Bird-Friendly Winter Gardens

Gardening for the Birds

Nothing helps relieve that “cabin fever” feeling during a long winter better than gazing out the window and watching birds play tag at the feeder or feeding on savory seeds plucked straight from your shrubs. Making your property more bird-friendly can attract and keep birds longer and create a pleasing landscape for you to enjoy too. For birds to make their winter residence in your garden, they need to have the basics: food, shelter and water. Shelter is easily managed with a few evergreen or conifers to provide protection from winter winds, ice and snow. Providing food and water is decidedly more challenging for birds when temperatures drop below freezing and the snow starts to pile up. Designing a garden to be bird-friendly during the winter months is no more difficult than designing an attractive year-round garden that contains persistent berries and seeds.

A bird-friendly garden

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A Few Favorite Spring Blooming Shrubs

What does it take to get on the top ten best shrubs list? One of the main reasons for growing shrubs is to have a plant that will look great in flower and contribute to the landscape during another season. This multi-season interest is important to become a top shrub. Shrubs that look great for two weeks in May while they are in bloom are nice, but a top shrub must have other characteristics to justify its status in the garden. These characteristics might include: vivid fall color, persistent or edible fruit, exfoliating bark, flower fragrance, or a striking architectural appearance. Surprisingly, some of the best shrubs may not be very familiar to gardeners. It is time for the secret to be revealed and more top shrubs put into gardens.

Glorious Forsythia suspensa in the spring

Forsythia is a shrub that heralds the arrival of spring for many

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