Plants to Make You & Your Local Birds “Berry” Happy

While many of the berries that we humans eat ripen in the summer, the berries that many of our local and migratory birds eat ripen in the winter – just when their other food sources become more scarce. And although, we can’t eat these berries, they often can add color and interest to our winter gardens. 

Here are some “berry” nice additions to your garden:

California-Christmas-Berry (Heteromeles arbutifolia)

Also known as Toyon or California Holly, this handsome evergreen shrub can grow up to 8 to 15 feet tall and broad or as a multi-trunked small tree to 25 feet tall.

It produces showy white flowers in the summer and large quantities of bright red berries in the winter.

While birds love these berries, they are toxic to humans in large amounts.

This plant is drought tolerant and can grow in full sun to partial shade, and in poor, dry, well-drained soil.

Your Toyon’s berries may attract woodpeckers, orioles, thrushes, waxwings, nuthatches, crows, jays, mockingbirds and thrashers.

Coffeeberry (Frangula or Rhamnus californica)

This perennial, evergreen shrub is known as Coffeeberry due to its berries containing seeds that resemble coffee beans. It reaches a height of 6 to 15 feet and a width of up to 15 feet with dark green and reddish foliage.

This shrub produces small, greenish white flowers in the summer, followed by dark berries that are sought after by birds. It grows in a variety of soils, tolerates shade, and has low water requirements.

Your Coffeeberry may also attract woodpeckers, orioles, thrushes, waxwings, nuthatches, crows, jays, mockingbirds and thrashers.