Attracting Birds and Butterflies
A quick list of plant ideas to attract birds and butterflies to your yard
We have compiled a list of just a few plants that we feel will ensure your gardens are bird and butterfly friendly.
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Roses with hips
Elderberry
Native grape
Serviceberry
Deciduous holly
Honeysuckle
Wild raisin
Flowering crabapple
Pagoda dogwood
Sumac
and most grasses. -
Honeysuckle
Golden Currant
Lilacs
Weigela
Honeysuckle vine
Butterfly Weed
Joe Pye Weed
Beebalm
and Sedums
Deer Resistant Plants
This is only a partial list and is not a guarantee that deer will not eat these plants. Deer, if hungry, will eat many plants and we are finding that they are learning to eat plants they would have ignored in the past. This list can act as a guide toward plants that are least likely to suffer deer damage.
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Maples (seldom)
Honey Locust
Hawthorn
Birch
Oak
Blue Spruce
Hemlock
Mugo Pine
Bristlecone Pine
Serviceberry (seldom)
Spruce
White Pine (seldom)
Star Magnolia (seldom)
Katsura
Kousa Dogwood (seldom)
Ginkgo
Stewartia (seldom) -
Witch Hazel (seldom)
Barberry
Lilac
Spirea
Juniper
Red Osier Dogwood
Currant
Gooseberry
Elderberry
Potentilla
Forsythia (seldom)
Privet (seldom)
Mock orange
Smokebush (seldom)
Viburnum
PJM Rhododendron (seldom)
Microbiota
Rugosa Roses (seldom)
Daphne
Deciduous holly -
Clematis
Honeysuckle
Grape (seldom) -
Actaea (Bugbane)
Ajuga (Bugleweed)
Anenome (Wind Flower)
Aquilegia (Columbine)
Astilbe (False Goat’s Beard)
Campanula (Bell Flowers)
Coreopsis (Tickseed)
Dianthus
Dicentra (Bleeding Heart)
Echinacea (Coneflower)
Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed)
Geranium (Crane’s Bill)
Heliopsis (Oxeye Sunflower)
Hellebore
Iberis (Candytuft)
Iris
Lavender
Liatrus (Gayfeather)
Lupine
Monarda (Bee Balm)
Nepeta (Catmint)
Rudbeckia (Black Eyed Susan)
Fragrant Plants
Looking to add some fragrance to your garden? You’ll find a list of our most fragrant plants here
We made a list of fragrant plants to help add some wonderfull aromas to your garden.
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Many Roses
Sweet Fern
Bayberry
Mockorange
Golden Currant
Lilac
Apple
Flowering Crabapple
Pear
Magnolia
Black Locust
Basswood
Linden
Goldflame Honeysuckle
Azalea
Lily of the Valley
Some Daylilies
Some Hostas
Tall Bearded Iris
Beebalm (foliage)
Some Peonies
Tall Phlox
Thyme (foliage)
Groundcovers
Ground cover plants are straight up problem solvers. They can help control erosion, moisture control, they’re often unique, and generally great habitats for pollinators
Some ideas for ground-covering plants.
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Broadmoor Juniper
Buffalo Juniper
Calgary Carpet Juniper
Russian Cypress -
Blue Danube Juniper
Table Top Spruce
Nest Spruce -
Sweet Fern
Bassino Rose
Doorenbos Rose
Max Graf Rose
Repens alba Rose
Magic Carpet Spirea
Halward’s Silver Spirea
Minuet Weigela
Tango Weigela -
New Hampshire Gold Forsythia
Potentilla
Fru Dagmar Hastrup Rose
Rosa rugosa (in variety)
Goldflame Spirea -
Ajuga
Lady Mantle
Rock Cress
Snow in Summer
Lily of the Valley
Geranium macchorizum
Geranium Wargrave Pink
Lamium
Creeping Jenny
Creeping Phlox
Sedum
Thyme
Ribbon Grass
Moisture Tolerant Plants
A quick list of plant ideas to attract birds and butterflies to your yard
Most plants we grow in our gardens need good drainage. Lack of oxygen in the soil can cause disease problems as root cells die, or in the worst case, death of the plant due to suffocation of the root system. There are some plants that can tolerate damp conditions.
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These plants will take spring moisture as long as the site drains afterward.
Elderberry
Currant
Dogwood
White Ash
Green Ash
Butternut
Bur Oak
Basswood
Balsam Fir
Aster
Astilbe
Siberian Iris
Bloodroot
Primula
Trollius -
These plants are the most tolerant of wet soils. The amount of water they will tolerate varies somewhat. Those with an asterisk * are the most tolerant.
Poplar
Native Red Maple
Highbush Cranberry
Cedar
Joe Pye Weed
Beebalm
Lady Fern
Willow*
Bog Rosemary*
Deciduous Holly*
Larch*
Black Spruce*
Japenese Iris*
Ligularia*
Ostrich Fern*
Sensitive Fern*
Sedge*
Rush (Juncus)*
Native Material
Wondering what grows naturally here? Check out this comprehensive list available at our Nursery
Native plants are plants that grow naturally here.
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Carolina
Virginiana -
Elderberry
Native Grape
Serviceberry -
Serviceberry
Chokeberry
Red Osier Dogwood
Witch Hazel
Deciduous Holly
Bayberry
Golden Elderberry
Wild Raisin
Mohican Wayfaring Tree
Highbush Cranberry -
Red Maple
Striped Maple
Sugar Maple
Mountain Maple
Yellow Birch
Paper Birch
Pagoda Dogwood
White Ash
Green Ash
Butternut
Bur Oak
Red Oak
Staghorn Sumac
Cutleaf Sumac
Basswood -
Larch
White Spruce
Black Spruce
Red Spruce
Jack Pine
White Cedar/Arborvitae
Thuja Occidentalis
Hemlock
Craig Spruce
Dave Veinot Spruce
Weeping White Spruce
Shawna Dwarf Spruce
Horsford White Pine
Weeping White Pine
Spiral Needled Pine
Little Gem Cedar
Little Giant Cedar -
Virgin’s Bower Clematis
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Aquilegia (Columbine)
Aster
Polygonatum (Solomon’s Seal)
Sanguineum (Bloodroot) -
Sedge
Rush
Spartina -
Maidenhair Fern
Lady Fern
Oak Fern
Ostrich Fern
Sensitive Fern Christmas Fern
Perennials by Season
A quick list of plant ideas to attract birds and butterflies to your yard
This list will allow you to choose perennials for each season so that your garden can look colorful from early spring to freeze-up in the late fall.
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Euphorbia (Cushion Spurge)
Pulmonaria (Lungwort)
Pulsatilla (Pasque Flower)
Sanguineum (Bloodroot) -
Ajuga (Bugleweed
Alchemilla (Lady’s Mantle
Aquilegia (Columbine)
Anemone (Windflower)
Arabis (Rockcress)
Bergenia (Pigsqueak)
Convallaria (Lily of the Valley)
Dicentra (Bleeding Heart)
Iberis (Candytuft)
Dwarf Iris
Lamium (Dead Nettle)
Creeping Phlox
Polemonium (Jacob’s Ladder)
Polygonatum (Solomon’s Seal)
Rheum palmatum (Chinese Rhubarb) -
Brunnera (Alkanet)
Siberian Iris
Tall Bearded Iris
Variegated Iris
Lysimachia (Creeping Jenny)
Peony
Salvia (Sage) -
Achillea (Yarrow)
Aruncus (Goatsbeard)
Campanula (Blue Clips)
Cerastium (Snow in Summer)
Geranium
Japanese Iris
Monarda (Beebalm)
Penstemon (Beardtongue)
Physostegia (Obedient Plant)
Tradescantia (Spiderwort) -
Delphinium (Larkspurs)
Filipendula (Meadowsweet)
Hemerocallis (Daylilies)
Ligularia (Leopard Plant)
Rodgersia
Thymus (Thyme) -
Aconitum (Monkshood)
Asclepias (Butterfly Weed)
Coreopsis (Tickseed)
Dictamnus (Gas Plant)
Echinacea (Coneflower)
Eryngium (Sea Holly)
Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed)
Gypsophila (Baby’s Breath)
Hostas
Salvia (Russian Sage)
Phlox
Rudbeckia (Black Eyed Susan)
Veronica (Speedwell) -
Actaea (Bugbane)
Aster
Chrysanthemum
Epimedium (Barrenwort)
Kirengeshoma (Wax Bells)
Nipponanthemum (Nantucket Daisy)
Sedum
Salt Tolerant Plants
A quick list of plant ideas to attract birds and butterflies to your yard
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Rosa Rugosa (most roses are salt tolerant)
Rhubarb
Blueberry
Serviceberry
Sweet Fern
Forsythia
Bayberry
Potentilla
Lilacs
Apple
Flowering Crabapple
Royal Red Maple
Black Locust
White Spruce
Black Spruce
Red Spruce
Colorado Spruce
Jack Pine
Mugo Pine
Shade Tolerant Plants
A quick list of plant ideas to attract birds and butterflies to your yard
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Striped Maple
Mountain Maple
Alder
Alternate Dogwood
Honeylocust
Magnolia
Hophornbeam -
Serviceberry
Bog Rosemary
Chokeberry
Barberry
Dogwood
Daphne
Butterfly Bush
Burning Bush
Forsythia
Witch Hazel
Hydrangea
Deciduous Holly
Beauty Bush
Honeysuckle
Mockorange
Ninebark
Rhododendron
Rosa Rubrifolia
Willow
Elderberry
False Spirea
Spirea
Snowberry
Blueberry
Viburnum
Weigela -
Dwarf Japanese garden juniper
Yew
Hemlock -
Monkshood
Baneberry
Goutweed
Bugleweed
Lady's Mantle
Leek
Windflower
Columbine
Bearberry
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Silvermound
Ginger
Spleenwort
Aster
Astilbe
Bergenia
Turtlehead
Snakeroot
Lily of the Valley
Bunchberry
Corydalis
Bleeding Heart
Foxglove
Shooting Star
Leopard's Bane
Sea Holly
Barrenwort
Joe Pye Weed
Ferns
Meadowsweet
Geranium
Blue Oat Grass
Hellebore
Daylilies
Coral bells
Hostas
Iris
Deadnettle
Lilies
Maltese Cross
Creeping Jenny
Plume Poppy
Mint
Virginia Bluebells
Pachyandra
Peonies
Cliffgreen
Ribbon Grass
Ground Phlox
Obedient Plant
Jacob's Ladder
Solomon's Seal
Foamflower
Spiderwort
Trillium
English Buttercup
Milkweed
Speedwell
Vinca
Violets -
Kiwi
Dutchman’s Pipe
Bittersweet
Clematis
Wintercreeper
English Ivy
Climbing Honeysuckle
Virginia Creeper
Silverlace Vine