Roses for a partly shady woodland border?
peachymomo
11 years ago
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ingrid_vc so. CA zone 9
11 years ago
jacqueline9CA
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Woodland border plant advice
Comments (2)These sound like good choices to me, and I have nothing to add. I like my Bridal Wreath Spireas. I prefer the 'flore pleno' which had double flowers more densely packed. They get huge, so you don't need too many. I don't know what shrubs are native to your area, but here the main bird attractors are mulefat, Mexican Elderberry, and native willow....See MoreWoodland garden with herbs?
Comments (12)You still need to decide on what you like best (for its uses) to grow and survive in your Z4. Here, I have dill sprouting again, from seeds that fell from this summers dill seed heads. My mature dill is sometimes taller than 5 feet! The new seedling plants will only reach a few inches as we will be getting frosts soon. Last night it was just 40 degrees here. They will soon die and not return. All the dill I have, has been from overwintered seeds that didn't sprout yet. Those that did, will soon die. The last time I actually planted dill was about 4 years ago, when seeds of both fernleaf and mammoth dill were planted. This year it showed up everywhere, and the seeds scattered to areas where there were no dill plants previously. The most important thing is to decide on what herbs you like as to taste and/or other uses. Many people simply plant herbs or seeds in hopes that they will see 'stuff' growing, and never realizing that if they plant something they like, its nice to have, but to just plant something for looks as being pretty, herbs may not be a good choice alone. Here, bees are going crazy over my flowering garlic chives right now. These start to flower in August and have small white clusters at the tops of stalks. The chive parts are thick blades. Last year, I plucked off several of the black seeds and planted small groups nearby the main clumps of garlic chives. This year, the new seedlings grew spindly, but its normal for their first year. Next to them I have wild onions, which die out in summer and form small seed (tiny bulb) clusters at the tops of 1 foot tall stalks. The clusters of tiny onion bulbs are sprinkled in the nearby soil. They start to grow green shoots just about now and these last all through winter and by then, I can cut off many greens and use them as chives, as they look and taste the same as regular chives. The wild onion greens last through about June and then die out until late September. The tiny bulbs they have, only get to a pea size, as they are wild and would never mature to anything larger that that. Both would be great for a shady herb use. The garklc chives can be harvested from about July through September, and give a pleasant mild taste. One more of the onions are walking or multipliers. These produce more bulbs in the soil as well as clusters at the ends of tubular stalks. Planting these, will produce at least 5 times the amount next year, and if left unchecked will grow an acre or more in just a few years....See MoreWoodlands in Suburbia?
Comments (9)How big is the property? We started with a fairly ordinary 1/4 acre lot in a 1960s era subdivision. We were lucky to have a mature green ash, two middle-aged white pines and a juvenile red oak, with a decrepit shed in the middle near the back (chainlink) fence. Other than that it was just grass. We started gardening under the pines and then from the back fence towards the oak. When we did that side of the yard, then we clearly needed to do the other side too! And it just grew until now there is just a rectangle of lawn in the center and everything else is a woodland garden threaded through with paths. I took a CAD course this winter - I did these drawings of our property for an exercise in the course. The first one shows just the layout of the beds and paths for the whole property. The second shows trees and shrubs added. These pictures aren't the greatest but shows what some parts of it looked like a few days ago. From the patio looking towards the rear of the property: From the end of the north alley looking SW across the lawn: From in front of the shed, looking towards the SW corner: Looking down the center path through the beds under the oak: We started the garden in 2000. We arrived at it's current layout largely by trial and error. If I was starting from scratch now, I'd start by defining what area would remain as lawn (and other functional spaces like patio, veggie garden - we didn't have enough light back there for veggies..., utility areas etc.) and what was available to become garden. Make the lawn a clearly defined shape rather than just a residual uninteresting shape. Look at the regular traffic patterns in the yard - what routes do you travel to get from one place to another? Designate those areas as paths. The garden beds then become the spaces between the paths. (If you look at the first diagram, the paths are what shape the beds, not vice versa...) Once you have the general layout determined, then you can start making the beds and planting them piece by piece as time, energy and $ permits. While we did it by trial and error, starting with a plan is the more sensible approach :-) Our front garden is in full sun and is quite different than the backyard. But it is the cool and serene 'green garden' (green and white are the dominant colors) that is the calm green heart of the garden....See MoreNeed help planning Native Borders
Comments (6)I am not entirely sure what you are looking for. A lot of gardening for me is researching plants, putting them in spots that fit their cultural needs, and then seeing how they do. If something doesn't work, I move it and try something different. I visit other private gardens, garden centers, and botanical gardens for inspiration and spend time looking at images on line, in magazines, and in garden books from the library. I do best at making suggestions with photos, though the plan view gives a good overview and will help place photos if you letter or number both the photos and where they are on the plan. Can you add some photos? Have them include something that indicates the type of shade if possible. For instance, overhanging trees provide deeper shade than the white wall of a one story house which has a lot of indirect light. Natives are a nebulous concept. Do you mean native to the NE US? If so, New England and New York are almost entirely forested by nature if they aren't kept open. Or just native to the US? That will give your more options. If you are open to nonnative, you have an even wider set of possibilities. Many of the plants you mention (such as purple iris) could be any one of a number of species so I don't know what to suggest about them. I grow several kinds of purple iris: reticulated, Japanese, Siberian, native Iris versicolor/blue flag, and some purple bearded iris, both tall and short. There are several species of Oenothera and Baptisia, but the Baptisia all need a fair amount of sun, so that may explain the slow-growing aspect and the different Oenothera have differing behaviors. Beware of your packet of wildflower seeds. Unless you checked species and are sure that they are actually natives, you may have sown a set of weedy non-natives. Often "wildflower" seeds are just easy self-sowers that aren't natives. I made that mistake a number of years ago and am still removing some volunteers of non-natives that are basically weeds with pretty flowers, but want to take over the whole garden via prolific seeding. 3' and 4' deep is quite shallow for a bed that long, especially with prairie plants that don't always stand upright. I would add enough extra depth to make it a minimum of 5'-6' deep. That will give you enough depth to have more than a single line of plants (or two) for more interest and longer bloom times. Also, be aware that prairie plants really need full sun, and it sounds like several of your areas have too much shade. Look into natives that do well in your area such as some of the asters (US natives are now in the genus Symphyotrichum though not all nurseries have caught up), milkweeds, etc. Check out Lupine, Amsonia cilliata or Amsonia hubrichtii and Rudbeckia. If you are looking for natives for shade, be sure to find ethically sourced plants, not dug wild plants, so they should say nursery propogated, not just nursery raised. These would include Tiarella, coral bells/Heuchera, ginger/Asarum canadense, Trilliums, bloodroot/Sanguinaria canadensis, spring beauty/Claytonia viriginica, Jack-in-the-pulpit, a few of kinds of Maianthemum (false Solomon's seal/M. racemosa, M. stellata, and Canada mayflower/M. canadense), partridge berry/Mitchella repens, wintergreen/Gaultheria procumbens, and Phlox divaricata and P. maculata. Don't forget native shrubs, many of which will do well in your partly shaded areas. Hydrangea arborescens (Annabelle is one cultivar), spicebush/Lindera benzoin, native deciduous azaleas and their cultivars, several Viburnums, all of which have nice flowers, berries if you have different cultivars or wild type of the same species, and and lovely autumn color. Sambucus/elderberry likes sun and is much enjoyed by pollinators and birds, though they tend to sucker and spread. Look at Fothergilla which has honey-scented, bottle brush spring flowers and stunning fall color, especially when it gets at least a half day of good light. Consider having some plants with winter interest since winter in your area, like in mine, can be long and gray. Evergreen perennials look good in late fall until the snow falls, and then woody plants with nice structure or bark or evergreen leaves (either broadleafed or needled) look good. Put the winter interest plants where they will be visible from windows that overlook the yard. Look at cultivars of native red-twigged dogwoods/Cornus, striped AKA moose maple/Acer pensylvanicum, and Cornus alternifolia/pagoda dogwood for winter bark or shape, and rhododendrons (many of the natives are quite large) and mountain laurel/Kalmia latifolia for broadleafed evergreen foliage. Most of these will do fine in part shade. Evergreen conifers such as some of the smaller cultivars of Thuja occidentalis/white cedar or any smaller selections of the native firs and spruces will provide not only green, blue, or gold foliage all year, but winter shelter and nesting for birds along with the rhodies. I much prefer Lonicera sempervirens, the native coral or trumpet honeysuckle, to Virginia creeper in a yard like this since VC/Parthenocissus quinquefolia tends to spread where not wanted with underground stems/suckers. I grow both, but VC is restricted to wooded areas because of its aggressive spreading while the honeysuckle is well-behaved, though large. I have the cultivar Major Wheeler, which has a really heavy bloom in late spring followed by continuous bloom all summer on new growth. The hummingbirds love it. I don't understand the area around the patio and garage. Are those paths along the side and back of the garage, and where is the back door? How will you fit in the trellised honeysuckle? I would remove the thin strips of sod on both sides of the patio. IME most folks don't use a sitting area as far from the house as the far corner of your yard since shlepping a beverage, reading matter, etc. out there can be a bit of a hassle. If you would use it, then fine, but I would be more likely to shade the patio near the house since it is more likely to be used, and put some of the larger shrubs such as some of the native Rhododendron maximum cultivars there....See MoreUser
11 years agonewtie
11 years agonewtie
11 years agopeachymomo
11 years agomelissa_thefarm
11 years agosunnysideuphill
11 years agojacqueline9CA
11 years agopeachymomo
11 years agoplantloverkat north Houston - 9a
11 years ago
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