Top Five Plants for Attracting Back Yard Birds

Backyard birding is one of America's most popular pastimes. However, if you have neighborhood restrictions against having bird feeders, or just don't want to deal with the hassle of maintaining a feeder, back yard birding is still possible. By including these five plants, you'll be providing shelter and food for your feathered friends.

1. Apple or Cherry Trees
These trees will provide shelter for birds, but even more importantly, they will provide fruit. Apple trees, especially, will provide fruit in autumn, when so many other fruiting plants are starting to die down. However, if you decide to plant a fruit tree for the birds, do not spray it! The chemicals harm the very birds you are trying to attract. Fruit lovers such as robins and cedar waxwings, as well as insect lovers such as woodpeckers, will be attracted to apple or cherry trees.

2. Pine Trees
Any pine tree will do! The evergreen branches provide much-needed winter shelter, as well as nesting sites. The cones provide food for many different species of birds, including blue jays, chickadees, nuthatches, and finches.

3. Cosmos
These cheerful annual flowers will provide food for many song birds, including finches, juncos, mourning doves, and sparrows. As an added bonus, they also attract butterflies! To provide food for birds, however, do not cut the faded blooms off. They need to go to seed, and the birds will eat the seed. If you leave spent cosmos standing through the winter, you'll not only have winter interest, but the birds will have food available as well.

4. Viburnums
There are a multitude of viburnum cultivars out there. The best ones for attracting birds are the American Cranberry Bush and the Doublefile viburnum. Both cultivars produce a good amount of fruit in the fall that will remain on the plant throughout the winter. Fruit lovers such as robins, waxwings, cardinals, and chickadees will all be frequent visitors to your viburnums.

5. Sunflowers
If I could only recommend one plant to attract birds, it would have to be sunflowers. These cheerful giants attract more birds than any other plant: blue jays, cardinals,chickadees, finches, juncos, nuthatches, sparrows, and woodpeckers all love sunflower seeds. Plant one row of them, and you'll have birds for weeks!

There they are: five plants that will attract birds to your little corner of the earth. To make sure you get even more birds, be sure to include at least one bird bath. Between these natural food and nesting sources, and a steady supply of fresh water, you'll have birds taking up residence in your yard in no time!