This is a fun little book to reference for gardeners hoping to cultivate a garden that will attract local birds. Fun, colorful, and informational!

Lots of photos with handy tips and information to help anyone interested in encouraging more birds to visit their garden. The focus is on the US but useful in the UK too.

The perfect gift for any gardener or bird enthusiast on your list. Anyone who gardens aims to bring more flying friends into their backyard and any birder is looking for ways to bring the birds home with them.

Like other Storey publications, this book's visual appeal cannot be overstated. The photographs are not just illustrations but windows into the vibrant world of plants and birds. The attention to detail and the inclusion of range maps further enhance the reader's understanding, making it a valuable resource for both novice and seasoned gardeners. Having a paper copy to flip through would be ideal and would make a lovely gift.

Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a temporary digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.

If you enjoy watching wildlife like we do then knowing what plants to have in your yard year-round is a great way to ensure you see them. You can watch them enjoy their lives as you relax. You can photograph them too. Finding a great landscape that ensures wildlife is part of this. This book helps when it comes to feeding birds. When you feed them they will come so you can enjoy them.. But, you don't even have to plant them in your yard. Just knowing what the plants are can help you know what birds like and help you when bird watching. It can also help you when gardening and weeding your yard as well to determine what you want to stay and where you want to go.

I love watching the birds early in the morning and have always wondered which plants would be best to help attract more birds especially now that we own our home. I loved how detailed this book was with the plants, the descriptions, the birds, just everything overall. I found the book quite helpful!


Thank you to NetGalley, the author and Storey Publishing for providing me with an ARC copy.
All thoughts and opinions are my own.

As an avid bird watcher, this book was immensely helpful and interesting. I love having this resource to help me choose plants when gardening. The photos were beautiful, and the information was presented in an easy format. A wonderful resource for anyone who enjoys bird watching, gardening, or helping their environment thrive.

I received this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

As a nature lover, i we very excited to read this book. Has a must have for all bird lovers. Use this reference to plant a garden the birds will love visiting

Wonderful book about plants, birds, and how to attract them to your garden. This book is a wealth of information and a great resource to keep onhand and refer back to for years of gardening and bird watching pleasure.

We continue to disrupt the habitats of birds, bees and other insects at an alarming rate. If you want to be part of the solution while also enjoying a plethora of birds gravitating to your yard then this is the book for you. Everything you need to know for your specific location is within the covers of 100 Plants to Feed the Birds plus the pictures are beautiful. Recommended for novice and experienced bird lovers.

I received a drc from the publisher via Netgalley.

Very informative book. Full of a lot of useful information. This book will also be very useful for future reference

The best thing about the pandemic, hands down, was my newest and unexpectedly thrilling hobby: bird-watching. I was so surprised to learn that while I'd been going to work everyday, many species of birds were making yard their home. I became determined to make my landscape as bird and wildlife-friendly as possible. This photo-packed book was a excellent primer on the top 100 plants you can grow in North America to help our fine feathered friends, and also gave insight on which species to avoid (such as invasive species).

I recommend this book to anyone in North America interested in birds, gardening, or improving the natural habitat. Thank you to the author, Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Now I have to go buy the hard copy, as I think the birds would enthusiastially agree, if they could.

This is a lovely book written by someone who clearly knows and loves birds. It's a trifle ambitious for an average urban or suburban gardener, but if you read it as something like an encyclopedia, you should be able to find many ideas to test in your own outdoor spaces.

The book begins with a section called "Creating Habitat" which touches on all sorts of interesting things. Various birds are shown in very nice photos with a discussion of what they like. We are told to avoid invasive species and to keep our cats indoors, Choosing and caring for a birdbath is important too.

The second section is a listing of the 100 plants. They are arranged by kind of plant - coniferous trees, broadleaf trees, grasses, herbaceous plants (which I would have divided into perennials and annuals), shrubs, vines, and a few others. The plants are not arranged by planting zone or climate, a choice that might be frustrating for beginning gardeners, but which simplifies the presentation, About 30 of the 100 plants are trees and another 22 are shrubs. This seems a high number when most of us don't have enough planting space and sun to consider trees or more shrubs, even if we plan to stay put long enough for them to grow. The remaining 50 or so entries include lichens, parasitic plants, cacti, and desert plants which can' only be planted in limited areas. Overall, though, there are plenty of ideas here.

I think this is a beautiful book and one that will be of interest to gardeners and birders alike. I can see it as part of the libraries of garden clubs and birding clubs in addition to public libraries. I could imagine study groups forming around it. It might make a nice housewarming gift for someone who would not be intimidated by the preponderance of trees and shrubs on the list.

This is a great book about different birds and plants and how to create your garden to bring in the birds.

I am sure this book fulfills some consumer need. It has good graphics and photography layout and good research on the subject-matter, but all that effort is on a topic that requires nothing further than commonsense and would be of no use to anyone unless the book is meant as a coffee table book for waiting rooms of clinics and businesses where casual bored observers flick through pages to kill time.

Does anyone need to know the pretty basic stuff that fruit trees and flowering creepers and plants attract birds? If your garden has a bougainvillea, an orange tree and spinach, what kind of birds frequent it? You already know. And the kind of trees, plants, veggies and flowers you can grow depends on your geographical location. Do I need a picture book to tell me that?

And nature's ecosystem is a circle not a singularity: you put in the hours, energy, effort and money to grow a tree, you eat the fruit, share it with others, use the peel and seed to make powder and more plant saplings, and,(depending on the tree/plant) you can even boil the leaves and make herbal tea or face and hair tonic, and save what's left as organic material which goes back in the garden to nourish the trees etc. When tree blooms, it attracts bees and birds and insects (and cats and snakes), all feed on it, and depending on the tree type, some birds even make nests on them. you enjoy the tree's shade, the tree helps produce oxygen and suck out the environmental pollutants, and working in the garden / field is mentally soothing and humbling, and encourages kids to work hard without judgement and peer pressure while recognizing nature's beauty and resilience as well. So why should I focus on simply what birds are getting out of the ecosystem?

There's a serendipity and magic in watching a garden bloom and letting nature take its course. When I first started planting flowers, evergreen and fruiting trees and a veggie garden, I used to call my mom and cry that no birds came to my garden, it was so soundless. Over the years, I have seen birds that I don't even know the names of and there's music and motion in the garden even in silence and stillness!

What's next? 100 plants to feed the bees? Do I need to buy such a book? I don't think so. But maybe some dentist (or honey maker) does.

All the best to the author.

Perhaps you’re a bird lover  who wants to know more about feeding them or encourage more into your garden, or perhaps you’ve suddenly got space to grow plants, whether in the ground or pots and want a wildlife food-bar. Whether you’re a novice or know a lot, this is a book I recommend for you. You don’t need to feed the birds with only “tuppence a bag” of seed, you can also grow your own.

In my garden, in the UK, for example, we grow cornflowers. Leave the flowers after they’ve finished flowering and birds like goldfinches will gorge on the seeds. This book will show you more plants and trees you can also grow and native to North America. It gives clear information about the plants to grow, how to care for them and a guide for sun exposure.

It’s useful as a reference and guidebook for those wanting to create or expand their own wildlife haven, as of course the plants you grow will attract more than birds too.

Rated 4.5 stars on my Bookmarks and Stages blog

100 Plants to Feed the Birds by Laura Erickson is a great guide to help you decide what to plant to provide an oasis for birds. It’s well organized, easy to read and provided much needed inspiration! Now I’ll just have to plan and plant!

**Thank you NetGalley for an electronic ARC of this novel.

For all of us who are avid bird lovers and watchers, this is a great book to encourage the planting of plants healthy for birds, besides the feeders that people love to hang. From native plants to insects that birds love, all is presented here for North American birders. Well written book.

As a novice birdwatcher and longtime gardener, this book perfectly melded two of my favorite hobbies. Erickson provided a thorough, helpful, encouraging guide to gardening with beauty, sustainability, and our feathered friends in mind. I heartily recommend "100 Plants to Feed the Birds" to any gardener who wants to make their landscape more welcoming for wildlife.

"A book of nature cannot possibly list all the best choices for every yard. The plants listed here, all native to the United States and Canada, are good possibilities to start with, but state and local native plant organizations and birding clubs should be able to provide you with invaluable advice relevant to your local situation." - Laura Erickson

Informative with a layout that flows and is pleasing. This guide has a nice balance of words, photos, and facts on the pages, and is divided in a manner that makes sense; easy to navigate! The back includes an index as well as photo credits.

The book addresses four-season support for gardens versus the typical color consideration for its visual allure, saying "Well-thought-out landscaping for birds has aesthetic appeal, too, but it also embraces the full annual cycle, from winter through the following winter, of a variety bird species", and that gardening for birds is more than just a hummingbird garden. Erickson goes on to say that a bird garden may be tricky due to the confusing nature of species names. "When the American Ornithologists' Union published the first 'Check-List of North American Birds' in 1886, they included an English name and a Latin scientific name for each...(d)espite the many checklists and guidebooks published since, bird names are still hard to keep straight. Plant names are even less standardized." So, the book lists their recommended genus alongside some species representing good choices for various parts of the country.

I'll include images as examples in my Goodreads and Amazon reviews!