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Gardening in Shade

What plants will grow in this soil conditions

9 years ago

Sorry if I am not asking the question with proper verbiage. I am very new to this forum and relatively new to gardening.
have an area in the backyard which is under trees (pine and cedar). We pruned the lower branches of the trees, so the area is partially shady. I am not sure if the soil is good though. The pictures of the soil is attached. You can see that a small viburnum plant has died here,

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Comments (6)

brooklynbonnie
9 years ago
If I had that area, I'd put in various ferns and trillium. If you like foliage, I'd also add some hosta. With the pine and ceder dropping their needles over time I imagine the soil is on the acidic side so you can get it tested to confirm, and look for acid-loving plants like those mentioned. I also wanted flowers so went with azalea in part of my yard. Had to find azalea that do better with more shade than sun, so went with Bloom-a-thons and red ruffles. For fall interest I also planted some toad lilies which bloom in fall and like shade and acidic soil.

Have fun!
shadeyplace
9 years ago
First I would clear out what you don't want, look at the area and come up with some kind of a plan of how you want this to look. A path?, stone borders? more natural? and then look at the millions of books and pictures with woodland gardens. Go see them. The plants you could have are many and varied. As said above, hostas, ferns, trillium, phlox divaricata, wood poppies, arisaemas, anemones, lady's slippers, asarums, arums, mertensia, polygonatums, geranium phaeum, hellebores, and soooooo many more. Good luck.
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Hi Donna First of all, it sounds like you did a nice job planting your roses the first time around, and you gave your "body bags" a best shot at surviving. The fact that you pulled through a couple of body bag Don Juans is a testament to your good rose growing, as the roses in these bags tend to struggle from their packaging conditions and often die from canker or other damage out of your control. Don Juan is also not very hardy - it totally dies in my zone 5 and probably isn't cane hardy in your zone 6. That alone could explain the dying and wimpy growth of the roses. As for the boxwoods, they probably do have a well-established root system and it can provide some root competition for the roses. The first and last photos look like the roses have their own clear space, but my way of telling about competition is to see if I run into roots when I dig the big 1-2' wide hole for planting my roses. I have clematis planted everywhere and if I crunch into those roots when I try to plant a rose I know I have to look elsewhere, as the clematis will steal the moisture and nutrients from the rose. In Ohio, you probably have good rainfall so there's enough moisture to go around, but the rose needs a good 2' wide clear space at least to establish its roots. Your new Don Juan plants in the potted soil look very healthy and you don't need to soak them like you do bare roots. Just make sure to get the whole plant out of the pot as intact as possible with its little hair roots holding the soil ball together. I usually turn the whole pot upside down in my (gloved) hand and tap the pot gently to let the root ball slide out. Also, you need to make sure that the graft (the knobby bit that bulges out from the side of the rose) is planted at least 2 inches deep in the soil (i.e. planted several inches deeper than it is currently in the soil). That helps its survival over the winter, at least at the roots. Bottom line is that you might want to look into some different climbers to hedge your bets if Don Juan continues to die back in the winter. In zone 6 you might find that Don Juan grows like a small bush rather than like a climber because of winter die-back. On the other hand, you have to be patient with climbers as it usually takes 3-4 years to grow into their height and bloom. If you have surviving cane over the winter, that's a sign the rose is reasonably happy with your climate. If it dies to the ground, it might not be your conditions or care but a rose that's marginally hardy in your zone. Hope that helps. If you want suggestions of other hardier climbers, we all love sharing ideas (smile). Cynthia
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prairiemoon2 z6b MA
9 years ago
Take a look at Beth Chatto's books. To me, her book is the best woodland book I've read. 'Beth Chatto's Woodland Garden' is the title. She also has one called, 'The Shade Garden'.
kTina
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks a lot for the responses. I had planted a viburnum and a Snowdrop anemone in this area. The picture I posted above is the viburnum which suddenly died after blooming. I pruned it now hoping to somehow revive it. The anemone is not doing too well either. The pic of the anemone is attached. I am planning to remove the anemone from this area. Will that be the right thing to do?

This post was edited by kTina on Thu, May 22, 14 at 13:40
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
9 years ago
First, conifers like pines and cedars dropping needles does not make soil acidic. That is due primarily to the underlying mineral component of the soil and the amount of rainfall the area receives. Heavy rainfall areas tend towards acidic soil. Since the vast majority of plants prefer acid soil anyway, you are probably good to go.

With lots of the trees in the area, your primary concern is going to be root competition and lack of soil moisture and a sparsity of nutrients as a result. Big trees have big, aggressive root systems that hog all the goodies. Plants you select to go in this area should be drought tolerant and not have a lot of other demands regarding nutrient issues. Even then you will need to baby them for a couple of seasons with water and fertilizer until they become established.

I'll second the Beth Chatto rcommendation. And I'd add The Complete Shade Garden, by George Schenk. Both should have numerous suggestion of plants recommended for dry shade.
kTina
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks a lot for the info. I will check out the suggested books too.

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