Teasels often have goldfinches feeding on them, and cotoneaster, pyracantha and nandina all have Autumn berries. I don't know if they are toxic to dogs tho, sorry
Alas cotoneaster, pyracantha and nandina are all bad for dogs. Teasels are ok I think, but can get stuck in their fur....but I might try and fit in some teasels in the front garden where the dog doesn't go!
I find there is a world between what is written on seed packets and on labels re "good for wildlife" and what the indivdual experience might be. Plants that are vibrating with life in one garden will be deserted in another. Each garden is so specific and what arrives depends so much on what lives locally and what is on offer around you. Also, how safe they feel.
Large gardens with lots of vegetation might be more attractive than small; rural or suburban gardens might be more welcoming than city ones; more mature gardens might have more life going on than new ones; who knows?
My view is that there are hierarchy of plants for critters. They will go further (and use valuable energy) to find the plants they want/need most. What is on hand is often not enough alone to entice them. On the forum people often say their crabs are left on the trees to rot. For me, my pyracatha berries are usually left all year. Maybe there are too many cats and people around or lots of food in other places. The blossom is appreciated (by me, not least).
There will be some experimenting to be done, for sure. But would say - don't believe the hype - find out for yourself what works.
I put quite a lot of effort into my making my garden wildlife-friendly, but am conscious that so far most of my efforts have gone into pollinator-friendly plants. I would like to have a plant that offers a bit more to birds, and was wondering if anyone can think of anything that hits my list of requirements (there's quite a list as with a small garden I need plants to do a lot to justify their place):
- Dog friendly - Doesn't grow too big (I have a relatively small garden) - Can take partial shade and clay soil - Good for birds, (and ideally also offers something for pollinators - Flowers would be great for visual interest
What my dream would be is something that flowers that pollinators like, but then turns into berries that aren't toxic to dogs, and that birds like to give them food in winter. There are lots of plants for pollinators in the garden though so that and the flowers are probably the lowest bit on the priority list.
Thanks all!
LB
You don't say where your garden is located. Which birds are you hoping to attract? What is the wider habitat like? Urban, suburban, rural and if rural what's it like? This is relevant; for example you may live near a reedbed in which case certain warblers could be attracted. You may live near woodland in which case it would be pretty easy to attract some woodland birds. Are you up a Scottish mountain or near a river? We need some clues here to make relevant suggestions that will work.
Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
Elderflower for the flowers and berries. Pollinators and birds. They do good in clay and part shade, and you should prune them down to about 2 feet tall each year after the 3rd year of planting.. which will help control the size in your small garden.
Berries, depending on the dogs you have, mine won’t touch fruit.
Insects also require a breeding spot for example stagnant water is good for Hoverflies or rotten heaps of organic matter. It wouldn’t be pretty. But making space for nature is part of the aim? Dogs are not conducive to a harmonious connection to nature
I put quite a lot of effort into my making my garden wildlife-friendly, but am conscious that so far most of my efforts have gone into pollinator-friendly plants. I would like to have a plant that offers a bit more to birds, and was wondering if anyone can think of anything that hits my list of requirements (there's quite a list as with a small garden I need plants to do a lot to justify their place):
- Dog friendly - Doesn't grow too big (I have a relatively small garden) - Can take partial shade and clay soil - Good for birds, (and ideally also offers something for pollinators - Flowers would be great for visual interest
What my dream would be is something that flowers that pollinators like, but then turns into berries that aren't toxic to dogs, and that birds like to give them food in winter. There are lots of plants for pollinators in the garden though so that and the flowers are probably the lowest bit on the priority list.
Thanks all!
LB
You don't say where your garden is located. Which birds are you hoping to attract? What is the wider habitat like? Urban, suburban, rural and if rural what's it like? This is relevant; for example you may live near a reedbed in which case certain warblers could be attracted. You may live near woodland in which case it would be pretty easy to attract some woodland birds. Are you up a Scottish mountain or near a river? We need some clues here to make relevant suggestions that will work.
Those are very good questions, and I can't believe I entirely missed them out!
- In terms of birds - the main ones we have here are: robins, tits of different types, crows, magpies, parakeets, couple of woodpeckers, seagulls (I do not want them!), starlings. - Wider habitat - suburban, lots of trees immediately around my house with quite a lot of variety including an ash tree in mine, and small fruit trees, then a range of evergreens. There is a playing field and a wood basically next door. - Location - London, England.
When growing plants for pollinators, dong forget to grow the food plants for their larvae … they’re often in shorter supply than the flowers.
This is a great point that I think a lot of people forget - always got to consider larval foodplants! I like to grow some sacrificial nasturtiums for example and make sure the cabbage white caterpillars end up there for a good feed.
I have a very small urban garden and tried to make it a wildlife haven. I planted pyracantha and an ivy shrub (neither of which I particularly like!) and a crab apple tree, also for the birds. And a small elderberry shrub (which I also didn't particularly want). I've never seen a single bird eating any of the berries I planted for them - they'll sometimes come to eat aphids off the climbing rose, but mostly they want food from the feeder They won't even take my potted blueberries.
Assuming you're also in an urban garden, I agree with @Fire - it might be local cats chasing off the birds, and the only thing I've seen that reliably attracts them in large numbers here is the neighbours' large olive tree and the neighbours' large photinia red robin, i.e. cover. So I'd go for a large shrub/garden tree that grows over 3m that the birds can live in, especially if there aren't many large trees in neighbouring gardens. If I could start over I'd have replaced all those shrubs for the birds with one ornamental hawthorn tree.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
- In terms of birds - the main ones we have here are: robins, tits of different types, crows, magpies, parakeets, couple of woodpeckers, seagulls (I do not want them!), starlings.
- Wider habitat - suburban, lots of trees immediately around my house with quite a lot of variety including an ash tree in mine, and small fruit trees, then a range of evergreens. There is a playing field and a wood basically next door.
- Location - London, England.
Hope that helps!
Assuming you're also in an urban garden, I agree with @Fire - it might be local cats chasing off the birds, and the only thing I've seen that reliably attracts them in large numbers here is the neighbours' large olive tree and the neighbours' large photinia red robin, i.e. cover. So I'd go for a large shrub/garden tree that grows over 3m that the birds can live in, especially if there aren't many large trees in neighbouring gardens. If I could start over I'd have replaced all those shrubs for the birds with one ornamental hawthorn tree.