Attract wild birds to your yard with a gorgeous, yet easy to make, wildcrafted bird feeder wreath. This simple wreath is not only beautiful, but beneficial as it’s filled with all things edible for wild birds. It’ll attract and feed wild birds through the sparse months of late fall and winter.
Wild birds consume lots of berries and seeds. Late summer through early fall is the perfect time to collect stems from trees, bushes and plants yielding berries and seed pods that birds eat.
The natural berries available in the wild, vary depending on your location. On our property, I gathered sumac, pokeweed berries, and Carolina buckthorn along the edge of the woods, to make the wreath shown in the photograph.
List of botanicals that produce berries or seed pods that attract wild birds:
Sumac, millet, sorghum, globe amaranth, purple coneflower, sunflowers, yarrow and strawflowers, pyracantha, pokeweed, elderberry, dogwood, holly, Carolina buckthorn, and juniper sprigs with berries.
Collecting natural botanicals for your wreath
Carry a shopping bag on your arm when harvesting natural, botanical wreath materials from your garden or collecting from the wild. Using garden snippers, clip stems several stems from the seed head or berries to allow the stems to easily insert into the grapevine wreath during assembly. Remove and discard dead leaves from each branch or stem as you pick them, placing bare stems of berry clusters and/or seed pods into your bag.
Assembling the Wildcrafted Bird Feeder Wreath
Materials needed: plant materials you collected, newspaper, grapevine wreath, garden snippers, scissors, and twine or floral wire
Directions:
1. Cover the surface of an outdoor table with newspapers or an old cloth to prevent berry stains.
2. Prop the grapevine wreath up on your worktable.
3. Cut dried botanicals to desired length.
4. Insert the largest plant stems, such as sumac into the front of the wreath first. Add smaller plant stems such as holly, Carolina buckthorn, or pokeweed berries around the wreath, for a variety of texture and color. The fuller the arrangement, the more beautiful it becomes.
5. To hang upright, attach a loop of twine or floral wire to the back of the grapevine wreath.
6. Your lovely bird feeder is ready to display. Set on a picnic table, or hang on a post, gate, fence, exterior wall, or near a bird house– anywhere outdoors where you can watch wild birds feed all winter.
Important Notes:
- Only use plant materials free of pesticides for this bird feeder project.
- Display the wreath out of children’s and pets’ reach.
- You may be tempted to hang this gorgeous wreath indoors, but beware. After a few months in the warmth of your home, moths may hatch and infest the room. Best displayed outdoors where the birds can have free access.
Happy Wild Bird Watching,
By Deborah S. Tukua, author, and freelance writer