Here is a garden under an ash tree in OH in it's even though the garden was just over a year old at the time, from previously being sparse grass. There are hostas, columbine, creeping phlox, Pulmonaria, Bergenia, Trillium, violets, Polemonium (jacob's ladder,) a few bulbs, Lamium, a little lilac, ready to be a tree if the ash got emerald beetle borers (I moved, remains a mystery,) and a few others I don't remember and can't see from this angle. 4" of mulch can retain moisture for weeks. Of your list, I would avoid the Vinca. Just too sprawling/spready to play nice with the other plants. In general, you don't want vines in a flower bed. Entities like Vinca or Ajuga that rapidly spread really do best in their own, well-enclosed space. Spreading through other more self-contained plants, these spreaders can make the whole thing look like a confused mess. But, like most things-gardening, this is subject to your personal opinion on the matter.

>Are you familiar with _Camellia vernalis_ 'Dawn'? If not, it is another mid-winter white camellia that is fairly frost tolerant in Zone 7B. The blooms and foliage are sasanqua-like. This camellia will eventually become tree-sized, but it tends to be compact and attractive in the landscape. Hi Jay, I had just recently discovered it in a round-about way--noticing that a breeder used it intentionally in creating some crosses, so I wondered what it looked like... and was instantly impressed. I'd love to have it. >'Setsugekka' is a good white sasanqua for our climate zone. It will grow very tall. I'd noticed that one too, enough to specifically ask the nurseryman here whether he ever had that one. (No. But I still want it!) >We have two 'Debutante' camellias located in different parts of the yard--one shaded by slash pines, the other by oaks. The pine-shaded 'Debutante' usually has an abundance of blooms around Thanksgiving. The oak-shaded 'Debutante' is several years younger than the other one and, oddly, seems to be inclined toward blooming in March. However, I don't think the plant is mature enough to know how it will eventually behave. Regarding your two Debutante situations, I wonder whether the different tree varieties' roots might affect the amount of water available? (Theory: the more regular and plentiful the available water, the earlier and more prolific the blooming, as long as the drainage is good.) I think I might have read somewhere that pine trees have tap roots and fewer surface roots than many other trees. Oak trees are supposed to be pretty good for surfaced-rooted plants like rhododendrons and azaleas too--so they must have roots that will go deeply--but I don't think they have tap roots. The various kinds of oaks here have plenty of huge roots that are only about a foot below the surface. Anyway, Debutante certainly does seem to be a camellia with lots of inclination to bloom at unpredictable times! >I think 'Debutante' is a beautiful camellia I adore the looks of the Debutante blooms... when we get them. There are just so few of them that survive the weather when they bloom here (tends to be January and February). Ours are all shaded by high deciduous trees. It's hard to know much about the one with a slightly altered situation with fewer tree roots underneath, since the plant is clearly virused and barely survived at all. We did get one beautiful bloom last winter from it, but probably we'll remove it. I don't think its virus is one of the many among those affecting camellias that cause no health effects at all, and I'm thinking we might inadvertently spread that virus to other camellias when cutting the blooms for the vase. We got a beautiful bloom from one of our Debutantes a day or two just before last November 11. I think it might have started blooming a little earlier last year because of the plentiful rainfall? I wouldn't have remembered the date, except that I took a photo of a bowl of flowers to save on the computer's desktop and I just looked at the date on the photo, which was November 11. The ruffly Debutante was combined with several buttery-yellow and fragrant late-blooming Julia Child roses and I could barely stop looking at the combination. >Our 'Mont Blanc' is a seedling of 'Lady Vansittart,' which is a prolific seed producer. There are several 'Lady Vansittart' seedlings scattered around the yard. Most of the ones that have bloomed seem to have inherited all of the good characteristics of the mother plant. In other words, they are pretty semi-doubles streaked with varying degrees of carmine. 'Mont Blanc' is the exception in that it is pure white. These seedlings are the children of the red sport of 'Lady Vansittart.' Thanks for that information. I'm going to look for seedlings under ours too, but it's almost never watered, so whatever seedlings may have popped up probably wouldn't have made it. I wonder whether Cam Forest Nursery might not like to do some propagating with your Mount Blanc? It sounds like a plant lots of people would like to have. >Our yard is a jungle with plants growing on top of other plants and wisteria running rampant. I think watching Tarzan as a youngster must have imprinted the Jungle Look on my brain; I love that look! I'm not much into formal gardens. Your yard sounds lovely, lovely... Best wishes, Mary

They are supposed to be open tomorrow at their old retail location, but if you plan to go, call first because of the low temperatures (919) 854-9892. On Wednesday they begin the final move of their retail operation 1/2 mile down Campbell Rd to the current wholesale location. There are many, many flats of older pansies and violas left for free.

I highly recommend that you plant geranium macrorrhizum. It is the PERFECT perennial for your situation, bar none. Here in Wisconsin they are NEARLY evergreen, meaning it will be the first area that looks nice, and it will be awesome up until snow cover. Most importantly, it takes away all of the problems with tree roots. I once had mature silver maples along my front yard. The grass grew just fine. I tore up the grass and created a long border along the front of my house. 90% of the plants were hostas. They grew happily. About 8 years later, I noticed my hostas were getting smaller, and the next year, smaller still. I dug them up to see what could be the matter....the hostas were entangled in masses of maple tree hairy roots. I had to tear out the entire garden....but luckily, I already knew about and had plenty of geranium macrorrhizum to cure the problem. It was lush and completely full 2 growing seasons later....and it looked great, in the first year, too. 1) Epimedium would probably work, but they are slow and very expensive. (Geranium macrorrhizum is VERY fast, yet not invasive.) 2.) I do not think pachysandra will work. In my experience, it might stay ALIVE in dry shade, but it will not like it and it won't flourish. For EASE...you can make each macrorrhizum plant that you purchase literally triple itself the following year. 80% of the plant lives above the soil, including a rootlet that's ready to go. So, once your plants have rooted. Simply put your hand down in and pull of a leaflet section...it will have everything on it that it needs to grow a new plant. Just scrape some soil on the surface and put the rootlet underground. The leaves may balk and wilt but give it some water and in about 2-3 weeks, you'll see a baby emerge...at that point, you can cut off any of the old foliage that wilted. 4) You can mow down/sheer/weed wack macrorrhizum after it blooms in early June. It'll put out a nice new set of leaves and be all the more tidy. 5) One site online that has a lot of choices is Lazy S Farm. (I am not affiliated.) I think the more fuchsia flowering color is prettier than the pale and white ones, but that's personal. I've heard they are faster growing, too. If you like the darker pink, go for Ingwersen's or Bevan's Variety. 6) google this (the words between the quotes): "a way to garden the toughest groundcovers I rely on" After you do, you'll find a wonderful blog about ground covers and see beautiful pics of the plant we are talking about...she has it lining both sides of the lawn. The reason she can afford to have so much, is because of what I explained in #3 above...it's the easiest plant in the world to spread where you want it, yet it does not go to seed and cause you a mess where you do not want it. Good luck! M