Bird & Berry Hedgerow

Why these seven go together

A hedge that feeds birds in every month is a matter of sequence. Downy serviceberry ripens first, in June, and is stripped by waxwings and orioles within days. Black elderberry follows in August, chokeberry and nannyberry in late summer and fall, and then the winter plants take over: winterberry, whose scarlet fruit is passed over in fall and eaten in the hard weeks of February, and Washington hawthorn and American crabapple, which hold fruit into spring. Every one of the seven flowers first, in April, May or June, for the bees.

The hedge is cover as well as food. Hawthorn and crabapple are thorny and hold nests; elderberry is a favorite nest site; the dense mixed growth is where a catbird or a towhee lives.

Where it fits

A property line, a fence row, the edge of a lawn against woods. Hawthorn and crabapple want full sun; the rest take light shade. Ordinary soil suits all seven; elderberry, chokeberry, nannyberry and winterberry also stand wet ground, and hawthorn, chokeberry and nannyberry take dry. Together they are hardy in zones 4 through 8.

Heights: chokeberry 3 to 6 feet, elderberry and winterberry 6 to 12, nannyberry 12 to 18, serviceberry and crabapple 15 to 30, hawthorn 20 to 30. Set the small trees at the ends and along the back, the shrubs between, about 6 feet apart, and let the hedge fill in.

Planting the hedgerow

Plant dormant in a strip cleared of grass, mulch with leaves, and cage or fence the row for two years against deer and rabbits. Winterberry needs a male within about 50 feet for every ten females, so plant five or more and let the odds give you both. Elderberry suckers and can be cut to the ground every few years; the rest need only the removal of dead wood.

Skip the insecticide: the caterpillars on the hedge in May are what the nestlings eat, and a sprayed hedge is a quiet one.