Attractive garden plants include brambles, sumac, cherry, dogwood, grape, mulberry, blueberry, elderberry, tulip tree, hackberry, and Russian olive. Many of these plants are also used for nesting. At the feeding station, they prefer unhulled black-oil sunflower seeds over all other foods. They will also eat safflower, cracked corn, white proso millet, bread, nutmeats and peanut butter mixes. Create a dense hedge or thicket around your backyard.
Cardinals are especially fond of roosting and nesting in honeysuckle thickets.
Add a hopper feeder with plenty of perching space and fill it with black oil sunflower seed or safflower. Or better yet, put out a specially designed sunflower seed feeder with sunflower seed. Fill a platform feeder with sunflower seed , safflower or bread crumbs. Offer a source of water for drinking and bathing. Cardinals don't migrate, like most songbirds.