A place to learn, share and inspire others to create a haven for you and for wildlife.
Sign In or Register to join the conversation
My garden has very little soil, and what there is is taken up with evergreen hedging. There is no lawn area in the back garden. I grow literally hundreds of shrubs and flowers in containers, which are grouped round the garden.
I would dearly love a tall tree with lots of branches to hang feeders from and to provide cover for the birds in the middle of the garden where I can see it from the house. It would have to be in a container. Has anyone any suggestions?
Failing that, a dead tree would do, providing it still has its branches!!! Or even an artificial one - the birds wouldn't know!
Cheers, Linda.
See my photos on Flickr
Susan H said: My garden has very little soil, and what there is is taken up with evergreen hedging. There is no lawn area in the back garden. I grow literally hundreds of shrubs and flowers in containers, which are grouped round the garden. I would dearly love a tall tree with lots of branches to hang feeders from and to provide cover for the birds in the middle of the garden where I can see it from the house. It would have to be in a container. Has anyone any suggestions? Failing that, a dead tree would do, providing it still has its branches!!! Or even an artificial one - the birds wouldn't know!
I think trying to grow a large tree in a container will be difficult, could have problems with drying out in summer and as the tree will not thank you for having its roots restrained in a pot.
Have you considered the feeding stations you can buy which have hooks for 4 feeders? I have made my own out of a length of 2 x 2 and four wall brackets (see below), another idea I use is to put a cup hook into a long length of 1 x 1 timber then push this into the flower borders at a slight angle and hang bird feeders on these, these take up no room at all as the feeders are uspended above the flower borders, some people may think they're a bit unsightly but I don't
BTW, the goldfinches and greenfinches are making use of these feeders at this very moment.
.
Oh, one more thing, the lovely sunflowers are self seeded....................from seed that dropped out of the bird feeders.............an added bonus I think.
"Feed the birds, tuppence a bag" Mary Poppins
you can grow trees in containers, but they may not be suitable to hang feeders on.
any Prunus should grow.
do a seach on the intenet, take a look what will grow well in a containers
Hey farmer, farmer, put away the D.D.T now. Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please!
Hi,
Wow Norfolk Dipper - what a wonderful display of sunflowers - and all courtesy of your birds! Definitely an added bonus. Brilliant photo. Thanks for showing it
Unknown said:Have you considered the feeding stations you can buy which have hooks for 4 feeders?
I already have one of these, and right now it is being used by my goldfinches. It is, however, too far away from the hedges and I have no trees. (I can't move it nearer the hedges for practical reasons, or I would). The feeding station is a very tall one, deliberately bought to deter my dog from taking the feeders! It therefore sticks up way above the tallest of my container shrubs and is a bit too open for some bird species. I thought if I could put a tall tree or shrub underneath it, I may attract some greenfinches etc. and also be able to hang more feeders.
Your idea of a home made support for hanger in the flower beds is excellent. I could try that idea in front of the hedge.
Thanks Janet - I will have a browse.
You can get dwarf apple trees that are suitable for container growing. They only grow to a maximum height of 6ft though. Ebay have a few really good sellers. I get a lot of my garden plants off their and have had no probs. also saw some in B&Q last year. You may have to pay a bit more for a more mature specimen or buy a smaller one for less but could take a while to grow.
Hi Sparrow, I would agree with ND. The trees will need plenty of watering. We bought two 12 foot trees in extra large containers in our previous house, to screen a fence, where we had only patio our side of fence. They were in excess of £100 each ( about 10 years ago) and every time there were gales, they were blown over. We tried all kinds of different ways to weigh them down. They just became a real pain.
try getting an old dead tree branch (as big as you can get ) put it in container then grow some ivy up it.
English Ivy is the best.
http://luirig.altervista.org/photos-en/hedera-helix---english-ivy.htm
thie site has images of the ivy, its a bit slower grower, and the birds eat the berries, no good if you have children.
I have an old dead tree at the side of my garden the top was taken off and most of the trunk was left its is covered with this ivy, this is where my sparrows hide.it gets thick and bushy but it won't take over if you get the right ivy.
Try contacting a few tree surgeons or orchards if you have any nearby - they may be able to supply you with a suitably sized dead tree/branch. I have seen big stripped trees for parrots, but they are pretty pricy!
Millie & Fly the Border Collies
Thank you one and all.
There are some very good ideas here, and I will have to have a think, although I am favouring the dead tree approach.
Janet has given me an idea for my existing bird table, which is about 7 feet in the air on top of a dead tree trunk, still in the ground. I could grow some ivy up that. (I have English Ivy growing up the corner of our house, much loved by sparrows, coal tits and robins)