked about elderberries and how easy they are to propagate.
What I want to share today is that cedar waxwings and robins will enjoy this berry as a menu item throughout their summer and early fall rosters. The tiny, nutritious, black berries are essential for migratory birds on their journey.
If you have a sunny spot with well-drained soil, you can grow elderberries.
As I recall, the Juneberry, or serviceberry, was a favorite of 45 different species of birds.
Chickadees and orioles like the reddish-purple early summer fruit. I have designed these tall shrubs for partially shaded yards, and they did well. If you finish off your planting with a mulch top-dressing around the young serviceberry, it will do well.
The color orange attracts several different birds. Mountain ash is a lifeline for birds like waxwing and thrushes during winter snowscapes.
As a landscape designer, I like the way the orange of the mountain ash breaks up the white nature of the snow. Mountain ash does best in full sun and well-drained soil.
Pruning a hedge made of firethorn was one of the first landscape jobs I remember doing in Wooster. I still do not like the thorns on this plant as a pruner.
Blackbirds include this orange berry on their menu, especially when the colder months arrive. This hedge or screen adapts to many soil types, and this shrub enjoys full to partial sun.
Crabapples are wonderful trees to grow if you have traditional apples that you want to grow to harvest and eat as a cross-pollinator. Bluebirds, robins, and cedar waxwings eat crabapples during the winter, and a variety of pollinators will find them in the spring.
Pruning any fruit annually, such as crabapples, encourages healthy fruiting. Crabapples do best in a sunny spot with nutrient-rich soil.
There are many needs each bird has, and these will inform their decision-making about where they can set down their roots. This column has addressed some of the needs of our wildlife to encourage more birds to visit our yard.
If you saw any issues in your garden after your stroll, email me at ericlarson546@yahoo.com.
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