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HPSO Discussion Forums : Plant Forum |
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Subject : Plants for winter birds..
12/11/2020 01:10:38 PM
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| Barb Christopher |
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Posts: 11
Location: Portland, OR |
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My neighborhood has a rodent problem, so I don't want to put out seed feeders for birds in my garden. But, at this time of year, my Beauty Berry bush is about the only plant I have that is still feeding the birds. I'm looking for plants that would be bird friendly food sources in the winter. Suggestions for a small urban garden. |
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Barb serves as HPSO President, and she has a small urban garden in NE Portland. |
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Subject : Re:Plants for winter birds..
12/11/2020 04:30:10 PM
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| Jeanne Keyes |
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Posts: 17
Location: SE Portland |
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Nandinas (Nandina domestica) or heavenly bamboo might be a good choice. Birds love the bright red berries. I would also recommend PNW natives like Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium, M. nervosa) but both of those can be a bit of a spreader. If you have a sunny, dry location Manzanitas (Arctostaphylos sp.), which come in many shapes and sizes, would also work. Love the winter flowers on the Manzanitas too! |
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Jeanne is an HPSO board member. She gardens in SE Portland. |
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Subject : Re:Plants for winter birds..
12/14/2020 08:38:31 PM
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| Joseph Hundley |
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Posts: 4
Location: Forest Grove |
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The hummingbirds like the flowers our dwarf strawberry madrones this time of year, jays like the berries, but are kept away by our very aggressive resident hummingbird. |
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Subject : Re:Plants for winter birds..
12/14/2020 09:39:33 PM
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| Linda Beutler |
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Posts: 1
Location: Sellwood |
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For the hummingbirds who hang around, we have the shrubby Lonicera fragrantissima; drunken loud gangs of Robins are finishing off the tiny fruit on our crabapple 'Royal Raindrops', bickering with the cedar waxwings. The cedar waxwings also like any seed capsules on crape myrtles. As for perennials, Juncos will eat the seeds of Rudbeckia triloba, Echinacea purpurea (most any cultivar), and Symphyotrichum (formerly Western Hemisphere asters/Michaelmas daisies). The blue berries of native elderberry get eaten pretty quickly in my garden, as do all beautyberries. All Sorbus attract a crowd until the only fruit left are on the ground, and that's when the varied thrushes show up (aka Alaskan robins), their ground feeders. |
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We call our house Tanglevine Cottage. That about sums things up! |
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Subject : Re:Plants for winter birds..
12/25/2020 07:50:00 PM
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| Megan Hughes |
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Posts: 5
Location: |
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Seed stalks from evening primrose, mullein and everything in the asteracea attract goldfinches and pine Siskins especially, also all the other local sparrows and finches. Lots of downed and rotting logs are attractive to towhees and flickers. A mountain ash attracts 3 thrush species. The golden crowned finches like to eat Limnanthes douglasii leaves in the winter. There’s always a downy woodpecker on my Sambucus racemosa. Doves visit the paths, towhees scratch in the leaves under shrubs, golden crowned sparrows hang in the Lonicera involucrata, finches bathe in raised tubs and barrels with floating leaves, towheees and sparrows bathe in shallow water on the ground. Hummingbirds fight over Mahonia “Arthur Menzies” , starting at Christmas, moving on to Oemlaria cerasiformis, M. Aquifolium. Cooper’s hawks fly through periodically and red tails hover overhead. There’s barred and screech owls at night. Plus three species of salamander. Plant natives and don’t keep a tidy garden, you’ll soon have lots of invertebrates, birds and other wildlife. |
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Subject : Re:Plants for winter birds..
01/05/2021 12:52:07 PM
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| Amy Whitworth |
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Posts: 4
Location: Portland, OR |
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Be careful with the Nandina. Studies have shown them to be toxic to birds when they use them as their main food source (when there's nothing else around). They seem to love crabapples and really any native berry-forming plant like evergreen huckleberry and salal |
Earth Friendly Garden Designer & Community Educator
Plan-it Earth Design |
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