cas wrote:
I live in Asheville, NC.

I recently removed a swath of privet/bamboo/wild rose/wild grape/poison
ivy/etc that ran about 150' along the back of my yard. Now that the
area is almost ready for planting I'm looking for some suggestions as
to what to plant in this area. Before I took it down it seemed to be
popular with birds and whatnot. Now that I'm in the process of redoing
this area I'd like to plant some shrubs/trees that are bird friendly,
either food producing or good nesting opportunities.

What would work? The area is on the east side of the lot; the sun hits
that area during the mid morning (my neighbor's home is about 25' from
the area). It is well drained with a small ditch/culvert between the 2
lots.

At this time I am setting a "line" along the area which will have grass
on one side (to patch in to my yard) and the shrubs/trees on the other.

Thanks for any ideas. I was thinking of a few burning bushes, some
blueberry bushes, and made a couple of maple.


Pretty much anything with the word "berry" in the name is a good choice!
If you're really organized about it, you might want to think about the
different seasons that the shrubs fruit during....for example,
blueberries will fruit during the summer, viburnum and mahonia during
the fall, and holly will produce berries during the winter. If you have
a spot where you want year-round screening, holly is a good choice.
Beautyberry is also nice and somewhat less common.

There was an article in a recent Mother Earth News about the topic, and
my husband was very interested in selecting some bird friendly shrubs
for the scrubbier part of our yard that needs some landscaping overhaul.
I'll try to dig it up and see if there are any other good ideas.

The birdies will appreciate some evergreens for cover year round. My
parents have a huge screen of cedar next to their house--must be 40
years old at least, and the birds hang there all the time, right up by
their bedroom window. It's a better spot for bird watching than the feeders!

Robins will appreciate it if you surround your other plantings with a
thick layer of leafy mulch without fertilizer/pesticides, to promote
lots and lots of worms.

Finally, not really a shrub, but nothing beats a good stand of
Italian-style sunflowers to attract finches. For some reason, seeing
finches flitting about in the yard makes me feel truly blessed.