Bird-Friendly Flowers And Bulbs To Plant Now For A Wildlife-Filled Spring Garden

When you picture spring, what do you imagine? The budding flowers, the warming sunshine and the sound of chirping birds? Well, if you would like to help those garden birds in spring 2026, now is the time to act.

The flowers and bulbs you plant now can help create a fruitful, bird-friendly habitat come spring. Autumn is a particularly good time for it as the ground is still soft enough for seeds to germinate.

But how can we create that habitat? We spoke to Wildlife Gardening expert Adrian Thomas, from The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, and asked him for his top tips.

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“A good way of thinking about this is: what do garden birds need in the spring?” says Adrian. Whilst some birds are looking for berries and seeds at this time of year, others are looking for insects or searching for worms in the soil, he explains.

“Most birds are looking for somewhere to nest and trying to find the varied materials that they need for nestbuilding,” says Adrian.

The key, then, is to create the kind of garden environment that caters to these different needs. Here’s what you need to plant this autumn in order to make that happen…

What to plant this autumnA mini-meadow or lawn

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According to Adrian, a fantastic thing to do this time of year is sow a mini-meadow or lawn. “The ground is still warm enough for grass and meadow seed to germinate. This will turn it into a habitat that will provide a foraging site for blackbirds, thrushes, starlings, goldfinches,” he says.

This shouldn’t be a showy display of colourful flowers, however. Instead, Adrian recommends sowing “the equivalent of a hay meadow with wild grasses.” He suggests bird’s-foot trefoil and knapweeds if you’re looking to sow wildflowers.

Pollinator-friendly flowers

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When it comes to helping birds this time of year, it’s important to consider to the bigger picture. According to Adrian, pollinator-friendly flowers can help improve the overall biodiversity of your garden, which then “indirectly will help birds up the foodchain.”

He recommends planting crocuses and alliums this autumn. Adrian also advises avoiding daffodils and tulips, which “while looking great, don’t pack a punch as far as nature is concerned,” he says.

Deciduous trees

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For long-term results with serious impact, Adrian recommends planting deciduous trees. Fruit trees, hawthorns, buckthorns, whitebeams and more can offer birds a fantastic selection of choices. “This is where the real benefit will come for birds,” he says.

“What you will get (and then get more and more with each passing year) is insect-rich blossom in spring, plus song perches, nesting sites, insects on the leaves…. and that is all just in spring before the autumn fruiting bonanza,” he says.

So, if you’re really committed to bringing the birds into your garden, planting a tree is the perfect way to invest in wildlife-filled future.

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