The fruit on a black mulberry tree

The Best Berry Plants to Attract Birds to Your Garden

Berry plants are a beautiful and delicious addition to any garden, but did you know that they can also attract birds? That’s right – berry plants are a great way to bring feathered friends into your yard.

Here are a few of the best berry plants to attract birds to your garden.

Crabapples

The berries of the crabapple tree are a favorite food of many birds, including robins, waxwings, cedar waxwings, bluebirds, mockingbirds, and thrushes.

Crabapples - also known as European wild apple.
Crabapples

Crabapples are a beautiful addition to any landscape, with their fragrant blossoms in spring and bright red fruits in fall. The fruits can be left on the tree for the birds to enjoy, or they can be harvested for use in jams, jellies, or pies.

Serviceberry

Serviceberry is beloved by many kinds of birds, including woodpeckers, jays, grosbeaks, tanagers, orioles, and thrushes. This deciduous shrub or small tree is covered in white flowers in the springtime, followed by small dark berries in early summer.

Serviceberry (also known as juneberry or shadbush) blooming in spring.
Serviceberry

The berries are edible and can be used in pies or eaten straight off the bush.

Mulberry

The mulberry tree is a favorite of many birds, including robins, orioles, cardinals, catbirds, cedar waxwings, thrushes, and more. Mulberries are fast-growing trees that can reach up to 50 feet tall at maturity. They produce small white flowers in the springtime followed by dark berries that ripen in late summer.

Close-up of fresh mulberries.
Mulberries

The berries can be eaten fresh or used in jam or pies.

Juniper

Juniper bushes produce small blue fruits that are favored by many types of birds, including quail, thrushes, grosbeaks, cardinals, juncos, crossbills, goldfinches, and more. Junipers are evergreen bushes that come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some low-growing varieties even make good groundcover.

Close-up of juniper berries growing on a tree.
Juniper

In addition to attracting birds to your yard with their fruit production, junipers also provide valuable shelter for wildlife during the winter months.

Dogwoods

Dogwoods are attractive deciduous trees that produce small white flowers in the springtime followed by edible red fruits in late summer or early fall. Many kinds of birds love eating dogwood fruits, including robins, cedar waxwings, orioles, catbirds, bluebirds, tanagers, woodpeckers, flickers, nuthatches, chickadees, and more.

Fruit and dogwood leaves on a tree branch.
Dogwood

Not only will planting dogwoods help attract birds to your yard. The bright red fruits make them a stunning addition to any landscape.