Roadside Flower Seeds for Birds* Sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) and pigweed (Amaranthus spp.) are the favorite food for many song birds. Other ornamental roadside plants that are favored: Ageratum (Ageratum spp.) Asters (Aster spp.) Bachelor buttons (Centaurea cyanus) Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia fulgida) Blanket flower (Gaillardia puchella) California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) Coneflower (Echinacea spp.) Cosmos (Cosmos spp.) Daisy Fleabane (Erigeron strigosus) Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) Gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia hirta) Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) Joepyeweed (Eupatorium maculatum) Lupine (Lupinus spp.) Mexican hat (Ratibia spp.) Poppy spp. (Papaver spp.) - all annual species Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota) Tickseed (Coreopsis spp.) Tickseed sunflower (Bidens aristosa) Zinnia (Zinnia elegans) Birds also eat non-ornamental plant seeds. List of Weed seeds, Grass seeds and Non-ornamental Plant seeds *References used: McKinley, Michael. 2001. Ortho's All About Attracting Birds. The Scotts Company.IA; Vriends, Matthew. 1990. Feeding and Sheltering Backyard Birds. Barron's Educational Series. NY.; Davison, Verne. 1967. Atracting birds: from the Prairies to the Atlantic. Crowell Co, NY