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ALABAMA · NATIVE PLANTS FOR BIRDS

Native plants for birds in Alabama

Species whose fruit, seed or structure is recorded as food or cover for birds.

180Species
148With a live listing

Quick answer: 180 native plants for birds are native to Alabama, 148 with a live listing as of 04 Nov 2026.

180 species

Native plants for birds in Alabama: what to know

180 of the 293 plants native to Alabama in this directory fit this need: 61% of the state's list, well above the 52% share across all species.

Between them they flower from January through December, with the most in bloom in May. Mixing early and late bloomers keeps the planting useful all season.

Many do double duty: 142 are also good for pollinators, 117 are also shade-tolerant, 101 are also drought-tolerant.

125 of them grow in full or partial sun and 117 tolerate shade, so there are options for open beds and woodland edges alike. Sizes run from low plants like Birdfoot violet and Black-eyed Susan to trees such as Allegheny chinquapin and Allegheny serviceberry. For wildlife, 142 support pollinators, 180 provide food or cover for birds and 69 are caterpillar host plants.

148 of the 180 have a seed or plant listing we verified as the wild species. Be careful buying Black-eyed Susan, Crimson-eyed rose-mallow, Crossvine: common listings for these are often a bred variety or a different species.

Good places to start

Verified wild-species listings that take sun and are widely native, so they are forgiving first plants.

  • Cutleaf coneflower Rudbeckia laciniata · Sun, Part Shade, Shade · blooms Jul-Oct
  • Green ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica · Sun, Part Shade, Shade · blooms Apr-Jun
  • Eastern cottonwood Populus deltoides · Sun, Part Shade, Shade · blooms Feb-Apr

See all native plants for Alabama →