Gardens are special places; they welcome us with gifts of visual beauty, wonderful fragrance, and the musical sound of birdsong. While we often plan our gardens with an emphasis on visual impact, nature frequently provides us with a wider variety of pleasures than we could have imagined when we chose our plants. Unexpectedly fragrant foliage, the surprise glimpse of a hummingbird, the sound of a cardinal singing, if we allow room for plants in our gardens that do more than please more than the human eye we reap a multitude of rewards for all the senses.
Many gardeners encourage birds to visit by including feeders, houses, and birdbaths in their gardens. The benefits of encouraging these visitors are enormous. Birds often consume insect pests while entertaining us with their aerial acrobatics and their musical songs. We can also encourage a wider variety of these winged creatures just by including certain kinds of plants that naturally provide food and shelter for them. One of the easiest ways to do this is to plant extra strawberries and blueberries, use netting to protect some for your family to enjoy, and leave some for our feathered friends.
If you are planning to plant for privacy at the boundaries of your property consider a hedge row of mixed native shrubs that will do double duty, providing you with the lush green wall between you and the rest of the world as well as providing an important food source and shelter for a variety of resident and migrating birds. Stephen W. Kress has written The Bird Garden published by the National Audubon Society; it is a comprehensive guide to attracting birds to your backyard throughout the year. I think this book is an invaluable reference for any one considering this kind of gardening. It is concise, well organized, covers specific geographic regions and the pictures are wonderful.
The following is a list of Long Island native plants that I have grown with excellent results right here on the North Fork.
Shrubs suitable for hedge-rows
Pagoda Dogwood, Cornus alternaflora Attracts at least 34 species with its fruit including the downy woodpecker, brown thrasher, wood thrush, eastern bluebird, and cedar waxwing. Four season interest: flower, fruit, fall foliage and bright winter stem color.
Inkberry Ilex glabra Attracts a wide assortment of birds, easy to prune, a good evergreen hedge plant.
Winterberry, Ilex verticillata Persistent red fruit attracts mocking bird, catbird, brown thrasher.
Spicebush Lindera benzoin Attracts migrants as well as residents birds its fruit is high in fats making it an important food source. Tiny greenish yellow flowers appear before the leaves in spring followed by red berries on female plants in mid summer; beautiful golden yellow fall foliage color.
Northern Bayberry Myrica pennsylvanica Often used by red winged blackbirds for nesting, its berries attract at least 25 species including the yellow rumped warbler, red bellied woodpecker, and tree swallow; an important food for migratory birds.
Wild Rose, Rosa virginiana, At least 20 species enjoy the fruit; provides important cover, nest sites for thicket birds such as the northern cardinal and brown thrasher.
Highbush Blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum, Attracts robin, eastern bluebird, orchard oriole and at least 34 other species; favorite nest site of the gray catbird. Plant two for the birds, one for humans, delicious edible berries and colorful fall foliage.
American Cranberry Bush, Viburmum trilobum. Red fruit often lasts from fall through winter attracts wild turkey, brown thrasher and cedar waxwing.
Blackhaw, Viburnum prunifolium Attracts at least 8 species including the cedar waxwing, white flowers in spring and lovely red fall color.
Arrowwood, Viburnum dentatum Blue drupes (fruit) attracts eastern bluebird, red eyed vireo, northern flicker, and rose breasted grosbeak. Forms dense thickets providing cover and nesting sites.