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We are finally having some exterior hardscape work done at the house. Next to our now extended patio (yay) I have a space about 3 x 3 that is demanding a shade/part sun loving perennial. It gets about 1 hour morning sun and a couple hours of evening sun. I would like something that blooms profusely, maybe something that hummingbirds love. I am not well versed in perennial flowers and am hoping that some of you are. Give me some ideas, please.
I am not particularly a fan of yellow, so keep that in mind.
One plant that likes part shade -- anything from 3/4 sun to 3/4 shade is fine -- is Tradescantia or spiderwort. It's a zero-fuss native wildflower that blooms most of the summer, June until frost. The plain wild variety has 3-cornered blue-violet blooms and deep green strappy leaves, but you can also get them with pale green leaves and enormous purple flowers, or standard leaves and flowers in pale or hot pink, various shades of purple, lavender and even white with purple stamens. They are also coming out now with varieties that have striped leaves, but not so many flowers. The plant forms clumps that are easily arranged into neat rows. There is no pruning needed; it only gets knee-high. Any decent soil is fine.
(here's an example)
Another suggestion is Monarda or Bee Balm. This is another zero-fuss wildflower that in the wild blooms briefly in lavender, but there are a lot of longer-blooming or repeat-blooming varieties now in white, every shade of pink, purple and several shades of red from brick to fire engine. The whole plant has a wonderful spicy, minty smell and you can make tea out of it. It also likes partial shade but needs moist, peaty soil to do well. Hummingbirds are crazy about it, especially the red kind. The drawback is that it can be a bit invasive.
Beautiful flower. I want to say I've had red ones in a pot before.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cliffie
One plant that likes part shade -- anything from 3/4 sun to 3/4 shade is fine -- is Tradescantia or spiderwort. It's a zero-fuss native wildflower that blooms most of the summer, June until frost. The plain wild variety has 3-cornered blue-violet blooms and deep green strappy leaves, but you can also get them with pale green leaves and enormous purple flowers, or standard leaves and flowers in pale or hot pink, various shades of purple, lavender and even white with purple stamens. They are also coming out now with varieties that have striped leaves, but not so many flowers. The plant forms clumps that are easily arranged into neat rows. There is no pruning needed; it only gets knee-high. Any decent soil is fine.
(here's an example)
Another suggestion is Monarda or Bee Balm. This is another zero-fuss wildflower that in the wild blooms briefly in lavender, but there are a lot of longer-blooming or repeat-blooming varieties now in white, every shade of pink, purple and several shades of red from brick to fire engine. The whole plant has a wonderful spicy, minty smell and you can make tea out of it. It also likes partial shade but needs moist, peaty soil to do well. Hummingbirds are crazy about it, especially the red kind. The drawback is that it can be a bit invasive.
Interesting flower - never heard of Bee Balm. Invasive how? Easily controlled with a little effort?
Beautiful flower. I want to say I've had red ones in a pot before.
Interesting flower - never heard of Bee Balm. Invasive how? Easily controlled with a little effort?
Thank you both for the link to or pics.
Bee Balm sends out a few underground runners every year and I find them growing up through the middle of other plants next to them, like the lawn grass, Toadlily and tall Phlox. If you plant them by themselves you only have to control them with a few well-placed cuts of your garden spade. At times it becomes a matter of pulling everything out and separating them from something they are overwhelming. Planting them alone and in a raised bed completely eliminates this problem, but I don't know if you have that much work in mind.
Another shade-lover hummingbirds like is Penstemon. All you have to do is choose the height and color you want; they come in lavender, red, pink, and white but alas, they have no scent:
Other choices include these. They bloom pretty briefly in the spring but are no-fuss perennials and most of them have so many different leaf colors and patterns that it makes the wait for the flowers a lot easier. Heucherella is a cross between Tiarella and Heuchera, by the way:
Bleeding Hearts, which come in every shade of pink as well as white, red and even black:
Coral Bells or Heuchera
Tiarella or Foamflower
Heucherella
Heuchera and Heucherella: partial selection of the leaf patterns available:
Other points: Don't believe it when you see that Butterfly Bushes (Buddleias) are shade plants. They only bloom in very light shade, needing much more sun than you have there at the spot you're planting.
Flowering tobacco or nicotianas are often perennial, fragrant and wildly attractive to hummers, but they look horrible! This is the peak of beauty shown below, in the evening when the flowers open -- during the day the flowers look as if someone took a blowtorch to them:
Perennials generally have a limited and specific bloom season, which is often short. (Includes all the examples provided by the posters above); Columbine, a couple of weeks in the spring, dicentra, a couple of weeks in spring, huchera, not much to look at, a summer bloomer.
If you wish to have extended flowering you should look into backround flowering shrubs for different seasons, and various bulbs and tubers which can be stuck in the ground and left unattended - daffodils, tulips, lillys, iris, daylillys, cannas, poppies, gladiolas, hostas. Perennials with long bloom seasons which require little maintenance - salvias, pentstemmons, phlox, etc. depending on your microclimate.
It also looks to me that the ^post from MrRational is an ad for a particular plant business, bordering spam.
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