When we bought our home in 1981 we had a bare acre yard with a few dying elm trees. Our back half acre was so dry and soil so hard we cut the grass maybe three times in the spring before it died. We started planting small trees and shrubs when we could get them free or cheap. We stopped mowing between them and the native seed bank in the soil came alive. Its now a woods our neighbor calls the forest. Native plants are the best for attracting birds.