I have an area of my garden that i call 'the woodland'. it is basicaly where we have beds and borders surrounding some very large pine trees. The area only gets sun in the morning and the soil thanks to the trees gets very dry.
I have sucessfully established many early summer flowering plants here (foxgloves ,geraniums etc) and the area is planted with hellebores for winter interest. It unfortunately goes a bit dull in late summer and i am looking for some late colour (mostly herbaceous) that will do well in the conditions. I already have some crocosmia and Japanese anemone planted, but am a bit stuck as to what else to try. Most of the late flowerers i have in the garden are either sun lovers or need better soil conditions.
Can anyone help please?
White wood asters put on a bit of a late show. For leaf colour try some of the lime or amber coloured heucharas, which unlike the purples and dark green, prefer the shade.
I'm not sure how well these plants would tolerate dry conditions but Liriope Muscari and Tricyrtis are both shade lovers flowing August to October. They do well for me in pots so they might be okay in the conditions you describe.
G x
Saw this on Holiday, good for under shrubs,brought one back to try in my dry shade area.
Cyclamen hederifolium loves those conditions, and will happily self seed.
valmarg
How about :-
Epimedium
Variegated holly (a female for berries)
Mahonia
Skimmia
or bulbs like Nerine and theres nothing like having a few naked ladies in your back garden.
Thanks for the ideas. I was thinking taller than bulbs (would get a bit lost) or ground cover plants but not as big as shrubs, I already have a few shrubs in there that are doing fine.
I have lots of Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'. Would that be worth trying? It would give a nice bright splash of colour under the trees, which is what i want.
I had helleniums under a tree, in poor, dry soil. They did well and were lovely late on - in different bronze and yellow and dusky pink colours.
And crocosmia as well - there's another thread about them atm! They will tolerate hedge and tree conditions.
Sedum spectabile, the Ice Plant. I've had this for years, growing under a sycamore tree. It's so easy going and you can get various shades. Mine is dark pink going to almost magenta. They say it doesn't like shade, but mine's perfectly happy. It's easy to propagate from cuttings if you'd like to try. Happy to send you some.
Quote from: pigeonseed on August 22, 2008, 20:50:37
I had helleniums under a tree, in poor, dry soil. They did well and were lovely late on - in different bronze and yellow and dusky pink colours.
And crocosmia as well - there's another thread about them atm! They will tolerate hedge and tree conditions.
I love heleniums (haVe got 'Sahins Early Flowerer). I found they tended to struggle in full sun in ordinary border soil, particularly in dry summers (humph!). Just as an experiment i put a piece of it in my 'bog' garden and it has done brilliantly, flowering for so much longer than those planted elsewhere. Mind you the ones in the border have done fine with all the rain these past 2 summers! Might try it in my woodland garden, although i fancy it might struggle a bit. Thanks anyway.
I've got an unwanted free packet of seeds which might fit the bill. They are Gaillardia aristata 'Goblin'. PM me if interested.
G x
Quote from: Georgie on August 25, 2008, 20:07:51
I've got an unwanted free packet of seeds which might fit the bill. They are Gaillardia aristata 'Goblin'. PM me if interested.
G x
You must be an AG reader! I have those as well. Thanks for the offer though.
Quote from: Garden Apprentice on August 26, 2008, 14:16:23
Quote from: Georgie on August 25, 2008, 20:07:51
I've got an unwanted free packet of seeds which might fit the bill. They are Gaillardia aristata 'Goblin'. PM me if interested.
G x
You must be an AG reader! I have those as well. Thanks for the offer though.
Yes, well I am at the moment but I've recently cancelled my subscription. The free seeds are rarely any use to me and I find a lot of their articles rather shallow now that I've been gardening for a few years.
G x
Quote from: Georgie on August 26, 2008, 16:33:44
Quote from: Garden Apprentice on August 26, 2008, 14:16:23
Quote from: Georgie on August 25, 2008, 20:07:51
I've got an unwanted free packet of seeds which might fit the bill. They are Gaillardia aristata 'Goblin'. PM me if interested.
G x
You must be an AG reader! I have those as well. Thanks for the offer though.
Yes, well I am at the moment but I've recently cancelled my subscription. The free seeds are rarely any use to me and I find a lot of their articles rather shallow now that I've been gardening for a few years.
G x
Sorry to hear that. I still enjoy reading it, even though I now find myself 'nitpicking' at times. I like the plant features/profiles, reader gardens and other special features. Being a weekly magazine it often provides a usefull reminder to do things, something the monthlies dont do so well.
Free seeds? Got them coming out of my ears as well. I grow some that interest me (such as perennials and veggies), but others i have neither the space or the desire to grow them.
[quote author=Garden Apprentice
Sorry to hear that. I still enjoy reading it, even though I now find myself 'nitpicking' at times. I like the plant features/profiles, reader gardens and other special features. Being a weekly magazine it often provides a usefull reminder to do things, something the monthlies dont do so well.
Free seeds? Got them coming out of my ears as well. I grow some that interest me (such as perennials and veggies), but others i have neither the space or the desire to grow them.
[/quote]
Yes I enjoy the plant features but I think it's rather too hung up on so called celebrity gardeners. I cannot abide the fussy recipies in the 'grow cook eat' feature (and the one where it included bacon in a vegetarian recipe made me see red). I'll miss Bob's column but like you I was finding myself 'nit-picking' and decided that on the whole my books and the many excellent internet sites are better sources of advice.
G x