Good shrub for bees and birds

[boogieman84]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a variety of shrubs(not sure if thats the right term for it) that are benificial and attractive to bees and birds I.E that will produce flowers and then fruit/berries. I have raspberries/blackberries etc but wondered what else would be good.

I've recently been looking at ribes sanguineum and geulder rose. Can anyone suggest any others.

Thanks in advance

[galanthus]

Cotoneaster horizontalis is one of the best I have in the garden for hoverflies and bees, the whole shrub is alive with them and other little bugs.

Pyracantha is one of the best I have for bees in spring and birds in winter, pretty, evergreen and spiny )

[2dogs2000]

Originally Posted by galanthus

Cotoneaster horizontalis is one of the best I have in the garden for hoverflies and bees, the whole shrub is alive with them and other little bugs.

Pyracantha is one of the best I have for bees in spring and birds in winter, pretty, evergreen and spiny )

I totally agree. My cotoneaster is always swarming with bees in May and in the autumn the blackbirds love the berries.

[Hedera]

Mahonia is very good, yellow scented flowers in early spring and blue berries which the birds love. I've had bumblebees on the flowers in early February on a sunny day too. Charity x is a good one, grows neatly. Lovely red leaves coming now.