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Birds are a must-have for your garden. Birds can help lift your mood and add liveliness with their chirping sounds. They help create a healthy ecosystem by assisting with pollination and seed dispersal, and by feeding on insects that damage your plants.
If you’d like to enjoy all of these benefits, you have to make your garden the perfect place to attract them. And the secret might just lie in growing berries. Below are 16 types of berry-bearing plants you can grow to attract favorable birds to your garden.
1. Chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa)
Chokeberries, also known as aronia berries, belong to the same family as pears and roses. This plant is either grown for ornamental purposes or for food. Chokeberry has a tart taste and is often made into jellies, juice, or syrups. Most people use chokeberries in tea, beer, ice cream, and other foods. You can also eat them fresh from the plant.
Chokeberry can attract birds like gray catbirds, cedar waxwings, and chickadees to your garden.
2. Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna)
Hawthorn berries, also called haws, attract birds, especially in autumn. It’s also not uncommon to see caterpillars and pollinators surrounding the plant.
Hawthorn is a beautiful plant with pink or white flowers and thick leaves. This shrub benefits your garden’s ecosystem, and its berries offer several health benefits.
3. Apple Berry (Billardiera scandens)
Apple berry is an Australian native commonly referred to as love fruit. It is a vine or low-flowering shrub that produces edible fruits that taste like cooked apples.
Birds like satin bowerbird and olive-backed oriole are attracted to the nectar the flowers produce. The nectar also draws pollinators to gardens. Some bird species are attracted to the berries, while others use the plant for shelter.
4. Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum)
Honeysuckle is another famous plant that attracts birds. The berries (haksap) attract birds to your garden. Birds like hummingbirds are attracted to native honeysuckle for its nectar and vibrant color.
Most kinds of honeysuckle produce berries that taste like blueberries. This Canadian and Asian native has various varieties. However, not all of them are safe for consumption.
5. Crabapple (Malus sylvestris)
Crabapples are famous for attracting birds like Eastern bluebirds and cedar waxwings. The flowers and buds also bring other pollinators into your garden. Crabapple trees produce small, edible berries. However, note that not all species of crabapple produce berries.
6. American Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
American beautyberry is native to the Southeastern United States. This plant can grow up to 3-8 feet tall and 8 feet wide. Beautyberry produces clusters of bright berries and attracts a variety of bird species, including gray catbirds, American robins, northern mockingbirds, purple finches, and blue warblers.
Although the berries are a food source for birds, they can also be eaten with pastries and made into food products.
7. Pagoda Dogwood (Cornus alternifolia)
Pagoda dogwood is also called alternate leaf dogwood because of the leaf growth pattern. The plant produces sweet-smelling, yellowish, and white flowers, as well as deep blue berries on red stalks.
Dogwood attracts many songbirds for nesting and as a food source. Butterflies are also drawn to the flowers of the plant.
8. Nannyberry (Viburnum lentago)
Nannyberry is a large shrub or tree that can grow up to 15 feet tall. This plant usually blooms around May, producing clusters of flowers that attract bees. Also, it makes green berries (drupes) that eventually mature to purple or black.
Birds are attracted to the plant, especially when berries form in the fall. Nannyberry can be used for baking or making preserves.
9. Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus)
Blackberry is a fruit-bearing bush belonging to the rose family. It produces berries that are deep purple or black in color. During winter, birds like sparrows, kingbirds, and woodpeckers flock to blackberry trees for food and shelter. The nectar also attracts various pollinators and insects.
10. Elderberry (Sambucus)
Elderberry grows in North America, Western Asia, Europe, and parts of North Africa. It thrives in sunny areas. However, it doesn’t bear fruit until about three years.
This plant yields clusters of berry-like fruits called drupes that attract birds like orioles, robins, and cedar waxwings to the tree. During late summer to early fall, many bird species eat the berries and find shelter in the tree. However, note that this berry should not be consumed raw.
11. Juneberry (Amelanchier)
Juneberry, also called serviceberry, is often grown as a shrub or tree. It is native to some states in the US and Canada. The plant usually blooms around June and produces red berries. Birds like chickadees, orioles, robins, woodpeckers, etc, flock to the plant to feed on these berries.
12. Viburnum (Viburnum)
Various birds, including cardinals and robins, are fond of viburnum plants. Viburnum is a flowering plant that blooms in spring or summer. The berries produced are usually red, blue, or yellow, depending on the variety. The berries are edible, but try not to overconsume the unripe ones.
13. Firethorn (Pyracantha coccinea)
Firethorn is an evergreen plant that sprouts berries that are usually yellow, orange, or red. Birds like cedar waxwings, sparrows, and blackbirds are drawn to the tree.
Their berries are a food source for them, especially during winter. The thick foliage can also serve as shelter or a nesting site. Firethorn berries are not safe for human consumption.
14. American Holly (Ilex opaca)
American holly attracts up to 29 different species of birds. This is because the berries provide high energy during the winter. Birds also use this plant as shelter because of its thorny leaves and thick branches.
Apart from being a haven for birds, the plant also has green and white flowers that attract pollinators such as bees. But beware, as holly berries are not safe for human or pet consumption.
15. Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)
Toyon is a California native that usually blooms around winter. This perennial shrub produces plump red berries. Birds like American robins, mockingbirds, and cedar waxwings flock to this plant when food runs low during winter.
16. Mountain Ash (Sorbus aucuparia)
Mountain ash is a valuable plant for birds, especially during winter. This is because they produce berries (pomes) that are high in nutrition, helping them survive through the winter. Birds like house finches, robins, and waxwings are particularly attracted to its orange colored berries.
Sandra Enuma
Sandra Enuma is a writer who's as comfortable with a trowel as she is with a keyboard. She’s passionate about sharing simple, down-to-earth tips to help you start and manage your own home garden, no matter your experience.
