The very best thing you can do is seek out your local chapter of The Native
Plant Society. Here is the URL for New Jersey:

http://www.npsnj.org/

You want to provide the proper fruit, berries and cover which is native to your
area and region of the state. You will be far more serving to the birds if you
give them what is there before builders mow it all down.

As much as it kills me, my project for this fall is to remove all shrubs which
are not native and replace them with natives, which berry.

You can't go wrong that way.


On Fri, 02 May 2003 06:31:02 GMT, (Dan) wrote:

Hello,

I have a 60 ft x 10 ft full-sun spot which has been used for garden
crops. Over the past 2 years its been mulched and is loam down to
12-18 inches. However, it's next to the neighbors' house and during
the winter it's pretty barren. Fences are prohibited by the township
so I figured this would be a nice spot for some bushes or shrubs. I
also have a separate but well-established forsythia section which
provides cover for birds, but very little in the way of food for them.
It's currently running rampant, and I was considering removing a few
of them in favor of a new, more benficial bush.

I've been searching for shrubs that would be beneficial for
established (or attract new) wildlife to the area, particularly birds.
This area is zone 5, nw NJ, mountainous, very acidic and heavy clay
soil. The immediate area they would be planted receives about 6-8 hrs
of sun per day in summer, but was also considering beneficial shrubs
for partial-sun areas.

I've been looking into both american cranberry bushes (viburnum
trilobum), as well as northern bayberry (myrica pensylvanica). I
read both these shrubs could be used as both fruit and cover for local
native wildlife. I was wondering if anyone had any other
recommendations for shrubs in this area, or advice on what challenges
the above two would have growing in this area. I keep reading that
bayberry is a coastal plant, and was wondering if it would fare well
in the mountains.

As a notice, this msg is cross-posted to both rec.birds and
rec.gardens. Thanks very much for any advice,

Dan