Winterberry in February. The Birds Know.

After the ice storm in February 2011, I walked out to the back border and found the Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) encased in ice — every red berry cluster suspended in a perfect glaze. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in the garden.

By the next morning, the Cedar Waxwings had found it.

They came in a flock of twelve, moving through the shrub in waves, stripping berries with that characteristic efficiency that waxwings have — methodical, almost surgical, working from the outside in. The American Robins came next, and then a pair of Eastern Bluebirds who had apparently decided that February in Wayne, Pennsylvania, was acceptable if the food was right.

This is why I plant Winterberry. Not for the aesthetics, though the aesthetics are extraordinary — that electric red against a grey February sky is something you don't forget. I plant it because it is a lifeline. A native shrub with persistent fruit that holds through the coldest months, providing critical calories to birds that have no other options.

Ilex verticillata is dioecious — you need a male and a female to get berries. Plant them in a ratio of one male to every three or four females. They prefer moist to wet soils and part shade, though they'll tolerate full sun with adequate moisture. In the right spot, they'll reach eight to twelve feet and produce berries so heavily that you'll have birds visiting from November through March.

If you have one thing to plant this fall for winter bird habitat, make it Winterberry. The Cedar Waxwings will find it. They always do.