Grow These Plants To Attract Birds In NYC

NEW YORK – New York City gardeners know how to make the best of limited space, sprouting green oases on rooftops, windowsills, stoops and any other unlikely spot that can accommodate a container of dirt.

A way to make your little patch of nature even more environmentally friendly is to consider what you're gowing – plants naturally found in the area long before there were skyscrapers or even basic settlements are know as native – and they're the foundation of the region’s biodiversity, providing key food sources and shelter to local wildlife.

Fortunately the folks at the National Audubon Society have done all the hard work to ensure gardeners have what they need to find the best native plants. The group has a database that includes perennials and annuals, shrubs, grasses, succulents, trees, vines and evergreens. Each entry also details what types of birds the plants attract.

The database allows users to filter results by plant type, resources and bird species they attract.
Regional Audubon experts hand-select the “best results” for each.

In New York City, some of the best flowers to grow this season include:

• Butterfly Milkweed
  • Audubon says: "Other common names for this nectar-rich perennial include Orange Milkweed and Pleurisy Root. It typically grows in clumps up to 1 to 3 feet tall, and features clusters of bright orange to yellow-orange flowers. Its blooms are attractive to both butterflies and hummingbirds and, like all milkweeds, it serves as a host plant for butterfly species including the Monarch. Drought tolerant, this plant grows in full sun and in dry to moist, well-drained, sandy soils."
  • Birds it attracts: Wrens, mockingbirds, wood warblers, chickadees and titmice, thrushes and hummingbirds.
• Great Blue Lobelia
  • Audubon says: This erect perennial reaches 2 to 3 feet in height, and produces lavender-blue, tubular flowers that bloom July through October. This plant grows in full sun to shade, and in clay, loam, or sandy soils; it is not drought tolerant, requiring soil that is kept moist or wet. The noticeable flowers are especially attractive to hummingbirds and pollinators such as bees."
  • Birds it attracts: Wood warblers, nuthatches, cardinals and grosbeaks, woodpeckers, orioles and sparrows.
• Jack-in-the-Pulpit
  • Audubon says: "A herbaceous perennial, it reaches a height of 1 to 3 feet, producing large leaves and a distinctive, hooded, green flower with brown stripes that blooms from March to June. It prefers full sun to partial shade and moist, rich soils. During late summer, this plant bears bright red berries that attract birds and mammals."
  • Birds it attracts: Finches, sparrows, chickadees and titmice, cardinals and grosbeaks, jays and crows, woodpeckers.
• Red Columbine
  • Audubon says: "Also known as Eastern Red Columbine and Wild Columbine, this herbaceous perennial grows erectly with uniquely bell-shaped, red flowers. The backward-pointing tubes of the flowers contain nectar, greatly attracting hummingbirds, butterflies, and other long-tongued insects. This plant grows best in full sun, and moist, well-drained, sandy soils, reaching a height of up to 2 feet."
  • Birds it attracts: Waxwings, orioles, wood warblers, vireos, sparrows, mockingbirds and thrashers.
• Smooth Blue American Aster
  
  • Audubon says: "This robust, upright, perennial plant with arching stems typically grows to 3 feet tall. It has smooth, blue-green foliage and produces loose clusters of violet-blue flowers with yellow centers from September to October. It grows in full sun, and in rocky or dry soil, and attracts native bees and butterflies."
  • Birds it attracts: Cardinals and grosbeaks, waxwings, thrushes, wood warblers, mockingbirds and thrashers, sparrows.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.