I have an area that's completely in shade. It doesn't get any direct sun light due to the shade from large tree on top and walls on east, west and south. The soil's moist and clay like. I am wondering if there is any hummingbird plants that can do well here. Any suggest would be greatly appreciated.
Hummingbird plants in completely shaded area?
Impatients will live in full shade.
Here is a list of nectar plants for bees and butterflys: http://www.backyardwildlifehabitats.com/id27.html
Here is one more list:
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/butterfly/msg041807264037.html
You could try columbines...my gold columbine can tolerate a shady area and hummers go to it sometimes.
Supposedly spotted jewelweed (a form of impatiens) is attractive to hummers. I planted a bunch of seeds in a shady strip in my back yard--we'll see how it turns out!
Not sure if this plant was covered in the links above (I scanned quickly, didn't see it) but you might look into a Turk's Cap.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamentals/nativeshrubs/malvaviscusdrum.htm
Oh, that's a good idea, don't know why I didn't think of that! I love my Turk's Cap and it's true that it can tolerate anything from shade to sun.
Plumbago does well in shade and tolerates little care once established. Most common is a lavender variety, but there is also a white variety that is hard to find. Plumbago blooms continuously from spring to fall. I also have Lantana in shaded areas of my yard. Not sure of the variety, it is pastel yellow w/ pink. It is also hardy and blooms continuously.
I love Abutilons of all types in my shady hummingbird garden in the Deep South. The best producer of nectar is a variety of pictum that is all red. Here is a link to a photo of mine.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dermoidhome/4541183008/
Hi mocha272,
Bluestone Perennials ( a Garden Watchdog top 5) has a feature that allows you to customize the plants for your conditions/wants/needs.
It's on the left-hand side of the page at the top of the list of plant types.
It's really cool cause you can put in your zone, soil type, sun conditions, bloom time and special features like "Hummingbirds".
Sometimes the list is long enough that they have letters of the alphabet at the top of the page & you can just go through them one at a time.
Using this feature, while putting together my Bluestone order this spring, has shown me plants that hummers like that will work in a very wet, very shady area of my yard. Many of them I wasn't even aware of.
They also have a pre-planned shade garden available where you get many assorted plants, but it's possible not all these plants will suit your needs.
Hope this helps.
How cool- thanks for sharing, nutsaboutnature!!
I decided to try impatients first so I bought couple of them from the local Armstrong. They were on sale for $5.99. I hope they will do well.
Thanks, nutsaboutnature. It should come in very handy when I look for plants in future.
If you like Hostas & Astilbe, Hummers like their flowers & both are great in deep shade. Also they can both take extremely wet, even boggy soil. I have them in an area that gets very soggy after the snow melts, yet they both come back year-after-year.
Last year I bought two Hosta plants at a store that had quart-size pots on sale for $2.99 each. I picked through them until I found two pots that each had the beginnings of four separate plants growing together. I took them out of their pots & cut each one into four pieces - so for my original $6.00 I had 8 Hosta plants!! They are already coming up this Spring & thriving.
One other plant that can live in shade is heuchera/coral bells. The hummers like the 'Ruby Bells' variety because it produces red flowers: http://www.perennialresource.com/plants/general-perennial/1256_heuchera-sanguinea-ruby-bells.aspx
These can be grown from seed.
Another shade lover is: Salvia spathacea, Hummingbird Sage
According to the Las Pilitas Nursery Hummingbird sage grows about a foot tall with a 2 to 3 feet burgundy flower spikes. The leaves are fragrant. It spreads by underground rhizomes and makes a great ground cover. Hummingbirds love it. It likes leaf litter and full or part shade. It is native under coast live oaks
Worth a try, anyway.
Thanks tabasco. Great info.
I second the Abutilon & Turk's Cap. You can also try Fuschia Gartenmeister Bonstedt. I haven't seen them @ mine yet but I've read they love it.
Maggie
You could try Red Buckeye, or Bottlebrush Buckeye, both of which do well in the shade in North Carolina. They may need more humidity than you get in Beverly Hills, though. I also have Bleeding Heart doing well in full shade here, although it was labelled as "part sun".