Plants for Shade

[Boise-girls]

I have an unknown plant that has come up on the west side of my lot that contains my ten mixed large breed hens and Black Australorp rooster. It is providing excellent shade with its wide canopy and its height now over six feet. The same plant had come up there last year and it doesn't seem to harm the chickens when they peck at its leaves through the fence. It has unique green blossoms that turn black after a few days and has large heart shaped leaves. I have tried to determine what it is but have had no luck thus far. I call it the devil plant because it came up near the pen that has my hateful BA rooster that I call El Diablo.

Can you post a photo? Maybe someone here can ID it.

 

[MgnRose]

Can you post a photo? Maybe someone here can ID it.

I can give it a shot too!

 

[Iveta]

I really, really did read a bunch of other posts for answers before posting this, but nothing seems to quite fit my situation.

I am building a near-chicken utopia on my property. They'll have about 1000 sq ft of chicken pasture in an area we cleared in our woods. But because it's been cleared, there are no shade trees for them, and it gets very hot here in the summer. The pasture will be covered with heavy-duty bird netting (because hawks).

I need to add shade, so I'm planning on adding shrubs and shade cloth in some areas, but I'd like small trees that can create a canopy if sorts as well as visual interest. But since the area will be covered, I need something that will stay relatively short - like 4-5 feet tall.

I thought about butterfly bush, but the ones I have now are about 8 ft tall and need constant cutting back. I'd prefer something a little lower maintenance, if at all possible. I'm leaning Mexican sage, but those can get tall, too. And something broad-leafed would be ideal. There's gotta be something out there. I'm just drawing blanks right now...

Any ideas? We're in hardiness zone 9a.

TIA

THIS is where I am now- my garden using oleanders and shader to keep me from little drizzle while I also have a futon here which I use as a bed 🛏 to enjoy stary nights and cooler weather. My fave chick is with me, of course

 

[GoatGirl123]

Does anyone know the breed of the rooster in the thumbnail?

 

[Sylvester017]

We're in So Calif where we have more hot months than cool. So, we got creative with our small cottage lot dividing our backyard people patio from the chicken yard by using a 4 foot tall wire fence so we and the hens can see each other.

We shaded the yard by building a patio roof over the Barn Coop & Run, erected 3 pop-up canopies in the chicken yard (anchored the legs by burying them 12 inches into the ground to keep from para-sailing away in our Santa Ana Winds and we replace the worn-out canopy covers with a new tarp once a year because tarp is cheaper than an actual canopy cover replacement), we built a 4 ft x 4 ft cedar sandbox under one of the canopies, put up some makeshift lean-to benches for shade, placed several second-hand dog houses around the chicken yard, and planted two Pomegranate trees, a Meyer Lemon Dwarf tree, and a Red Grapefruit Dwarf tree for summer shade. We circled each tree loosely with bricks surrounded by 2-ft rabbit fencing to keep chickens from reaching the tree leaves or digging up the tree roots. We chose citrus trees not only to provide shade for the chickens but also to provide us with fruits.

Even though our citrus trees are dwarf trees they can still grow unwieldy and have to be pruned/trimmed yearly no matter what. We lop off the tops of the trees besides regular thinning out because we don't want really tall trees -- just tall enough to shade the chickens from the sun.

We also dug out a channel the length of the chicken yard to run a water hose sprinkler slowly during hot days for the hens to play in the puddles.

You can see a progression of how big the Pomegranate and Citrus dwarf trees inside the brick circles grow very tall and bushy so we prune them back every year to keep them dwarfed. The "chicken" yard has the brick circled trees while the "people" patio has the two rectangle raised garden beds.

The chickens like their square sandbox for dust-baths.

So much fun to have hens as pets! They are so much smarter than given credit!

 

[coloradowildflower]

Beautiful! I've found lilacs provide excellent shade for the chickens. They can scratch at the base and the bushes are also beautiful landscape additions.

 

[Sylvester017]

Lilacs sound/look gorgeous. Once we finalize our front yard work is when we'll start thinking about more foliage. For now I need to finish the front yard pavers and then go back to more planning for the back yard.
FRONT YARD

 

[Chicken Heel]

I can give it a shot too!

As an update the mystery plant actually had a few yellow flowers this weekend. I have also reached out to the NC Botanical Garden for ID purposes but will attach six photos taken yesterday. It is a lovely plant.

 

[Sylvester017]

The leaves of your plant do look lovely but so do a lot of other plant varieties. I don't like the looks of those prickly buds on your plant and therefore IMO I would've yanked it by now. But that's me -- I only allow rogue veggie seeds to germinate or take root in my chicken yard. Wild birds distribute a lot of weed seeds around the neighborhood so sometimes you never know what pops up in the yard. Let us know what your Botanical society says about it.
Smiles

 

[Chicken Heel]

The leaves of your plant do look lovely but so do a lot of other plant varieties. I don't like the looks of those prickly buds on your plant and therefore IMO I would've yanked it by now. But that's me -- I only allow rogue veggie seeds to germinate or take root in my chicken yard. Wild birds distribute a lot of weed seeds around the neighborhood so sometimes you never know what pops up in the yard. Let us know what your Botanical society says about it.
Smiles

Yeah those prickly buds got my attention when one plant came up last year. But this year, there were several that came up in the same spot from I presume reseeding. It's leaves haven't seemed to bother the chickens adjacent to its location and has provided much needed shade. And the pollinators seem to love it. I will advise further once I hear back from the NCBG.