For the Birds: Fall Fruiting Plants

As we move into autumn, there is a way to bring more color, more interest, and more drama into your backyard. By planting fall-fruiting bushes you will have the double benefit of colorful berries and the colorful birds that the berries attract.

Many bird species gorge on fall berries before they migrate south and many other species, like cardinals, nuthatches and blue jays stay for the winter and continue to feed off the berries in your garden. 

Want to attract more birds to your backyard? Start with these attractive, fall-fruiting favorites:

Juniper 

There are hundreds of varieties of juniper in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. Junipers not only provide a pretty blue berry but they also provide good cover and choice nesting locations as well. Good berry producers are Juniperus 'Grey Owl’ and Juniperus ' Blueberry Delight.’

Callicarpa - Beautyberry

Beauty Berry has more subtle summer flowers that cover it’s gracefully arching branches, but the real show comes in September when the branches are covered in candy-colored purple berries.

Grow in full sun to part shade.

Grows 3 to 5 feet tall and wide.

Callicarpa (Beautyberry)

Callicarpa (Beautyberry)

Purple Leafed Callicarpa (Beautyberry)

Purple Leafed Callicarpa (Beautyberry)

Holly

Like Juniper, Holly offers birds both evergreen shelter and cover from predators plus prolific fruit. It offers your garden winter interest with rich, deep green foliage. ‘Blue Princess’ Holly and ‘Blue Maid’ Holly are reliable hardy varieties. We love ‘Berryrific’ Holly because a male and female are planted in one pot, ensuring prolific fruiting and ‘Golden Girl’ Holly for the exceptional color of its berries.

Grows in part shade to full sun.

Grows 6 to 10 feet tall and 3 to 4 feet wide (check variety).

Blue Princess Holly

Coral Berry

Summer flowers give way to super showy pink berries in the fall. Very easy to grow and will adapt to a variety of conditions.

Grows in full sun to part shade.

Grows 4 to 5 feet tall and wide.

Gaultheria Peppermint Pearl Wintergreen

“The foliage of Peppermint Pearl is lush and evergreen, the perfect no-stress ground cover. Flowers appear in midsummer, followed by late berries that have no problem hanging on through a chill. in fact, there's a reason early settlers used wintergreen as a Christmas decoration, and why we tend to associate the flavor with festive desserts—these berries perform exceptionally well in cold weather, and actually taste best after a hard frost. They'll last long in storage, especially if you freeze them. The unusual icy white color of Peppermint Pearl's fruit, along with the delightful wintergreen taste will make your holiday candies and baked goods the talk of the dessert table.” —Summer Hill (one of our favorite growers)

Grows in full sun to part shade.

Grows 6 to 8 inches tall and wide.

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)

The lovely understory trees have very showy, large, white or pink bracts that emerge before the leaves in early spring and surround small, inconspicuous, tight clusters of green flowers. The small tree also produces fruit in the form of a cluster of red drupes that mature in the fall.

Grows in full sun to part shade.

Grows 15 to 25 feet tall and wide.

Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida)

Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa), or Japanese Kousa, blooms later than the Florida Dogwoods and it also gets quite a bit taller. The kousa produces large raspberry-like berries in the fall. It is usually a multi-stemmed tree with excellent disease resistance. Technically a large deciduous shrub, producing masses of creamy-white flowers in late spring to early summer, followed by dangling globes of edible fruit in autumn. Excellent autumn colors.

Grows in full sun to part shade.

Grows 20 feet tall and wide.

Kousa Dogwood (Cornus kousa)

Densa Inkberry

Dark, leathery green evergreen leaves with white flowers in the spring and black, berry-like fruit in the fall. Can tolerate moist soils and is shade tolerant too! Can be heavily pruned to maintain a smaller size.

Grows in full sun to part shade.

Grows 5 to 8 feet tall and wide.

Densa Inkberry

Viburnum plicatum tomentosum 'Summer Snowflake' 

‘Summer Snowflake is a Victoria Gardens’ favorite. It has very sophisticated blue-green foliage and it is covered in lacy white flowers from June until September. In the fall, the flowers are replaced by lacy red florets and egg-shaped berries.

Grows in full sun.

Grows 5 to 8 feet tall and 3 to 5 wide.

'Tiger Eyes' Staghorn Sumac, Rhus typhina

A very modern looking small tree with striking foliage. Hardy to zone 4. “Terminal panicles of greenish-yellow flowers appear in summer, followed by velvety, reddish bunches of fruits (drupes) that persist through the winter until birds consume them.”

Grows in full sun.

Grows 6 to 8 feet tall and wide.

'Tiger Eyes' Staghorn Sumac, Rhus typhina

'Tiger Eyes' Staghorn Sumac, Rhus typhina