Want to know what kind of small shrub will attract wildlife? Beyond the five mentioned last year?

1. Butterfly Bush 'Adonis Blue'

Butterfly Bush 'Adonis Blue'

Normally, butterfly bushes reach 6-10 feet in height, making them impractical for small outdoor spaces.

However, gardeners developed the English Butterfly Series for a fuller, more compact butterfly bush.

One cultivar in the series, Adonis Blue, grows in Zone 5 and warmer zones (treat it like a perennial in northern climates).

Adonis Blue blooms in blue mid-summer to fall and likes full sun. In the ground, it's 3-5 feet tall by 3-4 feet wide but will grow smaller in a container.

2. Viburnum farreri 'Nanum'

Viburnum farreri 'Nanum'

The berries of Viburnum farreri attract birds.

The 'Nanum' cultivar likes a sheltered but sunny place and doesn't mind cold temperatures. It blooms pink in the early spring and grows well in Zones 5-7.

'Nanum' grows 2-3 feet tall, and 3-4 feet wide if allowed. It prefers rich, evenly moist, slightly acid soil.

3. Viking Black Chokecherry

Black Chokeberry 'Viking'

A black chokeberry native, Aronia melanocarpa, rather than a chokecherry (Prunus virginiana), this particular cultivar grows 3-5 feet and is tolerant of a wide variety of conditions.

Viking has clusters of whitish-pink flowers may attract butterflies like the Striped Hairstreak in the spring.

The edible black berries hang around from fall through early spring -- or until the birds eat them. Viking's leaves turn burgundy, orange, and purple in the fall.

A Zone 3 plant, it needs sun for best berry production but will tolerate partial shade. It's drought-tolerant once established. Viking may be slow to grow initially.

Its form is rather open, upright, and a bit leggy, so you may want to plant Viking with other plants as suitable.