A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 New Shaded Perennial Plantings

To Joanne
As an example; I planted 2 groups of 3 each of Astible;one group on the North side and one group on the South side of the tree. During the heat spell the north side faired better than the south side as you could see the sunlight bearing down more on everything on the South side of the tree. I've also noticed that my lawn is more stressed outside the tree dripline on the South side.HMMM!

Joanne, I also have some Japanesse Iris planted at the back along the fence in the shade garden. They do need sun, but since they are one of the first things to bloom in the spring they get all the sun they need because the leaves on the tree have not come out yet. I didn't put them on the list since they are not a shade plant.

I hadn't considered putting spring flowers in the shady areas. I need to look into purchasing spring bulbs and see how they do next season. Can you plant things on top of bulbs or do you have to mark them and keep them unobstructed?

You both must be getting tired of all my questions!

Joanne

Not at all I made the mistake of planting an assortment of spring bulbs around the South side of my house in an area about 2 by 50 feet. They did Ok the first spring but not so well the next year and were short lived and left a mess to clean up. So I yanked up every thing I saw and put in 10 Magu Pines instead. The next spring the bulb plants arrived again and came up thru the Magu's. I just accept it now and clean up the mess each year.

I guess I should show you the "cleaned up" shot Too

I've never heard of a magu pine. Are they mini shrubs? Your border looks very well kept, a far cry from what mine looks like so far. We have vinca growing in every bed and it is very hard to get rid of. I'm just trying to get through one at a time and try not to stress about the rest.

Joanne

Yes sort of. I think their only supposed to eventually get to about 3 feet tall by 3 feet wide. They are supposed to be a hardy shrub enjoying full sun. I have them on the South side of the house and they get direct sunlight all day.
Except when I first planted them; I never water them. I did have to replace one of them 3 times though; I'm blaming myself for improperly planting right to begin with. They were relatively cheap too; about $90 for ten one gallon plants at Home Depot.

Correction not Magu but Mugo Pine. Sorry for the confusion

Ahh, no wonder I couldn't find them on google. They look great!

Joanne

Oh Merrill, that bed really looks really nice! I forgot to mention that the sculpture in my shaded bed is actually a bird bath!

It looks great!