Friday, November 12, 2010

These Plants Are For the Birds - Planting to Attract Birds in Winter

While we enjoy the subtle tones and simple beauty of our winter landscapes, the birds are scurrying around adding life and color to everything. I love to see them scratching in the soil for leftover seeds and playing in the bare branches.

Do you want to invite them into your garden this winter? Besides adding bird feeders and bird baths for an easy source of food and water through the year, try planting a few of these bird favorites.

Berberis darwinii is a gorgeous evergreen Barberry that blooms in midwinter. It has a beautiful fountain-like habit and grows to 6'+, and its shiny deep green leaves make a great show year-round.

In mid-winter, it bursts into bright golden bloom, with clusters of flowers dotting the plant. The spectacular bloom is followed by profuse deep blue berries which are a total hit with the birds.

Try planting the upright Darwin's Barberry with a softly-textured conifer such as Tsuga canadensis, the Canadian Hemlock, for a gentle contrast in foliage.

Abies koreana is another big favorite of the birds. In winter, it develops striking purple cones which contain seeds that the birds love to eat. All Firs attract birds, but the Korean Fir is especially good, because it will bear cones on very young plants, so you will be feeding the birds even in the early years.

I love the freshly-fallen-snow effect on Abies koreana 'Silberlocke', and the gentler silvery tones on the undersides of the regular Abies koreana. Try them with some purple-foliage plants nearby to help that silver stand out, and to bring out the purple color of the cones.

Viburnum plicatum tomentosum, the Doublefile Viburnum, creates a gorgeous haven for the birds. It has a tiered, horizontal pattern to the branches, which makes it fun for the birds to hop around and play in. Even though it goes dormant, this is one of the bird hotspots right now - there's rustling, playing, and chirping going on within the shrub.

It's not just for the birds, though, this is one of my favorite shrubs for year-round interest. When it leafs out in spring, the fresh green color is so cheering, and by mid-spring it is covered in pretty white lacecap blooms which hover above the branches. The berries in summer are popular with the birds, and then it provides a rich purple-red fall color.

If you'd like your Viburnum to berry, be sure that you have a different variety of Doublefile Viburnum nearby, even in a neighbor's garden, to pollinate it. Even without the berries, though, this is a wonderful habitat plant to enjoy in all the seasons.

Miscanthus sinensis, or Maiden Grass, is a real treat for goldfinches and other small birds. In fall, Maiden Grass sends up airy plumes of reddish-purple flowers above the foliage, and the birds have fun pecking about for every last seed in winter.

'Sarabande' grows to 5' tall and has shimmery green foliage. It looks gorgeous paired with deep green Rhodies - and they are great with the Yaku hybrids' bright white new growth, or the coppery new foliage on 'Bronze Wing'.

Or there is the elegant white-variegated 'Silberfeil', which looks stunning with deep purple foliage, or blue-flowered Hydrangeas.

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