Jim's Patch in the Garden

TAKING ‘BERRY’ GOOD CARE OF OUR BIRDS

Are you a bird feeder enthusiast? Isn’t it a great hobby tending the feeders and luring in some amazing species? And then there’s the hummingbird to attract as well. Did you know there are even more varieties of birds that feeders just don’t attract? Fruit-eating birds have a diverse and peculiar palate.

Robins, thrashers, mockingbirds, tanagers, waxwings, orioles and others are particularly fond of berries and other small fruits. They eat insects also, but have a yearning for berries and fruit. They have a particular desire for insects while nourishing their young, but when the fledglings try their wings, they’ll both be scouring for fruit and berries. If you supply the berries they want, you can enjoy them visiting your yard. While birds may already be flocking to your fruit trees, you can give them a desirable alternative.

Nature provides wild berries in abundance at stream edges, in meadows in the woods and at the edges of open fields. Any place they can get down roots and get some sun. In cities and suburbs asphalt, concrete and natural or synthetic green lawns prevail. Birds hightail it out of town, preferring the country, as their taste buds desire more than the few worms the city’s low maintenance landscape can provide. As our winged fellow countrymen scurry to the wild, your own yard can become an inviting haven for them to visit or inhabit, to your viewing pleasure! Just integrate some sumptuous berries for them to enjoy.

It’s a plus one that berries are ornamental too. Many berry plants show off beautiful flowers and attractive foliage too, giving you summer green and brilliant color in the fall. Now, a lot of these berries are so delicious that you may have to make a decision. Will you harvest them yourself or leave them for the birds?

These are a few of the berries that like our climate. All birds shown may not be common to our area.

Naturally, you can find all three of these berry plants at Jim’s Garden Patch in the ❤️ of LRE.