Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Bee friendly full shade plants?

jrathijrathi Posts: 4
in Plants
Hi there, does anyone have any thoughts on any bee-friendly plants I could keep in a container on my patio that thrive in full shade?

I've heard of a few for partial shade but my patio only gets a couple of hours of sun a day so I need full shade really.

Any and all suggestions welcome please!!

Posts

  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    I grew fuchsia in full shade and they did ok. Mint and astilbe?
  • SkylarksSkylarks Posts: 379
    Welsh poppies seem to do well in full shade and the bees seem to like them. I have spare seeds if you would like to give them a go.
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    some hardy geraniums do well in shade. i also have sone self-seeded pulmonaria in the shade.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    edited February 2021
    Geranium phaeum is a bee favourite. Not long flowering but does flower at a useful time of year for the bees! (Early). I think Persicaria amplexicaulis would be OK with a couple of hours of sun, and the bees love it. The white form ('Alba') looks gorgeous in shade. I could imagine a container with G. phaeum 'Samobor' and P. amplexicaulis 'Alba' looking nice, with the Geranium flowering early, and then the Persicaria picking up the baton in midsummer, at which point the dark blotched leaves of the Geranium would be a nice contrast to the Persicaria's white flowers.

    Heuchera villosa 'Autumn Bride' would be a possibility too, bigger fatter flowers than the 'coloured foliage types', and the bees do like them.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
Sign In or Register to comment.