From Virginia State Parks
Planting natives is the best way to attract birds to your yard while supporting conservation efforts. Gardening with native plants creates a sanctuary for birds who will return year after year to feed, nest, take shelter and raise their young.
Birds will appreciate and seek the habitat you provide them, especially as their native habitats have become limited. Native plants require less maintenance and are more cost-efficient than non-native plants.
Butterfly Weed blooms all summer long. It attracts butterflies and other pollinators.
Help Fight Habitat Loss
Insect-eating birds depend mostly on caterpillars as their main food source. Caterpillars lay eggs and feed on native plants. As natural lands are developed and replaced with non-native plants, insects and caterpillar numbers decrease, resulting in a lower food supply for birds and a declining bird population.
Landscapers, HOA’s, garden centers, and property owners have created artificial landscapes void of native plants and insects, causing a food shortage for residents and migrating birds. Habitat loss is a major factor in the recent decline of songbirds.
Help restore meadow habitats by planting natives like the Black-eyed Susan and Oxeye Daisy pictured here.
Food for Birds
How many native plants are needed to sustain breeding birds? Consider that a songbird needs to feed its chicks hundreds of caterpillars each day.
A yard with seventy percent or more native plants is needed to produce enough caterpillars for a breeding pair of songbirds. Native trees, such as oaks, can sustain 534 species of caterpillars. Native plants can be a plentiful source of insects and caterpillars, while non-native plants usually produce none or very few. Native trees, such as oaks, can support as many as 534 species of caterpillars, the main food source for breeding songbirds.
Redbud trees are a spring favorite because of their beautiful blossoms.
Adult songbirds require a mix of seeds, berries and nuts with high nutrition content. Planting a variety of native plants that produce these three food items will ensure birds have a food source year-round.
Goldenrod and Aster are beautiful perennials that produce seeds each year. Berry-producing natives, such as Partridge-berry and Common Winterberry, are high in nutrition and safe to eat. Flowering plants, like Virginia Sweetspire, are a food source for pollinators and nectar-eating birds, such as hummingbirds.
Not Just for the Birds
Native plants do more than provide food. They maintain important ecological roles by filtering rainwater and yielding clean water sources, mitigating runoff, flooding and erosion, producing oxygen and withdrawing carbon, supporting pollinators and attracting wildlife. Frogs, turtles, butterflies, bats, and fireflies are a few examples of wildlife in Virginia that depend on native plants.
Another great reason to choose native plants is they are less maintenance and more cost-efficient than non-native plants. Natives return year after year without needing fertilizers, pesticides, extra watering or mowing. Take clues from the surrounding habitat. What type of native plants is growing on or near your yard? What soil conditions do they need to thrive?
Wild Columbine prefers the shade and wet soil of rocky woodlands and well-drained forests.
Five Factors to Consider
There are many factors to consider when choosing native plants for your yard. These factors will determine what type of plants to choose. The right plant needs to be selected for the right place.
1. Space. Native plants can fit any space, whether you have acres of land or no land. Some plants need a lot of space to grow or spread, such as Wild Hydrangea and Witch Hazel, while others can fit nicely into a container, such as Wild Strawberry or Threadleaf Coreopsis. Avoid overcrowding by spacing plants according to the size they will reach at maturity.
2. Sunlight. Note the area of your yard that receives morning and afternoon sunlight and areas that receive little or no sunlight. Many native plants, such as Turk’s Cap Lily and Butterfly Weed, will thrive in full sun while others need complete shade, such as Virginia Bluebells and Wild Red Columbine.
3. Moisture. Equally as important as sunlight is moisture. Wet areas of your yard can support moisture-loving plants, such as Swamp Milkweed and Blue Wild Indigo. Other plants prefer well-drained or mostly dry soils, such as Eastern Prickly Pear and Wild Blue Flox.
4. Soil Type. Virginia has a wide range of soil types, including sandy, rocky, loamy (wet clay), high and low acidity, nutrient-rich, humus-rich (decomposed organic material) and calcium-rich soils. To best understand the type of soil you have, take clues from the surrounding habitat. What type of native plants are growing on or near your yard? What soil conditions do they need to thrive?
5. Variety. Choose a variety of natives that will attract different birds. Planting a variety of grasses, shrubs, trees and flowering perennials will attract the most birds. Red Chokeberry or Early Lowbush Blueberry will attract fruit and berry-eating birds and wildlife, while Cardinal Flower and Trumpet Honeysuckle are favorites of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Three Resources
1. The Virginia Native Plant Finder is a site that helps you find native plant species that suit your needs. You can enter your area and yard factors into the plant finder and it will suggest native plants for your yard.
2. The Virginia Native Plant Society has chapters across the Commonwealth. Find the chapter nearest to you and contact them for answers to your questions and information on native plant sales in your area. Find a local chapter here. https://vnps.org/
3. The National Audubon Society’s Plants for Birds program provides many online resources. Some local Audubon chapters offer free on-site assistance with gardening and landscape projects. Natives plants require no fertilizers, pesticides, extra watering or mowing. Information can be found here.
Turk’s Cap Lily has large and numerous blooms, attracting birds and butterflies.
They can thrive in a variety of soils and settings.
Start with One Plant
Creating a bird sanctuary in your yard does not need to be overwhelming. It can be as simple as starting with one plant. Over time, replace non-native plants with native species.
For those who want to make an effort in conservation while also attracting birds, simple changes make a big difference. Fill lawn or empty space with native plants gradually. Adding a few more plants each year will build towards a thriving habitat.
