Gardening for Birds with Native Plants

By Mariellé Anzelone

Many bad plant choices have been made in the name of wildlife. For example,
autumn olive (Elaeagnus umbellata) was planted in Jamaica Bay in the 1960s to
provide food and cover for birds. The fruits of these highly invasive shrubs did
lure birds, but nutritionally were akin to avian Doritos. The birds filled up on
nutrient poor food and were unwitting vectors of this noxious weed. Native
plants tend to offer birds the nutrients they need when they need them, whether
it be directly through fruits or indirectly by supporting the insects that parents
feed to the next generation.

What is a native plant?

A native plant naturally occurs in a region without having been introduced from
elsewhere. New York City natives include mosses, ferns and fern allies, grasses,
sedges, rushes, forbs (“wildflowers”), trees, shrubs and woody vines.

Over thousands of years, environmental conditions have sculpted local flora to

survive the vagaries of regional rainfall and sunlight. Native plants are essential
to healthy, functioning ecosystems. They are the building blocks of our
biological diversity.

Most people think these conservation issues happen “out there” in the
wilderness. As a birder, you are uniquely aware of the bona fide nature in the
five boroughs. New York City is surprisingly rich in natural resources with over
50,000 acres of open space set aside for parkland. Yet this does not guarantee the
survival of the biological diversity housed there. In fact, New York City is
thought to have lost more than 40 percent of its native flora, including beautiful
wildflowers like white milkweed and yellow ladyslipper.

Why go native in the garden?

The benefits of using native flora have been enumerated many times – gardens
filled with indigenous flowers preserve our natural heritage, are easy to
maintain, and ground us in a sense of place. The most popular reason has been
to lure wildlife into view by creating habitat havens. As forests, wet meadows
and grasslands are continually developed, we can replace them with gardens
that are ecologically fecund. In fact, recent studies have found a one-to-one
correspondence between habitat destruction and species loss. Research done by
Douglas Tallamy, popularized in his book, Bringing Nature Home, shows clearly
that to support local wildlife, we must provide an abundance of local
wildflowers.

Despite our love affair with lilacs and peonies, we gardeners must make space
for native flora such a blueberries and asters. Conventional landscapes, designed
solely for ornamental value, are barren wastelands for native insects, birds, and
other animals. In fact, many native insects are plant specialists, meaning they
evolved symbiotically over many generations to feed on specific native plant
species—so they simply can’t derive any sustenance from non-native garden
plants. Thus New York City’s native insects are locavores. Potential food plants
must have evolved here for them to derive nutrition from their leaves and petals.
Our local insects often find vegetation from other continents or even other parts
of this country as ecologically useful as plastic lawn flamingos.

The ramifications are important for birds. Ninety-six percent of all North
American terrestrial birds feed their nestlings only insects. These insects come
from native plants. So native plants + native bugs = native birds.

For example, Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa), a commonly planted species from
China, supports no insect herbivores. In stark contrast, our native flowering
dogwood (Cornus florida), is food for one hundred and seventeen species of
moths and butterflies alone. These caterpillars are critical bird food. On the
whole, Tallamy found that using native plants in the garden supported twenty-
nine times more biodiversity than exotics.

Another major problem with exotic flora is that a significant number of them
become invasive species. These plants degrade natural areas and threaten native
plants and animals. A whopping 82 percent of invasive woody plants have
originated in the horticulture industry.

How to get started

First, assess your space. Is it sunny or shady, wet or dry? Choose plants that will
thrive in the conditions you have. To determine whether a plant species
naturally occurs in New York City, consult a good field guide, visit a nearby park
nature center or botanical garden, or query a local botanical club. When possible,
the best source of garden plants is your local native plant or wildflower society.
They typically hold annual plant sales in spring and fall. These organizations
may also be able to recommend reputable, regional native plant nurseries. Look
for a “nursery-propagated” label, which will distinguish plants cultivated from
seeds or cuttings by the nursery rather than wild collected. The more vague
“nursery-grown” may conceal the plant’s true origins - dug from the wild, then
potted and sold. Also ask about provenance – it is ideal to use regional plants
within a 200-mile radius of your home. In the five boroughs, I recommend
Gowanus Nursery in Brooklyn for retail, or the Greenbelt Native Plant Center in
Staten Island, which collects local ecotypes and is wholesale only. Generally, the
best time to plant is when the species is dormant in late fall or early spring.

In spring, most birds feed their young insects, so planting most any native
perennial would lure them in. Later in the season, birds eat fruits and seeds.

For sunny window boxes and other dry sites, try wild blue lupine (Lupinus
perennis), Eastern prickly pear (Opuntia humifusa) and seaside goldenrod (Solidago
sempervirens) with seasonally lovely lowbush blueberry (Vaccinium angustifolium).

For shade gardens, try white wood aster (Eurybia divaricata), Canada violet (Viola
canadensis) and cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) with an attractive twining
trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). If it’s especially shady and cool, try
bunchberry (Corus canadensis).

Most of these also attract nectaring butterflies and native bee pollinators – when
creating a native plant garden, it’s easy to provide for the different wildlife we
have in New York City!

Marielle Anzelone is a botanist, urban conservation biologist and native plant

landscape designer through her company, Drosera. Her passion for plants and
nature education resulted in the founding of NYC Wildflower Week. As
Executive Director, she orchestrates the organization’s 3rd annual event in May
2010. She also designed and founded the Native Plant Garden in Union Square
Park. Prior to this she was the Plant Ecologist for NYC Department of Parks’
Natural Resources Group for over 6 years.