Design a Garden for Backyard Birding

Planting native plants in your backyard attracts both migrating and year- round residents to your garden. There are many advantages to planting native plants. Native plants are naturally adapted to our region’s climate: they can withstand the wide temperature ranges that can occur here in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (very, very hot to occasional freezes), and are adapted to drought and flood conditions. Native plants are also adapted to our soils, therefore requiring less use of fertilizers. They require less or no pesticides compared to some non-native plants. All this translates into plants requiring little maintenance, other than the occasional pruning. Native plants also provide shelter, a place for young, and food (by harboring insects and/or producing fruit, nectar, etc.) for wildlife, including our feathered friends. Planting natives helps repair the environment, which is very important since 95% of the native habitat in the Valley has been destroyed! Finally, planting native plants gives a regional identity to our area. Make the Valley look like the Valley! Nowhere else in the world looks like home.

Location, Location, Location

Planning a garden attractive to birds is very similar to planning any type of garden. You will need to consider how much space you have available: Enough for a tall tree? A small tree? Do you want to create a hedge by a wall? Do you want smaller plants along a border? Is it near the street or under utility wires? Is the area under consideration in the sun, partial shade, or shade? All these are important questions to consider at the planning stage and will save you time, money, and headaches in the long run (less pruning, for example). Below, there is a list with this type of information to help you decide.

Create a Menu

Food: There are many plants in the Valley that produce fruit attractive to birds. You may decide to include trees (higher than 30 ft), small trees (up to 30 ft high, sometimes with multiple trunks), shrubs (up to 10 ft), perennials, annuals, or cacti in your garden. Planting different plants ensures that there is something available for birds at different times of the year.

Water: Don’t forget to include a source of water such as a bird bath in your garden and to keep it with clean, fresh water. Misters are also a good option. Birds get thirsty and love to bathe!

Bird feeders: You may decide to also include bird feeders with seeds to complement your native plants.

Caution: Do not use pesticides in a Bird Garden. It will kill insects and spiders that are food for the birds. Pesticides might harm or kill birds, too.

TOP FRUITING PLANTS: The plants listed below all produce fruit—a drupe or a berry, to be exact— which birds love to eat. They all grow at Quinta Mazatlan and all are natives to the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Sometimes the fruit is colorful and rather an attractive addition to your garden! For great nectar plants that attract hummingbirds, please see our section titled Design a Hummingbird Garden. Note: Unarmed means no thorns, no prickles, and no spines.

Trees: Anacua (Sandpaper Tree, Sugarberry), Ehretia anacua Height: 20-50 ft Bloom: June to October The small funnel-shaped, white blooms are followed by showy yellow orange fruit, which cover the tree. This tree is an important food source for birds and other wildlife. The leaves are dark green and rough to touch. It is unarmed.

Sugar Hackberry (Palo Blanco), Celtis laevigata Height: 30-50 ft Bloom: Spring This is a fast-growing, short-lived tree, with an ornamental grey, warty bark. Its canopy is rounded. It has shallow roots and is prone to fungus, so it should be planted away from structures. Its small, greenish flowers are followed by dull red berries that birds love to eat. It is unarmed.

Small Trees/Tall Shrubs: Brasil (Capul Negro, Capulín), Condalia hookeri Height: 12-15 ft up to 30 ft Bloom: Spring to Summer, after rainfall too. This is a small, evergreen tree with branches ending in thorns. Its black fruit is eaten by birds and other wildlife. The fruit has been used for a purple dye. The flowers are small and greenish-yellow in color. Plant in partial shade to sun.

Coma (Chicle, Saffron Plum), Sideroxylon celastrinum Height: 25 ft Bloom: May to November, after rain The small, evergreen tree has very fragrant small white flowers. The blue- black fruit is loved by birds and is edible. It is also sticky, thus the name “chicle”. It provides food and cover for wildlife and a nesting site for birds. It has thorns. It can grow in partial shade to full sun.

Granjeno (Spiny Hackberry), Celtis pallida Height: 10-20 ft Bloom: Spring This is a spiny small tree to large shrub. It has small, inconspicuous flowers and its fruit is a bright, edible orange drupe loved by birds. Its bark is mottled grey. It grows in shade to sun.

Potato Tree (Salvadora), Solanum erianthum Height: 10 ft or more Bloom: Spring, Summer, Fall This ornamental shrub or small tree has very large, soft leaves. Its white flowers resemble those of the potato and tomato, to which it is related. Birds eat its green to yellow large berries. It grows fast and is unarmed.

Texas Persimmon (Chapote), Diospyros texana Height: 19 ft, up to 30 ft Bloom: February to June This semi-evergreen small tree has a very ornamental mottled, peeling bark; it is a great native choice instead of the Crape Myrtle. Male and female flowers are on different plants, so you need a male plant near your female one(s) to ensure fruit production. The flowers are small and white. The fruit is 1 in. in diameter, black, loved by birds, and edible. It can grow in full sun to full shade.

Shrubs: Barbados Cherry (Manzanita), Malpighia glabra Height: 4-6 ft Bloom: March to October This is an attractive evergreen, unarmed bush that can be pruned into a hedge. Its flowers are small and pink. Its fruit is red, fleshy, and edible! It resembles little cherries or apples (hence it common names in English and Spanish). It is a host plant. It can grow in shade or in sun.

Brush Holly (Coronillo), Xylosma flexuosa Height: 5-10 ft, can be taller Bloom: Throughout the year This spiny shrub has evergreen leaves and produces red berries that turn black. Flowers are tiny, and sometimes on the same or on different plants, so you may need more than one to make sure it fruits. It can grow in shade to full sun.

Chile Piquín (Bird Pepper), Capsicum annuum var. aviculare Height: Usually 3 ft Bloom: Throughout the year This is a relative of the green peppers and chile you get at the grocery store! It is a small, unarmed shrub that produces small white flowers throughout the year and small green to red fruit. The fruit is edible (spicy!) and birds like it, too. It can grow in partial shade or the sun.

Coyotillo, Karwinskia humboldtiana Height: 7 ft Bloom: Spring to Summer This thornless shrub has prominent veins on the leaves; leaves are dark green. Seeds and leaves are poisonous. Avoid touching the leaves! The green fruit turns black when mature and is eaten by the coyote and chachalaca. It is a host plant.

Desert Yaupon (Capul), Schaefferia cuneifolia Height: 4-6 ft Bloom: Spring, Summer, Fall, after rain This is a thornless, evergreen shrub that can be used to make a low growing hedge. It is drought tolerant. Male and female flowers are inconspicuous and found on separate plants; therefore, you need to plant both in order to obtain the orange to red fruit, which is a favorite of birds. Plant in full sun.

Elbow-Bush (Panalero), Forestiera angustifolia Height: 8 ft Bloom: Spring, Summer, Fall The small black fruit and leaves provide food for wildlife. It is unarmed and the male and female flowers are on separate plants. Its leaves are narrow and the shrub makes nice hedges.

Fiddlewood (Negrito, Berlandier Fiddlewood, Tamaulipan Fiddlewood), Citharexylum berlandieri Height: 6-10 ft or more Bloom: February-Summer This is an unarmed shrub that can be pruned to look like a small tree or used as a hedge. Its clusters of small, white flowers produce wonderful clusters of orange fruit that turn black that are relished by birds. Very ornamental. Plant in sun.

Lotebush (Waxplant), Ziziphus obtusifolia Height: 6 ft Bloom: Summer This shrub has prominent thorns and grayish branches. The leaves are browsed by deer and the black fruit is eaten by birds and other wildlife. The flowers are very small and greenish.

Texas Lantana, Calico Bush (Hierba de Cristo), Lantana urticoides Height: 6 ft or less Bloom: March to December Bright orange and yellow clusters of small flowers cover this shrub throughout the year. Later it produces black fruit, eaten by birds. Leaves are rough and strong in smell. Grow in full sun to partial shade.

Turk’s Cap (Manzanilla), Malvaviscus drummondii Height: 2-9 ft Bloom: Year-round This small to medium deep-rooted shrub produces showy, red flowers twisted into a whorl of petals that attract hummingbirds and butterflies. It produces a showy, red fruit that birds love to eat. It can grow in shaded areas as well as sunny.

Velvet Lantana (Orégano Xiu), Lantana velutina Height: up to 6 ft, usually less Bloom: Year round This native lantana has velvety, soft leaves—a stark difference to Texas Lantana, which has rough ones. It has clusters of nectar-producing small white flowers attractive to butterflies. Later it produces pink to light purple drupes, eaten by birds.

Cacti: Christmas Cactus (Tasajillo), Opuntia leptocaulis Height: 5 ft Bloom: July to August The thicket-forming cactus produces bright red, juicy berries around December, thus its common name, which are eaten by birds and other wildlife. Flowers are pale green and inconspicuous.

Nightblooming Cereus, Acanthocereus tetragonus Height: 5 to 10 ft Bloom: Summers eve The cactus is remarkable for its sprawling and fast growth. White flowers are large, showy, and have a pineapple aroma. The stems are eaten by rats and rabbits. Birds, tortoises and coyotes eat the ripe shiny red fruit called pitaya. Plant in full sun to partial shade.

Texas Prickly Pear (Nopal), Opuntia engelmannii var. lindheimeri Height: 10 ft Bloom: April to June The sprawling cactus with pads has yellow spines. Pads (nopalitos) and fruit (tunas) are edible and enjoyed by birds and other wildlife. The purple fruit, up to 2 ¾”, is eaten raw or cooked. The flower color varies from yellow, orange, red or pink. Plant in sun, though it will grow slowly in the shade.

Strawberry Cactus (Pitaya), Echinocereus enneacanthus Length: 16 in Bloom: April to May The fruit is edible and tastes like strawberries. The clump-forming cactus has 15 to 100 stems or more. Flowers are large and a showy magenta color. Fruit is a round berry, yellow-green to dull red. It does best in partial sun, though it can grow in full sun.

Perennials: Pigeonberry (Coralito), Rivina humilis Height: 2-3 ft Bloom: Year-round This is a perennial plant, meaning non-woody. It has clusters of small white flowers, though sometimes can be light pink. It produces small red berries, eaten by birds. It grows in shade.