shade loving And attracts birds?

Greetings All!

There is a spot in my yard where I'd like to put a bird bath and some shrubs that attract birds. The spot never gets full sun, but it does get tree top filtered sun all day.

I'd prefer to attract wild song birds, so a plant that produces seeds or berries.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I live in z8.

I did go to a couple of local nurseries, but they seem stumped. However, they did offer a few suggestions.
One plant I liked, the Leopard Plant "Gigantea", I'm trying to figure out if the seeds the flowers produce are something birds are attracted to, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer.

I'm open to anything, herbs, vegetables, maybe blueberries (would that work?)

Thanks for reading!

Are there other plants already thriving in this area? This might give a hint as to how shady it really is.

Try a blueberry.

Are there native plants available in your area that might work?

Here are a few ideas. You will have to look up if birds like it, and if it will work in your area.

Gaultheria shallon has fruit and will grow in sun or shade.

There are many species of Cotoneaster.
They have berries that attract birds.
Some will grow in a part shade area, though they are better in more sun, and may not fruit so well in shade.

Mahonia aquifolium grows in fairly shaded areas, has fruit that attracts birds.

Thanks Diana_K, I'll check out those plant suggestions.

There is only grass growing in the spot, I believe it is centipede.

Your question about native plants, I don't know, I've never really been interested in gardened.
A few years ago I moved some spindly azaleas to a better spot, and put some 30yo boxwood from my MIL's yard in their old spot. That's the extent of my hands-on gardening experience.

Hi Pat. We need a bit more info in order to make good suggestions. I live in z8, in Seattle, but TX is also z8 and we all know the plants that do well in TX would be different than Seattle. I could suggest some for Seattle.

Oh, I did not realize that, Pistil.

I'm in North West Louisiana.

Can you post a picture or two of the area? Helps to lay out some plants if we can see where they are going.

And I'd like to add:

I've never been interested in gardening until now. There are a couple more spots in my yard where I want to plant stuff, but they are easy because they get more sun. I know exactly what to put there.

Also, when googling for information on Leopard Plant, the best information and pictures came from members on this site.

Sure, Diana_K

Right now it is raining and overcast.
Should I take a picture when it is sunshiny? So you can see how the light disperses through the trees?

Ok, I found a picture I took in late April, from my window.

The spot where there is some brush piled up between the two trees is where I want to put the bird bath surrounded by some shrubs.

The rain lightened for a bit, so I just took this picture of the trash pile.

I guess there wasn't much grass growing there...
I've been piling yard scraps there for years now.
I live in a rural area, we don't have pick-up services, so I burn stuff there.

The green/yellow stuff is ground moss.
some grass there, looks like some sticker patches.

To the left, in the hummingbird picture, that is an old gravel driveway.

Also, I feel like posters here will be upset when they read that I burn yard scraps, carbon foot prints and such. I'm now looking into a mulcher, it will need to be a wood chipper too, we get down branches up to 4-6" across. So expensive!

Well I must bow out due to the climate differences between Seattle and the deep south.
Pat don't worry about people being snooty about the burning. In any public forum there will be a few holier-than-thou types. Just tell them you calculated the carbon cost per ton to haul the stuff to the public recycle facility, and it is better to burn it in your location.
Yah I checked into the wood chipper machines too. Too $$$ for my suburban lot. However, one thing you might look into is renting one for one day a year. Then you don't have to maintain it. You would need a trailer hitch though.
Also Pat if you don't get enough advice on this thread, you might start one in your DG Regional forum, I think it is called Mid-South or something like that, I think there are some active DGers there who could advise you. I didn't even discover this Beginner Gardening Questions forum until I had been a member for years, and only now do I feel I can sometimes give useful advice to newbies like you. So the people who might best advise you may never look here.

In a spot where you often burn the soil will not be so good for plants. Scrape away all the ashes and any soil that looks like the ashes have seeped into. It can be spread around, there are some useful nutrients in there; just concentrated it is not good.

If you can start composting the finer stuff that would provide you with a lot of very good soil conditioner, and the chips from the branches would make a high quality mulch.

I would make that spot into a focal point with a bit of a mound, the bird bath, and plants that grow lower than the bird bath. From a bird's point of view a predator could hide in the taller plants, so the bird bath would not be used so much.
Away from the bird bath, taller plants.

The grass does not look like it is lush or dense, so yes, shaded. Yet the trees look high enough that it is bright shade, not dense shade.

Are there local gardens that might have a brochure about bird attracting plants that will grow locally?
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/Page.aspx?pid=1146#top




This message was edited May 25, 2015 6:23 AM

Thanks, Pistil.
Chatting has been helpful, I learned some things, and you helped me understand more about gardening.



Wow, Diana_K, that drawing is so cute! Thank you! I would love to look out on something like that while bird watching.

Those two trees are tall, around 80'. The one in the forefront of the picture, closer to the hummer feeder, is tallest, and it's branches start about 30' from the ground. The second is a bit shorter, and the branches start about 20' from the ground. They both cast a large shadow in my front yard, it does get dappled sunlight though, and the way the sun moves overhead, that large part of my yard never gets full sun.

I looked at some online guides that revolved around wildlife landscaping with native plants for my area. The problem is almost all of the plants require full sun to partial sun, and they grow at least 10' tall. Except for the invasive, spreading vines.

I believe I may drop the idea of feeding the birds (except I am thinking about trying a Dogwood- which attracts the Eastern Bluebird!) My options open up quite a bit if I drop the idea of feeding the birds.

I will heed your advice. I think I'll begin working on building a bed now for next year's planting. I'm definitely gonna use your diagram as a guide.

Thanks y'all!

This message was edited May 25, 2015 12:14 PM

Partial sun can also mean partial shade. Look further into those plants, see what grows to the right height.

Here's a list of Native Plants for Louisiana. There are no pictures, but it might be useful if you're thinking about trying to stick with natives which have many advantages in terms of care and wildlife use.

http://www.plantnative.org/rpl-arla.htm

You can look up the plants right here on Dave's Garden and many of the plants will have reader comments. There is also a link to nurseries selling plants and seeds (which you can look up on GardenWatchdog) and a link to members that might want to trade.

Interesting plant list.
Scroll down to shrubs, and in the 'comments' area they sometimes mention birds.

Silly side note: the heights have the inches (") symbol. Should be feet (')

I think you have a perfect area as a little wildlife corner.
All birds love the shelter of the tree's, shrubs etc, apart from them needing fed, they use the shrubs and tree's for protection from predators that also like birds for dinner.
If you find it difficult to find the right plants, I suggest you purchase some bird feeders.

I live in a rural area by the see and I have numerous bird feeders hanging up from shrubs, tree's, fences and anywhere I think will be safe for the birds to visit. buy feeders that wont be chewed by squirrels etc as they also spot a bird feeder at a mile away.

There are different types of mixes for feeding birds, Once you know the type of birds visiting the feeders, you will get a better idea as to what birds are in your local area and can adapt store bought food to suit. it's fun and captivating to watch these birds and some here are like my kids, I ask my husband IF he's seen the woodpecker with the red breaches LOl they all gave but one in particular has smaller red breaches and a little red spot on head same with finches, you get so enchanted by all the goings on.

After you have all the info from the feeders re the type of birds, you can soon find what birds like what, berries / fruit, nuts or seeds. I now make up my own mix and mix it into fat melted from the store.

I know most birds love Holly /Ilex, there are some give more berries than others AND you need a male /female.

Catoniaster has berries, many lovely colored ones.
Berberis
Honey suckle also has berries,
Fuchsias have berries Use the hardy type
Pyracanthus red, yellow, orange etc.
Roses, wild ones have huge Rose hips again red, orange etc.Viburnum,
Now I dont know IF these are suitable for your area, BUT I think hot summers and cooler winters will be fine.
Go to the local book store for BIRDS Local to your zone, what they feed on and hwere they like to expect nesting places.
There are many books for NATURE / Wildlife withing your area so just go to Library or book store and ask for a look at them. These books also give nest box tips like size of hole required for different birds, you dont want a huge hole for say a little bluetit and find a huhe bird can get their beaks into the hole and steel the eggs.

Hope this gives ideas to get you thinking re your new garden area and what might be required,
Dont rush it, take your time, draw a planting plan so you can get a shrub that required more light at the front where it gets more sun, try find plants also that give a perfume when in flower and you might attract Butterflies or evening feeding Moths that are evey bit as beautiful.
Your area could be lovely also for humans to sit beside and watch life from a different perspective LOL.

Good luck and kindest regards.
WeeNel.

Thank you all for the helpful information, I appreciate it.


Here's the story about how I got interested in gardening:

I was watching Jackson "Cat Daddy" Galaxy's TV show, he is a cat whisperer. On one episode he suggested to a family that they make a Cat TV for their indoor cat = set up bird feeders outside a window. I did this and it only took 3 days for my feeders to attract a whole slew of wildlife! My cat loves it and so do I, we want more visitors!



p.s. my cat is indoor only, for her safety.

Pat, it sounds like you already have birds that come to your place. Putting a bird bath in the shaded area can be good as the water won't cook in the sun. If the birds are there, they will bathe.

I also live in zone 8b. I hadn't thought of growing things with berries as many native plants here already provide that. The bluebirds know when to eat the berries of poke weed (past the poison stage for them) which grow here naturally.

I'm in North Central Florida, where now it is quite hot. Any plants that call for full sun will perish in this heat on our sand hill. So most of my plantings have to have some shade protection from the heat. The birds will come for the seed heads on the plants. In the fall I don't remove the summer seeds as the winter birds will have food.