Mid-Atlantic Gardening: The birds are getting ready for spring!, 5 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
David--that is a really good idea to use a suet feeder for nesting material.
Does it bother the birds that it comes from am animal? Can they "smell" things?
Your Maine Coon must be very warm with all that down on it.
Have you ever tried offering dryer lint to birds? Wonder if they would use it...

I have old, L-shaped, trimmed, Japanese Holly bushes at the corner of my patio.
I keep them about 3' tall. Lots of the smaller birds like to take refuge in them.
especially all the sparrows.
These are not far from the feeders hanging under my Patio roof. Quick get-away!

I have shredded (by hand) short pieces of natural twine and tucked them in on top
of these shrubs. Usually--some bird claims them.

What else can birds use for nesting--that us people could put out for them?

1--A look at my patio from my BR window.--these pictures are from June, 2013.

2--The corner where the grill sits which is flanked by these shrubs.
Behind this--you can see my raised bed and thee beginnings of my YUK bed.
This is the line where my property ends.

3--My "glorious"YUK" bed bordering the corner of my property--and the
cause that it is "YUK"--my big Silver Maple--only 4' away from the bed.
Doesn't matter! This Maple has long ago claimed ALL the back lawn as hers.

4--However--there are things that happily live there---Frans Hals DL
5--...And a big clump of Heliopsis.

There are many more plants that call this bed home....

My B&B Salvias--many Autumn Sedums--my big clump of New England Aster--
A lot of Stellas--an old Peony--3 Hellebores around the bird bath--A forever expanding
Shasta daisy clump--my one and only Butterfly Bush--two clumps of the fragrant,
clustering Daffs--two other kinds of DL's--asst. clumps of Rose Campions--and--ONE very old
Rose (Tropicana) that the tree roots have a death grip on with a 2" fat maple root holding it captive--or I would dig it up and transplant it.

I hugely respect any plants that can thrive in this bed. It is one corner of my little world.

It is next to impossible to dig a new hole for any new plants in this bed.
A shame--as it gets a lot of sun. It It IS usually very dry! Surprise!!!

G.