Green Your Neighborhood with Container Gardens

Urban Greenery is vital for birds, from nesting House Finches and hungry robins to exhausted Neotropical migrants looking for a safe spot to feed and rest after a long night’s flight. City residents can create quality food and water sources, shelter, and nesting sites for birds in small spaces, often at little cost.

These green mini-oases contribute to the beauty of neighborhoods, help build community spirit, and provide places for children and adults to observe, study, and enjoy birds.

If you would like to order a copy of this poster or read about more ways to Celebrate Urban Birds please visit the Celebrate Urban Birds web site at www.CelebrateUrbanBirds.org

Container garden ideas

Window boxes
Rooftop gardens
Sidewalk planters
Balcony containers
Rock gardens
Box gardens
Vines growing up the
sides of buildings
Hanging baskets
Recycled containers (be inventive!)
Trellis gardens

Also consider providing evergreen cover, water for drinking and bathing, and nesting materials for birds.

Popular container garden plants
and what they provide birds
Sunflower—seeds
Nasturtium—nectar
Wintergreen—berries
Coreopsis—seeds
Blueberry—fruit
Trumpet Vine—nectar
Chokecherry—fruit
Columbine—nectar
Love Lies Bleeding—seeds
Autumn Sage—nectar
Little Bluestem—seeds
Cosmos—seeds
Coneflower—seeds
Rudbeckia—seeds
Ornamental Millet
“Purple Majesty”—seeds
Celosia—seeds

Check local parks and arboreta, your local Audubon chapter or bird club, or your local or state native plant society for the best choices for your area. Choosing locally-native plants for container gardens will increase the chances that your greenery will grow and thrive, while ensuring that unwelcome invasive species will not be introduced.

For permission to reprint all or part of this article, please contact Laura Erickson, editor, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, 159 Sapsucker Woods Rd., Ithaca, NY, 14850. Phone: (607) 254-1114. email: lle24@cornell.edu