Good Gracious Acres

The Ladies are finally coming off a hard most and beginning to bloom again. My heart will forever be sold-out to Blue Brahma hens. 🩵👌

Especially if you’re here in the Southern U.S., you’re very likely to have nandina growing on your property. This plant is colorful, hardy, fast-growing, and evergreen, so it is often used as an ornamental plant in the suburbs. I’m no exception: the home where For Fox Sake is based had huge nandina bushes when I first moved in!

And that’s bad news for birds. Nandina berries are loaded with cyanide-based compounds that are extremely toxic to birds. Small fruit-eating birds like cedar waxwings (pictured here) are at the highest risk of dying from eating the bright red berries of the nandina plant.

Please destroy all nandina plants on your land to keep wild birds safe. Consider replacing them with nontoxic fruit-bearing plants like mulberry, holly, blueberry, or crab apple instead.