Madrone Needs Your Support

November General Meeting

Thank You

Contract on Mayacamas Restoration Planning

Seed Gathering at Sanctuary

The Village at Pine Flat

Agreement on Hillside Ordinance

Observations

Midweek Walkabout Results

Pee Wee Report

Things To Do

Winter Birding

Ideal Holiday Gift

Through the Garden Gate: Backyard Birding

Welcome New Members

Pee Wee Audubon

Through the Garden Gate

Backyard Birding

by Judy Brinkerhoff

Berries for Birds, Nectar for Hummers
Autumn is the best time to shop for and plant perennials for your bird-friendly yard or garden. The upcoming rains usually make watering unnecessary, and the roots will be establishing themselves by the time spring warms the soil.

Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) is a well known California native shrub from the chaparral country, which immediately identifies it as a drought-tolerant, sun-loving plant. Once learned, you will recognize it as a popularly used horticultural plant, as it is tidy, long-lived, easy to care for, and may ultimately become a small tree, although rather slow-growing.

The leaves are a dark evergreen, leathery, and holly-like in their serrated edges. In fact, it is often used as holly for Christmas decorating, as it puts out beautiful, red-orange berries late in the year. Of course, these berries are much loved by birds. I have seen the Anna's hummingbirds working among the clusters of white flowers that bloom in the early part of summer. So not only does Toyon provide us with a wonderful foundation, specimen, or hedge planting, but it offers good, shrubby cover to birds, as well as berries and nectar. Plant it with others that attract birds: coffee berry (Rhamnus californica); wild lilac (Ceanothus spp); or tall, shrubby manzanitas (Arctostaphylos spp).