Zinnia elegans (Image: public domain)

Want to encourage wild birds to visit your yard or small outdoor space this year?

Go beyond your basic annual seed to an ornamental grass, small fruit shrub, or conifer in a container -- or stick with the simple beauty of a sunflower.

What Kind of Plants?

According to the site Attracting Wild Birds, six basic types of plants will encourage wild birds:

1. Nectar-producing flowers
2. Seed-producing flowers
3. Fruiting trees and shrubs
4. Grasses
5. Conifer Trees
6. Nut-bearing Trees

Nectar

Flowers that produce nectar can attract not only hummingbirds but also other birds, bees, and butterflies.

They are perhaps the easiest solution to offer wild birds.

Asclepias syriaca

Choices include columbine, daylilies, fuschias, impatiens, and Salvia spp., even milkweed, and more.

Don't forget about vines, including Coral Honeysuckle, Shrimp Plant, and Cardinal Climber for hummingbirds.

Seed

Rudbeckia F1 'Tiger Eye Gold', National Gardening Bureau

Besides the ever-popular sunflower, you can grow other flowers that produce seeds favored by wild birds.

Examples include coneflowers (Echinacea spp.), Bachelor's Buttons,
coreopsis, millet, liatris, cosmos, goldenrod, sedum, asters, marigolds, Rudbeckia spp., and zinnias.

Fruiting Plants

Growing fruit to attract wild birds is highly dependent on your space.

For a small space, try dwarf fruiting shrubs or vines.

For a backyard, try dwarf fruit trees, like cherry or crabapple, small trees like hawthorn or bayberry, and shrubs such as boxwood, elderberry, viburnum, or myrtle.

Grasses

Ornamental grasses, even in the container, often have seed heads that provide sustenance to birds in the dead of winter.

These grasses include Northern Sea Oats and Festuca as wellas grasses in the Pennisetum, Panicum, and Miscanthus families.

Conifers and Nut-bearing Trees

If you have no room for for a nut-bearing tree, consider a dwarf conifer in a pot. It will provide shelter if not food.