The Royal Horticultural Society has named the guelder rose (Viburnum opulus) as its latest Plant of the Month, recommending the native shrub for gardeners who want to keep attracting birds such as blackbirds and thrushes through autumn and winter.
Announced as part of the RHS's Bringing Nature Home campaign, the guelder rose is described as a great choice for wildlife-friendly hedgerows, borders and naturalistic planting. The shrub produces bright red berries in the colder months, which provide a valuable food source for birds.
A Feast for Birds and Pollinators
RHS Wisley Garden Manager and biodiversity specialist Mark Tuson said: "Looking for a plant that birds will absolutely love? Meet the guelder rose."
The guelder rose is a bushy, deciduous shrub with maple-like, palm-shaped, lobed, dark green foliage that turns reddish in autumn. In spring and summer, it bears lacecap-like flowers made up of tubular white fertile blooms surrounded by larger white sterile flowers, which later develop into berries.
The white blossoms are regarded as a "nectar magnet" for bees, hoverflies and other pollinators. Tuson added: "But the real wildlife feast comes later. In autumn and winter, its bright red berries provide a valuable food source for blackbirds, thrushes, redwings and fieldfares. Beautiful, useful and basically an all-you-can-eat bird buffet."
Additional Wildlife Benefits
The RSPB also champions the plant as an outstanding food source for birds, noting that thrushes, blackbirds, fieldfares and redwings will eagerly feast on the berries once they ripen. Beyond birds, the RSPB pointed out that gardeners may spot Privet Hawk-moth caterpillars, which feed on the plant's leaves during the summer months.
Alongside guelder roses, the RSPB highlighted other plants that can attract wildlife, including Bird’s Foot Trefoil, Burdocks, Cardoon, Chicory, Common Knapweed, Coneflower, English Lavender, Fennel, French Lavender, Garden Forget-me-not, Greater Knapweed, Meadowsweet, Millet, Nettle-leaved Bellflower, Purple Coneflower, Red Campion, Red Clover, Sheep’s Sorrel, Sunflower, Thistles, Teasels, Verbena and Wild Angelica.
