{"id":15054,"date":"2026-09-12T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=15054"},"modified":"2026-09-12T20:37:47","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T00:37:47","slug":"winter-berries-for-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2026\/09\/12\/winter-berries-for-birds\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Berries For Birds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Spring-summer flowers lead to an attractive & bountiful harvest of berries in your landscape. In the cool autumn and snowy frigid winter months, our feathered wildlife feast on colorful berries that range from purple, red, pink, white, or blue. Listed here are 12 berry-licious plants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Flowering dogwood (Cornus florida<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1. Winterberry<\/strong> (Ilex verticillata<\/em>) is a deciduous holly native to eastern North America. Once its leaves drop in fall, the bright red berries puts-on a spectacular winter show. Standout fruit-bearing female choices are \u2018Winter Red\u2019, \u2018Sparkleberry\u2019, \u2018Berry Heavy\u2019, and \u2018Berry Poppins\u2019. Also add ‘Winter Gold’ for its yellow berries. Don\u2019t forget to plant a matching male pollinator like \u2018Southern Gentleman\u2019 or \u2018Jim Dandy\u2019. (Zones 3-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. American Holly<\/strong> (Ilex opaca<\/em>) is a U.S. native, 15-30 feet upright, pyramidal, evergreen tree; eventually may reach 50 feet tall with spiny, thick, leathery, green leaves and bright red berries. Its berry-laden boughs define the Christmas holidays. Bright red or orange, 1\/4 – 1\/2″ diameter fruits ripen in fall on pollinated female trees that persist through winter. (Zones 5-9). Other Ilex spp<\/em> are also decorative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Flowering Dogwood<\/strong> (Cornus florida<\/em>) is a small 15\u201330 feet tall and wide native tree that blooms in early spring (April) with showy, white, 3-4\u201d wide, 4-petaled flowers (bracts). Bright red drupe fruits are relished by birds and other wildlife when they ripen in early fall; berries often persist into late December. (Zones 5-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Red-twig Dogwood<\/strong> (Cornus sericea<\/em>) produces blue fruit in summer and bare red stems in winter give this shrubby dogwood. Tiny, fragrant, white flowers appear in flat-topped 2.5\u201d wide cyme floral clusters in late spring. Flowers give way to clusters of whitish (sometimes with a bluish tinge) fruits. Every 2-3 years cutback shrub hard to a foot or less in late winter to rejuvenate bright red winter stems. (Zones 3-7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Crabapple<\/strong> (Malus spp<\/em>.) is a popular spring flowering small to medium sized ornate tree. Depending on the choice of cultivar, loads of colorful fruits (reds, yellow, orange, green) ripen in early fall; birds prefer crabapple varieties bearing fruits less than 2 inches in diameter. Choose crabapple cultivars for their foliar disease resistance. (Zones 4-7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crataegus viridis<\/em> ‘Winter King’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

6. \u2018Winter King\u2019 Hawthorn\u00a0<\/strong>(Crataegus viridis <\/em>\u2018Winter King\u2019) is a popular disease-resistant cultivar that blooms profusely, bears heavy crops of fruits, silvery-barked stems, and foliage with attractive purple and scarlet fall color. (Zones 4-7). Several other hawthorn species may also be listed here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. American Beautyberry<\/strong> (Callicarpa americana<\/em>) produces tiny pinkish blooms in mid-summer followed by traffic-stopping clusters of luscious small purple berries. While this native\u00a0form\u00a0is preferred, other species are also stunning in autumn. (Zones 5-8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Symphoric<\/em>arpos orbiculatus<\/em> ‘Proud Berry (photo from Proven Winners)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

8. Coralberry<\/strong> (Symphoricarpos orbiculatus<\/em>) is an under-utilized native shrub. Small, yellowish summer flowers turn into purplish-red fruit clustered along arching stems beginning in October. Highly recommended is cultivar Proud Berry\u00ae, 3- to 4-foot plant that is loaded with plump, dark pink berries that intensify with cold weather. (Zones 2-7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Snowberry<\/strong> (Symphoricarpos albus<\/em>) is native shrub with arching branches that bear beautiful clusters of white berries that last well into winter. It bears small white and pink flowers in summer that attract butterflies and hummingbirds; it is a host plant for the Sphinx Moth. (Zones 3-7).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Snowberry (Symphoricarpus alba<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

10. Chokeberry <\/strong>(Aronia melanocarpa<\/em>) produces black autumn berries and has attractive purple\/red fall color. They excel in wet soggy ground areas, sucker, and form mass colonies. White spring flowers are followed by glossy summer leaves and brilliant red fall foliage and loads of fruits. (Zones 3-8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11. Serviceberry<\/strong> (Amelanchier <\/em>x grandiflora<\/em>) is a graceful, multi-stemmed large shrub or small 12-15 feet tall tree native to eastern North America; closely related to\u00a0A. arborea<\/em>. Spring leaves emerge with a distinctive attractive bronze to purplish-red color. White flower clusters open in early spring as the last snows of winter are leaving your region. Edible berries, called Juneberries, ripen to deep purple-black in late spring and are often used in jams, jellies and pies. Leading varieties: <\/span>‘Autumn Brilliance’ and ‘Princess Diana’. (Zones 3-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12. Viburnums<\/strong> (Viburnum spp<\/em>.) represent a broad group of spring flowering shrubs that produce loads of colorful red, pink, black, and blue berries in late summer and fall. Some of the best native viburnums for feeding birds: smooth witherod (V. nudum<\/em>), possumhaw, cranberrybush viburnum (V. trilobum<\/em>), arrowwood viburnum (V. dentatum<\/em>), nannyberry (V. lentago<\/em>), and blackhaw (V. prunifolium<\/em>).\u00a0(Zones 4-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Care tips:<\/strong>\u00a0Prune fruit-bearing shrubs at the proper time, which results in heavy flowering and seasonal fruit loads to follow. Keep landscape plants neat by removing dead branches and basal suckering. Cutting back may also spur on a new growth flush and abundant berries to follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘Winter Gold’ deciduous holly -fruit set in mid-October<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring-summer flowers lead to an attractive & bountiful harvest of berries in your landscape. In the cool autumn and snowy frigid winter months, our feathered wildlife feast on colorful berries that range from purple, red, pink, white, or blue. Listed here are 12 berry-licious plants. 1. Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is a deciduous holly native to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,657,1218,803,1319,1494,1537,1341,656,1498,1551,844,1186,806,841,857,853,551,1476,1571,791,1060,951,729,855,1321,777,630,705,646,7,935,113,655,455,1275],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15054"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15054"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16200,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15054\/revisions\/16200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}