The trees that produce fruit or seeds which are useful in attracting birds include the apples, cherries, mulberries, mountain ash, Intwthornes, crabs, hack-berry, sour gum, buckthorne, box elder, birches and hollies. Many of the annual and biennial weeds of the garden and the borders of the flower beds produce the greatest crops of acceptable food for the seed-eaters. Evening primrose, fox-tail grass, lamb’s quarters, ragweed, mullein, goldenrod and sweet clover, retain their seeds and are strong enough to project through the snow. Juncos, tree sparrows, goldfinches, siskins, purple finches, and redpolls enjoy these seeds.
For those who can’t permit themselves to let the last crop of weeds grow along with some late lettuce, salsify, turnips and broccoli for the birds, it is possible to substitute some flowers from the same or similar plant families for the same purpose. You can plant some extra sunflowers, zinnias, coreopsis, bachelor buttons, cosmos, amaranths, love-lies- bleeding, prince’s feather, China aster, California poppies, forget-me-nots, blessed thistle, tarweed and portulaca.
It would also help reduce the cost of your winter feeding if you planted a corner of your garden with some of the grains which can be left to ripen and serve as automatic feeders. Those most suited for the purpose are common millet or barnyard grass, Hungarian and Japanese millet, canary grass, buckwheat, red clover and sunflower.
Since cover can often be supplied by the same plants which produce food, such as red cedar, arborvitae, yew, bittersweet, etc., we should use such dual purpose plants as much as possible. When extra cover is desirable, evergreen trees and shrubs, and shrubs or vines which make thick tangles, especially those like hawthorne, blackberry and honeysuckle, should be chosen.
In order to provide a year-round balance to attract birds at all seasons, flowers should also be planted for the hummingbird-trumpet creeper, bee balm, tiger lily, salvia, hollyhock, cardinal flower, scarlet runner beans, fuchsia, pea tree, phlox delphinium, columbine, gladiolus, canna, azaleas, weigela, nasturtium and jewel weed. The horse-chestnut is also a favorite tree of the hummer.