Can I have a rock garden in dry shade?

15 years ago

I would love some perennial plant suggestions for this bed next to the driveway. I don't mind watering to help things establish, but afterwards this area will depend on rainfall. The soil is very sandy. It gets a bit of morning sun now, and a lot of sun once the trees loose their leaves. I won't be doing any actual work on the bed until the fall. I'd love something to trail over the sides, and a bit of color in some of the plants.

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Comments (7)

mommyfox
15 years ago
I'd look at natives; they're going to be your best best for being drought-tolerant, I would think. Sweet violet is a tough little plant, and the rocky area would keep it from being too prolific, I would think. Also, purple heart is pretty rugged and would add some nice color. And I always like artemesia for some foliage interest.

For a droughty trailer - I saw some magnificent variegated ivy at Calloway's.
debndal
15 years ago
A Turk's cap would look great in there.
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Pulsatilla vulgaris (Anemone pulsatilla) is a very adaptable species. It can grow in practically pure sand or typical garden soil, as long as there is excellent drainage. Campanula rotundifolia seems to like more fertile, and open ground, at least way up here in Minnesota. It grows here abundantly in the cracks of basalt outcrops, where typical compost materials collect. But it too must be very adaptable, as its distribution is circumpolar. Draba rigida I have only grown in troughs, in rocky alpine soil - excellent drainage and low fertility. But I can't say what it would adapt to. More troublesome is the heat you have. Alpines don't like it. You will have to grow them in part shade.
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Tiger Dawn, You've already received excellent advice on going vertical in that narrow bed where the overgrown boxwoods are currently growing. Either espaliered vines or espaliered trees would add a vertical element and help break up that very long expanse of brick wall. The bed is so narrow that virtually anything shrubby will spread out too wide and encroach on the sidewalk. If your friend doesn't want to spend the time maintaining espaliered plants, then I'd plant a climbing, creeping vine and let it cover the wall. I use Virgina creeper for that at our house but it does lose its leaves in winter. Boston Ivy likely would work in that location as would several other members of the ivy family, and Persian ivy would look especially lovely. If your friend really want shrubs, then it would be best to go with something that is incredibly narrow and strongly vertical in growth like Helmond Pillar barberry or Sky Pencil holly (pictured in the link below). On the attached link, you can see a shrub with highly vertical and narrow growth. Something like this could work for a few years in this location, but I even think they will outgrow that very narrow bed along the wall over a period of years. There are some very narrow condifer-type trees and y'all might go to the Sooner Tree Farm website linked below and look for photos of some of them there. They are among the more narrow trees/shrubs available and might outgrow the space too. Other than vines or espaliered trees that would hug the wall and not try to take over the sidewalk, only the most narrow and columnar shrubs or trees can be used to add height to this bed. Of course, she could go with all kinds of dwarf shrubs or groundcovers but they won't do anything to break up that long expanse of brick and I bet she'll get tired of looking at it after a while. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Holly 'Sky Pencil'
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I have the type of garden you speak of. It is under oak, hickory and various other trees, and in the woods. I dug three foot wide curving trenches and filled them with pea gravel to give things some definition, then I used the soil heaps as the beginning of raised beds. These I outlined with broken up sidewalk concrete for retention to give a bit of a stone wall look (here in this part of IN there is hardly any stone, totally different from the Connecticut I grew up in!) The work was pretty hard, and my back is suffering, but the result is very pleasing. I've planted alot of hosta, in between which I have planted begonias for touches of color against the variegated hosta leaves, which do better in dry shade than do impatiens (we have very dry Augusts). I have one azalea that has somehow survived, and caladium seems to like it. I've got alot of bulbs, especially daffodils. I do alot of soil amending each year with ground-up leaves that I get from mowing over and mulching them in the fall.. I also have alot of potted impatiens, which do better for me there. The pea gravel has worked out fairly well. I rake it with a wire rake to clean it up of leaves and other stuff that shakes down, it cleans up pretty nicely. But young children might kick it around--my kids are teenagers. We put down pavers and that helps keep things in place, but is murder on the knees when you're planting. What was a sea of mud is now a very calming refuge. I bought a birdbath of cast iron, and it has a nice effect there. It's really lovely in the noon and the difference between my yard and my friends' in hot weather is marked. We have a deck and a bistro table with two chairs...nice to sit out there with a glass of wine and a candle. Sometimes raccoons go wandering by!
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I don't have a dry garden
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This is a really good thread; thank you, all, and special compliments to Melissa for starting it.Nik you are so right about the HUGE difference amongst climates, the distribution of rain, the evaporation rate; no where in England will you find a sun as hot and as mean as in Italy. I just got a loropetalum, and was looking on Internet for advice on how to grow this; English sites say full sun is necessary-HA! Another picture that I saw on the perennials forum illustrates the point brilliantly: someone from England posted a beautiful picture of their campanula muralis plants growing literally in cracks in a wall, to emphasize that the plant needs good drainage. I don't know if you could even get cactus to survive here in Italy in that sort of situation, lol! It is nice to read though that, like Melissa, I don't have a truly dry garden, though I admit that I find the long stretches of hot, dry, sunny weather-every day the same for months!- more dreary and hard to deal with than the soggy times,and since my garden is still very young, with hundreds of new plants to be established every year,I deeply dread and fear drought, even if it only lasts for a few months. I love summer rain,it's so romantic or something...
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pjtexgirl
15 years ago
Wine cups would look striking. I have white ones in an area just like that one.

Here is a link that might be useful: wine cups
roselee z8b S.W. Texas
15 years ago
All good suggestions! You might have been thinking of something low growing, but if not you might consider Red shrimp plant.

This one is growing in my side yard in shade with just a little dappled sun in the morning, and received absolutely no water in an extremely dry fall and winter. It didn't even die back and never stopped blooming! All I've given it is a couple of squirts with the hose this spring and still it lives and blooms.

The fruit cocktail variety of shrimp plant might do as well. Although it's a vigorous grower it seems to not get as tall, but I haven't tried it in such a dry spot as this one is growing in.
liz_h
Original Author
15 years ago
Wow, you guys have given me a lot of great ideas. I hope to use all of them somewhere in the yard. After thinking on it some more, I'd probably prefer a lot of color there, so the turk's cap or shrimp plant would be ideal. The fruit cocktail variety is very pretty! I'm so glad you mentioned violets - they bring back a lot of childhood memories from the Wisconsin woods, so I have to have them somewhere! And winecups are my favorite wildflower. :)

Looking up these plants, I found some interesting sites.

The first discusses lots of uses for violets.
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/weeds_and_wild_things/19688

A list of shade groundcovers suitable for San Antonio
http://www.plantanswers.com/ShadeLovingGroundcovers.htm
mikeandbarb
15 years ago
OH, Roselee I like the shrimp plant. I got one this spring but it's not big like your's yet. Now I know what to look forward to.
debndal
15 years ago
Barb - where did you find the shrimp plant like Roselee's. All I've found is the gold, but it's not overwintered for me although I plant it every year cause I like it so much. I've heard the pink and fruit cocktail might make it in DFW, but I've yet to see one in the nurseries.

Can I have a rock garden in dry shade?

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mommyfox

debndal

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Can I have a rock garden in dry shade?

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mommyfox

debndal

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roselee z8b S.W. Texas

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