Shrubs, Birds and Shade

17 years ago

Hi I live in a small subdivision where my house backs up to a forest. I have one Huge Oak and a Fir tree in the backyard and am in the process of eliminating 50 to 75 % of the grass in the backyard and am replacing it with woodland flowers, trees, groundcovers etc... I have some sun but most areas are shady with maybe 2 to 5 hours of sun. In the sunny areas I have already planted viburnums (various kinds), serviceberry trees, dogwoods, cotoneaters, Cranberry shrubs and many different types of groundcovers and flowers. I am obviously attempting to blend my backyard into the forest I back up against and attract as many birds as possible. Now for my question. I have an area in my backyard that recieves maybe 2 to 4 hours of sunlight. I am looking for small shrubs (2 to 8 feet) that will grow well in deep shade and produce berries for wildlife. They can't get much taller tha 8 feet as I have electric lines that they will be growing near. So, any suggestions? Oh one other question, do bunchberries grow well in Indiana?

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Comments (2)

kelp
17 years ago
For berries, you could try: Maple-Leaved Vibrunum (Virburnum acerifolium), Snowberry (Symphoricarpos alba), or Hearts -A-Bustin' (Euonymus americanus).
Dwarf fothergilla, (Fothergilla gardenii), Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica), and native rhododendrums don't provide berries, but butterflies like the itea and fothergilla, and hummingbirds like the rhodies.
knottyceltic
17 years ago
My property is the same scenario, front lawn, house, space and then woods and we have gradually worked on bringing the woods right up to the house. Some of the shrubs I have with berries (we garden for birds too) I have had success with are:

Arrow Wood Viburnum
Nannyberry
Highbush Cranberry
Spicebush
Winterberry
Redbud (has a seed rather than a fruit per se)
Ninebark (also has a seed)
Silky Dogwood
Alternate Leaf Dogwood
Black Elderberry
Serviceberries (my fave berry shrub of all time!)(have 6 already and plan to add one more shrub and one more tree-form this spring - the birds go NUTS for 'em)

We also have a sea of Blue Cohosh covering the entire woods, that has tons of blue/black berries in autumn.
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