Plants for Birds
The Jayhawk Audubon Society has joined with National Audubon to promote Plants for Birds, a nationwide effort to get 1 million native plants planted within five years.
Whether you have a small city lot, a generous suburban yard, or a rural estate, the way you landscape your property can make a difference to birds.
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Birds need food, shelter, water, and nesting sites. Gardeners are in a unique position to provide all four. Read on for the specifics of how you can create a bird-friendly garden in eastern Kansas.
Prothonotary warbler with two caterpillars.
Milkweeds are essential to the Monarch butterfly.
Prothonotary warbler with two caterpillars.
Several nonprofit organizations hold native plant sales in spring and fall, and many locally owned garden centers also sell true native plants.
The Grassland Heritage Foundation native plant sale is scheduled for Saturday May 18. See https://www.grasslandheritage.org/plantsale
The Sunrise Project in Lawrence will have a plant sale on April 20 and 21. They will have lots of different types of plants, not just natives. See on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/927066965324252/932818898082392
The Missouri Prairie Foundation will hold two sales in Kansas City, April 20 and May 11. See https://moprairie.org/events/category/plant-sale/
Local Plant Sales
Three Tenets of Gardening for Birds
Grow trees, shrubs, vines and flowers
Mostly native
Lots of them
The Best Native Plants
Eastern Kansas, with its patchwork of forests and prairies, is home to hundreds of species of plants — many of them quite showy when grown in a cultivated garden.
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In fact, many of our natives are grown elsewhere around the world as ornamentals. Think of Echinacea, Rudbeckia, Liatris, and prairie grasses, for example. Planting native species does not mean you can't have a gorgeous garden.​
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For a list of Kansas native plants, including photos and the birds each attracts, visit National Audubon's database and input your zip code.
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For a list of recommended natives that you can print and take to a garden center, click the button below.
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To attract birds to your yard and keep them hanging about for a bit, there are a few key elements you must provide in your landscape: water, shelter, food.
It's All About Insects
Adult birds eat insects - lots of them. Bees, beetles, moths, butterflies, wasps, bugs, and grasshoppers all are on the menu. Nestlings and fledglings are particularly dependent on insect food which comprises nearly their entire diets. Our yards need to produce an abundance of insects in order to feed both adult and baby birds.
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Gardening for birds means gardening for insects. Since native insects have evolved to feed on native plants, we need to grow an abundance of native plants.
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Photos by Jim Bresnahan.
Where to Buy Native Plants
Several nonprofit organizations hold native plant sale fundraisers each spring. Here are 2024 sales:
The Grassland Heritage Foundation native plant sale is scheduled for Saturday May 18. See https://www.grasslandheritage.org/plantsale
The Sunrise Project in Lawrence will have a plant sale on April 20 and 21. They will have lots of different types of plants, not just natives. See on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/events/927066965324252/932818898082392
The Missouri Prairie Foundation will hold two sales in Kansas City, April 20 and May 11. See https://moprairie.org/events/category/plant-sale/
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Many local nurseries and garden centers also sell native plants. Here is a partial list:
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