Berries For Birdies

If you live in the Southwest, and you want to provide a habitat for songbirds, two plants to consider are the skunkbush sumac and the torrey wolfberry.

The skunkbush has unimpressive flowers that bloom in the spring, but afterward, hairy red berries that are high in vitamin C form on the bush – and birds love them. It's big, about 8 ½ feet, so keep that in mind if you have a small garden (unless you want to get all prune-y and shape-y with it).

The torrey wolfberry is also a bit sprawling, but one source I found said that you can “prune the lower branches to show off the attractive pale trunk.” It's berries are red, and the birdies love it. I haven't tried these in my garden yet, but when I do I think I'll prune them so the berries are up high enough to make the birds less of a target for the local cats.

My yard is still a work in progress. Think I'll try the wolfberry first . . .