Bring in the Birds
Birds are a wonderful addition to the garden. Whether it’s their chirpy birdsong which helps you rise in the morning or their knack for munching on pesky snails and slugs, they are a welcome visitor in the backyard. If you’re not seeing too many birds fluttering around your garden then take a look at our plant suggestions below. These trees, shrubs and foliage are sure to attract the neighbourhood birds and keep them happy year round.
Waxeyes Love: Corokia, Pittosporum and Coprosma
A great selection of hedging shrubs for modern formal lines. Plant Corokia and Coprosma in windy locations; Pittosporum need protection from strong winds or they will drop their leaves. All of these hedging varieties clip nicely and have small inconspicuous flowers. Choose from a wide foliage selection to suit your home.
Fantails Love: Leucopogon fasciculatus (Mingimingi) and Coprosma
Fantails catch their food on the fly like a hawk and use their wings to maneuver themselves around quickly to catch flying insects. Mingimingi grows well in coastal rocky areas that are a prone to being a bit waterlogged. Mingimingi which in Maori means ‘twisted’ has small leaves and little berries which the Fantails feed on..
Tui Love: Phormium (Flax), Callistemon (Bottlebrush), Sophora (Kohwai), Pohutukawa
Wow the spectrum of colour you are in for if Tui is something you would like to attract, and size does not matter. They will happily feed from small shrubs giving you better viewing in the garden.
Sophora (Kowhai) Dragon’s Gold is miniature in height standing at just 1.5m tall but will flush full of yellow flowers that Tui love. Sophora tetraptera is a large tree that is wind tolerant for those dry and gusty locations or a beautiful feature tree in the garden.
Callistemon Little John (Dwarf Bottlebrush) has red flowers similar to our Native Pohutukawa but are small in stature at just 1.5m tall.
Phormium (Flax) tenax in either bronze or green are a large swamp flax perfect for damp areas and have 4 meter arching flower brackets that Tui will flock to eat. Smaller ornamental varieties like Rainbow Queen or Platts Black are just as effective as the large Flax to bring in the birds and look great planted en masse.
Wood Pigeon Love : Puriri, Miro, Taraire and Karaka
All very large trees; but if you have space and can grow the pink flowering Puriri or the Yellow berried Karaka, you can be almost guaranteed that you will have Kereru roosting.
Thrush Love : Cotoneaster trees and nest in trees 2 – 6m tall
Thrush love snails, slugs, spiders and worms. We’re happy to get rid of the slugs and snails but like to keep the worms protected. These cheeky birds are not shy and will be happy to nest in your garden in expectation to eat all sorts of insects. They will only nest where there are trees taller than 2 meters so low shrubs won’t do. Thrush love Cotoneaster trees and will feast on their red berries.
Keep the birds singing with lots of ideas to add to your garden this year. August is a great time for tree planting so hurry in store!