what to plant near oaks & arborvitae

14 years ago

There's a row of arborvitae marching straight along our property line. Just in front of them on our side of the arborvitae, we have 2 mid-sized oak trees. They're about 18 feet apart, and they parallel the row of thuja soldiers. The oaks (I think they're pin oaks)are nothing special except in summer, but they are beloved by a great variety of birds, and for that we love them.

Some folks at the Landscape Design forum suggested that I need to view the neighbor's line of thuja not as a row of soldiers, but as a living green backdrop to a new garden bed. What a great change in perspective!

I'm hoping some of you local folks could help me figure out what to plant. The oak roots are pretty shallow, and I expect there's tough competition between them and the very close-by arborvitae. We have plenty of space to make a deep bed with the arborvitae as backdrop and the oaks close to the back.

We're in a beautiful natural setting, and would like a soft organic looking display. We're in western Massachusetts, just south of the Quabbin Reservoir. The whole yard is sunny except for what I've described here, and the property slopes down significantly to a lake. There are no significant plantings on this part of the property. The original owner illegally cleared all the trees from the property 25 years ago, leaving only the 2 oaks, and everything else is grass and crabgrass. This will change!

The area in question is the right-side property line when looking towards the lake from the house. It forms the SE property line. The NW property line is irregular and heavily wooded. The NE property line is the lake (lucky us)!

This is our first year here fulltime. In past years, we've hung a hammock between the oaks (extra chain for length), and although it would be nice to create a big bed surrounding a hammock, we could forgo the hammock for the sake of the future plantings. If we do keep the hammock function, we'll need to create access (stepping stones?) and I'd like to create visual privacy from the north.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

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Comments (6)

mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
14 years ago
I'll start with the shrubs I have planted under my pin oaks. Fothergilla, calycanthus, aesculus parviflora, common lilac, hydrangea 'Annabelle', calycanthus 'Venus', tree peonies, Viburnum 'Shasta', Korean spice viburnum, a dwarf flowering quince, mock orange, a couple of honking big species roses, forsythia, viburnum 'Summer Snowflake', a white deutzia, a couple of caryopteris, clematis, and the inevitable Things I Forgot.

In other words, making reasonable adjustments for sun exposure, I think you can plant practically anything.
still_lynnski
Original Author
14 years ago
Well that's very encouraging! I thought one had to be careful under oaks because of their roots, and I thought having the arborvitae so close by would also be an issue. Glad to be wrong!
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It is a terrible picture, but not totally worthless, and it sounds like it is time for some visual aids. I have 3 oak trees in my backyard. There is another one directly behind the on in the picture, and a third one just off the right side. Underneath them is the species rose in the picture, the Viburnum plicatum 'Shasta' on the right side, mock orange on the left side, another Viburnum plicatum 'Summer Snowflake' beyond the mock orange, a forsythia past it, then coming back on the other side of the back oak a dwarf flowering quince, a Viburnum carlesii, and a bunch of daylilies. The other oak has a bunch of tree peonies, some hydrangeas, some ferns, hellebores and pachysandra. The point of this is that you are plant just about anything you want under an oak. The shrubs are planted at least six ft from the trunks, but that has more to do with the shrubs than the trees. The space between the shrubs and the trees is either mulched or planted with groundcover. Forget you ever heard about rototillers. Unless you are tending a large, conventional vegetable garden, I have yet to find a use for one. Shrubs are planted in holes, and not carefully spaced out. Murphy's Law is alive and well in gardening, and if you plan the planting holes out, you will hit major roots in almost all of those holes. It is much easier on the brain if you allow the holes to move a foot or two to get them between roots.
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diggerdee zone 6 CT
14 years ago
I have a lot of oaks, but most of what I have under them is more along the line of perennials, not shrubs (but I thought oaks were *better* to plant under than other trees, because their roots were deep, not shallow...??)

still_lynnski, I'm having a bit of a hard time visualizing this (I am a visual person and literally need people to draw me a picture, lol). But if this row of arborvitae and oaks is the SE boundary of your property, does that mean the sun is behind it for most of the day? So it really is quite shady then?

Anyway, I do have viburnum, hydrangeas, azaleas, deutzia, fothergilla, and rhodies planted under my oaks. I might be trying kerria this year. I have carex also, but I guess that's more of a grass. I also have a quince and some forsythia, but they do get more sun.

In a friend's garden, partly under oaks, but farther away from the trees themselves and therefore less root competition and more sun, we planted viburnum, clethra, itea, buttonbush, cornus alba, and ilex verticillata. But I do want to stress a few things here - it is quite bright shade, the area is very wet (which these plants like) and this is really just a big experiment in her very wet yard! So I can't give outright recommendations for these plants in your situation, but thought this might give some leads to research for further info.

MG, I'm surprised to see some items on your list - lilac, mock orange, species roses - how much sun do these get under your oaks? Just curious...

Still_lynnski, I think your "change of perspective" is great - it's a wonderful way to look at this area! Have fun, good luck, and keep us posted (pictures would be nice!)

:)
Dee
mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)
14 years ago
The lilac has sun issues. I didn't plant it, and wouldn't have put it there. The mock orange and one of the roses are on the south side of one of the oaks, but another one of the roses is between an oak and an ash.

Full sun is hard to come by here.

BTW, these are not small trees. The main canopy of the big one is about 50 ft up. Every now and then they drop a branch about the size of a small tree, and I can barely figure out where it came from.
diggerdee zone 6 CT
14 years ago
I meant to add above that I have lilacs planted not necessarily "under" my oaks, but they are in more shade from the oaks than I had planned for - that's why I was curious as to how your lilac and roses and mock orange did planted as they are. Do you get good growth and bloom?

My lilacs do bloom, but growth has been slow and bloom has been sparse. I keep meaning to move them, but never seem to get around to it.

My oaks are large too - at least 50 feet if not taller. I'm currently keeping an eye on a huge broken branch that is caught up in the higher branches. I can't believe it didn't fall in some of the winds we've had recently. Whenever I work out under the trees I do keep my ears open for the tell-tale creaking, just in case!

:)
Dee
still_lynnski
Original Author
14 years ago
Regarding diggerdee's question about sun, although the property line runs southeast, the yard is still very sunny. For most of the day there is shade only directly under the oaks, and there are just 2 oaks along an ~80 property line. The arborvitae are not very tall--maybe 10 feet, and the canopy of the oaks is very high. So for comfort in the summer, we actually have to chase the shade around the yard! There's a little shade when the sun is in the west behind the house, but mostly it is a very sunny yard.

what to plant near oaks & arborvitae

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mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)

still_lynnski
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what to plant near oaks & arborvitae

Comments (6)

mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)

still_lynnskiOriginal Author

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diggerdee zone 6 CT

mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY)

diggerdee zone 6 CT

still_lynnskiOriginal Author

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still_lynnski
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still_lynnski
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