Fallen tree = no more full shade. Which plants need new homes?
maggie_ll
7 years ago
We had a bad storm a week ago, and the maple tree in our front yard (which basically made my front bed a shade garden) bit the dust. Poor old tree.
The up side is the lawn should finally grow in, but...
Now I have the dilemma of figuring out what to do (if anything) with the plants I have there in front of the house. These beds now get at least 6 hours of sun starting around 11 am, whereas before it was 3 at most, and none in some spots.
Some were plants I bought specifically for shade, some were random misplaced sun or part sun plants. I'm having a little trouble figuring out what should be moved now.
It is south facing and there is still morning shade there until around noon.
I have various hostas, burning bushes, ferns, astilbe, lamium, stonecrop, penstemon, 3 big sedums, blue star juniper, heuchera, hybrid viola, ajuga, calla lily, begonias.
A few days later, the 3 sedums look like they're suffering during the mid-day heat. They had been thriving there for years.
I've been watering everything lightly once a day just in case. Is there anything else I can do to get the plants acclimated to the new conditions?
The other plants that appear to be really hurting so far are the ferns (some of which are all but dead a week later) a lot of the hostas, and the double impatiens.
What would you do (if anything) if you were me?
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which trees to double as shade tree in livestock pasture?
Comments (10)Thanks for all the thoughts and suggestions. I don't really know how hard cattle or other livestock would be on mature trees in other regions and management systems, but I know that lots of trees can survive the pressures of livestock in my system: in my pasture rotations (mostly along the edges but within the paddocks) I currently have a sycamore, pines, alders, red oaks, black walnuts, red cedars, and tulip-poplars, and they've all done fine. Tulip-poplars and red cedars seem like they might be harder to get through the earlier years but not too hard. I hadn't initially thought pecans for a few reasons. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on these issues. First, pecans are such a large tree that they'd give me more shade than I'd need for the animals, and I don't think I want that extra competition with the grass. Secondly, pecans seem like awfully small nuts to try to find in pasture-type grass. Would bush hogging be sufficient to get the grass down low enough to find most of the nuts? Thirdly, what about manure contamination? I would want the shade most of all in the summer. Could I let manure fall under the tree all summer and then safely harvest the nuts immediately afterwards? On the one hand, I figure I need tall trees to grow above the reach of the livestock, which would make a crop that fell to the ground practical, but on the other hand, there are the issues of manure and finding the crop in the grass, so that leads me to think relying on ladders might be a good compromise. Any suggestions for a particular mulberry cultivar? Some varieties seem to have more tree-like form than others. I think I'd want a tree with a trunk that went straight up beyond where cattle could reach and then formed its canopy. ORwoods, you mentioned figs. I do have some figs near my barn, and I've noticed when I've had animals on leads walking past my figs (or when they've gotten out of the fence) that they've never seemed interested in the fig bush. Are there specific varieties of figs that could better be trained to more tree-like form (as with the mulberry)? What about kaki persimmons? Would they even get big enough? Could I get extra height/trunk by grafting a kaki 6 foot high on a D.v. rootstock? Could that work?...See MoreVariegation, which plants for more light, which for less
Comments (12)that's a very interesting subject. i have mostly tropicals indoors and some go out to ultra bright NE balcony outside. lots of variegation. i think indoor culture is quite different from outdoor and season to season and latitude - just all very complicated! what i found is that a lot of time recommendations for these plants are from southern growers ... for outdoors! (FL). bright shade in summer in fl = bright dappled sun on the window sill for me in NYC. seasonal light differs a lot too. so while i put my plants in some early sun, NE bright shade(no sun) outside in summer, in winter they stay in dappled sun west window or even full sun west. one example is crotons: early summer outside in 3-4 hrs of sun cooler temps is great! but then they really color up in october too - no direct sun, 60-65F. while hot temps over 80F and direct hot sun in july -aug totally bleach out the leaves. but indoors west partial 3-4 hr sun in winter does wonders for them. caladiums are similar to that. they green in too much shade and bleach out in too much hot sun. while take 4-5 hrs of direct eastern sun indoors in summer. i have many more: stromanthe triostar, alocasia african mask, etc - that are strictly indoors. they are supposed to be in bright shade only, but i keep them all in dappled , even direct early/late sun to maintain color/good growth indoors in winter and sheers filtered sun in summer....See MoreNew home - need advice on some smaller flowering trees
Comments (11)Thank you for all of the suggestions. So far for fall delivery I have ordered the following - Magnolia 'Butterflies' Magnolia 'Genie' Magnolia 'Vulcan' Chrysanthemifolia Star Magnolia Chionanthus virginicus Cercis canadensis 'The Rising Sun' Cercis canadensis 'Appalachian Red' Cercis canadensis 'Burgundy Hearts' Cornus kousa 'Blue Shadow' Cornus kousa 'Akatsuki' Syringa reticulate Fagus sylvatica âÂÂRoseo Marginataâ (tricolor beech) Kwanzan flowering cherry Weeping Double Red Flowering Peach Acer palmatum 'Coral Pink' Acer palmatum 'Oregon Sunset' Ginkgo biloba 'Mariken' (a male) Definitely excited! Still keeping an eye out for things that peek my interest. If any of the good mail order nurseries do end of season sales or anything, I would love to know about them! I am also still debating the purple cherry I asked about as I ordered the rosebud Burgundy Hearts which is the color and size I was looking for. Thank you for the suggestions! Also, everything above is mail order and smaller than what I see at nurseries (on purpose for saving reasons). Being in zone 6b and with the property having a windbreak all around, should I be doing anything special for these trees for the winter? I will be planting in October. I have planted shrubs and perennials at that time and been fine through the winter but don't have any experience with trees. Thank you again for all of the help!...See MoreNew Tampa Suburbanite Buys Eight, Assorted, Fruit Trees for Home
Comments (6)The biggest bane for citrus to me is the leaf minor, I hate them. As far as citrus goes, my all time favorite is Hirado butan pummelo. Harris Citrus on CR 39 south of SR 60 has them. I have the tropic snow peach and love it. You wont get any chastisment from me about the Mulberry, I have the pakistan cv and its delicious. You may want to try the gulf plums, they are fabulous. Others to consider are loquat (Bradenton is a good cv), feijoa, cattley guava, grumichama, cherry of rio grande, jujube, apple (anna and golden dorsett), banana (ice cream, misi liki, manzano are all good cold hardy cv's), avocado (mexicola- cold hardy), blueberry, blackberry ect. I grow these in Zephryhills which is a bit colder than you....See More
maggie_ll
7 years agomaggie_ll
7 years agomaggie_ll
7 years agomaggie_ll
7 years agoOn a side note, the blue star juniper had some browning of its needles before this happened. It's gotten worse, and since they like sun I can't imagine it's the increase in sun that's causing it. Any ideas what it might be? I water them daily since planting them three weeks ago and have fertilized them twice with miracle gro. Too much water? Too much feet? Not enough fert?
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