Skip The Bird Feeder, Plant These Two Flowers Around Your Bird Bath Instead

When setting up the perfect retreat for birds in your yard, start with a functional bird bath. Providing a source of clean water may be one of the most important things you can offer your feathered friends. You can purchase beautiful fountains or find ways to make a charming DIY bird bath. But if you're thinking about pairing your bird bath setup with a bird feeder, you might have another option. Instead of putting out bird seed, you can instead plant beautiful flowers like cosmos and marigolds that will provide a natural source of food in the fall and winter. 

Gardening with birds in mind offers double the rewards, because you can enjoy the blooms in spring and summer and the birds that visit your yard in the fall and winter. Both cosmos and marigolds are native to Mexico, with blooms persisting into the autumn months. There are four common species of commercially grown marigolds, but the most popular are French marigolds (Tagetes patula). There are more than 25 cosmos species, but one of the most widely grown is garden cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus). 

As both are annual flowers, you can plan to sow seeds or plant seedlings in early spring. Marigolds come in refreshing shades of orange, yellow, and red, while cosmos come in colors like yellow, purple, pink, and white. Both flowers grown in tandem will create a beautiful area to view birds in your yard. And together, these two popular, self-seeding flowers will continue to bring birds to your yard year after year.

An easygoing flower, cosmos require little active maintenance once you've planted them in the ground. Their blooms will bring pollinators and birds to your yard during the spring and summer — specifically, finches enjoy the seeds of cosmos and will be attracted to your bird bath. Plus, cosmos are a colorful, self-seeding fall flower that will regrow by itself in the spring. Whatever seeds the birds do not eat will provide the source for new flowers below your bird bath in the next year. Cosmos tolerate partial shade, which is ideal if you grow underneath a large bird bath. 

Like cosmos, marigolds make for an easy beginner flower thanks to their quick-growing and forgiving nature. They are an example of a flower that actually thrives in poor soil. And once well-established underneath your bird bath, they do not require a lot of water. After the flower heads die, leave them alone to set seeds to feed birds who come to the bird bath. Besides their attractiveness to birds, there are many benefits of planting marigolds in the garden, including as a bug and rabbit repellent and a pollinator-friendly species. Like cosmos, marigolds will grow in partial shade.