Bird-friendly Native Plants Of The Year - Golden Gate Bird Alliance

Golden Gate Bird Alliance and California Native Plant Society Yerba Buena and East Bay chapters are proud to partner on a local Native Plants of the Year program to benefit birds, butterflies and our environment. A new list comes out each year around September, in time for planting after fall’s first heavy rain.

Meet The 2025 Winter Planting List!

Common BuckEYE

Common Buckeye (Aesculus californica) is a beautiful tree with gray bark and bright green palmate leaves. The leaves appear in early spring and drop in late summer. Fragrant pink-tinged white blossoms emerge in spring. Buckeye supports at least 16 species of butterflies, moths, and birds.

evergreen huckleberry

Evergreen Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) is a shrub that makes an excellent hedge or tall groundcover. This shrub is slow growing for the first few years but boasts white and pink bell-like flowers in winter and spring. It is easy to care for and attracts bats, caterpillars, birds, butterflies, and mammals.

mock heather

Mock Heather (Ericameria ericoides), also called Goldenbush, has cheerful, yellow blooms and fan-shaped leaves. Seeds disperse via white plumes. This flowering shrub is fast growing and mound-shaped. Mock heather supports at least 28 species of wildlife.

yerba buena

Yerba Buena (Clinopodium douglasii) is a fragrant green groundcover that also grows in containers, rock gardens, or over edges. Small white flowers appear in spring. Bats, caterpillars, bees, and butterflies use this lovely perennial herb.

Why Local Native Plants?

You will be helping birds raise their chicks, and who isn’t happy about that? Birds need native plants to feed their chicks and to stay fed all winter. In the spring, birds pick off caterpillars to feed their chicks. In the fall, the seeds and fruits from native plants are excellent sources of energy for the winter.

Local native plants are easy to grow in our climate and soils. This means less maintenance and, once established, less plant care.

Local native plants are made to endure the pests, heat, fog, natural rainfall and other plant maladies found here. Gardening without pesticides and herbicides means a healthier, happier planet. This also means that local native plants save water and are more resistant to climate extremes.

Local native plants are gorgeous. If you haven’t seen a Coast Red Flowering Currant in bloom, we suggest you take a moment and check it out. These native plants are great additions to your garden over time. We’re not recommending a total plant makeover today but just adding a few of these species to your backyard can make a world of difference for birds.

Get Started!

Bird-Friendly Native Plants of the Year are a hand-selected list of plants to add to your garden this year. The list is short so that you can easily add new plants to your native collection year after year. If you “collect as you grow” you can add plants to your plans today while local growers can prepare for future years.

Download the Gardening For Birds With Local Native Plants guide.
Go to the Backyard Habitat Quick Guide to start creating a bird-friendly backyard.
Check out the Yerba Buena CNPS Biodiversity Resources page.
Read more about what you can do at home to make your community and your yard more bird-friendly in the face of climate change.

Native Plants of the Year is all about LOCAL! Local plants, local businesses, and local gardens. By supporting local nurseries, you are helping to lay down roots to grow more native plants.

Find a List of Local Native Plant Nurseries