planter along north facing wall

peadar76

I have a planter along the front of my newly built house which is north facing. It's approx 12m long by 1m wide. I'd like to sow ground cover in it. The idea is that it will be all of the one type of plant, not a mixture.
Any suggestions?
It gets hardly any direct sun. I sowed dafodils in it and they did well, but were later that the rest. I'd like something like cotoneaster, but will it grow in shade?

Sonnenblumen

There's plenty that will growin the shade: good lush low growing shrubs would include: Viburnum Tinus 'Eve Price', Acuba, Holly, Viburnum Davidii, Saracoccca etc

Coral Beauty is a nice variety of Cotoneaster and easily controlled.

paddy147

peadar76 wrote: »

I have a planter along the front of my newly built house which is north facing. It's approx 12m long by 1m wide. I'd like to sow ground cover in it. The idea is that it will be all of the one type of plant, not a mixture.
Any suggestions?
It gets hardly any direct sun. I sowed dafodils in it and they did well, but were later that the rest. I'd like something like cotoneaster, but will it grow in shade?

Hellebors and Ilex/holly trees (Ilex nellie stevens is a nice one) will do well in north facing garden where there is shade too.

Also Pachysandra Terminalis too,which is a nice low growing evergreen ground cover plant.

You could also maybe try various types of Ferns,Rhododendrons or some nice Thalictrums too.






With regards to Cotoneaster,have a look at the RHS web page below to see the various varieties of Cotoneaster and also their suitability to north facing aspects and shady conditions.


http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/searchbynameresults?nm=cotoneaster&op=0&pn=1






Hope this is of some help to you.:)

peadar76

cheers, I'll look those up

What do yous thing of the idea of just planting the one type in a planter that size?
It's a fairly modern style house and this particular planter is right against the front of it. I think
just mass planting of the one type would suit it rather than a mixture. I've plenty of other stuff going on elsewhere
so I just what this planter to be plain and simple and as maintainenace free as possible. what yas think?

peadar76

i like the coral beauty, but it looks like the cotoneasters need some sun.

Pachysandra Terminalis, green carpet looks ideal and likes shade. Have you grown it Paddy?

Viburnum Tinus 'Eve Price' is nice but grows too tall. Max height I want is about 500 - 600mm

paddy147

peadar76 wrote: »

i like the coral beauty, but it looks like the cotoneasters need some sun.

Pachysandra Terminalis, green carpet looks ideal and likes shade. Have you grown it Paddy?

Viburnum Tinus 'Eve Price' is nice but grows too tall. Max height I want is about 500 - 600mm

I have indeed...it spreads out and grows to a height of about 10 inches.

Doesnt like sunlight and does so much better in shade,spreads out by its underground rhizomes.:)

paddy147

peadar76 wrote: »

cheers, I'll look those up

What do yous thing of the idea of just planting the one type in a planter that size?
It's a fairly modern style house and this particular planter is right against the front of it. I think
just mass planting of the one type would suit it rather than a mixture. I've plenty of other stuff going on elsewhere
so I just what this planter to be plain and simple and as maintainenace free as possible. what yas think?

One thing to be aware of would be the footprint of the house and the walls and guttering.

You might not get propper rainfall in there,with regards to the planter is right up against the wall.

So you will need to keep watch on the soil and how moist/wet it is.


You could place in 2 or 3 nice large holly balls or holly ball trees and then underplant with lots of small low growing evergreen New Zealand ferns.
The hollyballs/holly trees will give you lovely flowers in summetime and then some nice red berries in wintertime.

And you still have nice evergreen colour all year round and a nice formal look for your new/modern style house.

Thats what we did with our own house,which is north facing and the top of our garden (up near window and porch) gets feck all sunlight.We also have box balls,various foxgloves and alliums growing up there aswell in the shade.Also various Hellebors,Ferns,Rhododendrons or some nice Thalictrums too.Also some "Mind your own Business" which I like...(pics in post 3).

paddy147

@ peadar76


Your best bet is for you and your partner/wife to take a trip to some of the gardening centres and nurseries and look at these plants,flowers and holly balls in the flesh.

They you can and will see with your own eyes and in daylight what you might like or might not like.

That would be the best thing to do,so you can see it all in the flesh and in the open too.

Best Regards.:)

Sonnenblumen

Do indeed check what the books or indeed nursery tags say, which afterall are only guides. How plants grow will be largely influenced by cultivation and local growing conditions. Often labels can be misleading.

You will have no problem growing cotoneaster in any aspect north or south. On the otherhand, north facing areas can be more exposed and wind can be tricky which is a very important factor when planting any half-standards or standards are vulnerable to lateral stress in unsheltered areas.

peadar76

cheers lads. I'll have a look around a garden centre, but at the moment it's between the green carpet & ground cover type of contoneaster.

paddy147

peadar76 wrote: »

cheers lads. I'll have a look around a garden centre, but at the moment it's between the green carpet & ground cover type of contoneaster.

Happy days so.:)

peadar76

this is the planter in question

paddy147

peadar76 wrote: »

this is the planter in question

Is there lumps of hardcore mixed into and burried in that soil,and its been trodden on and well compacted too??


Maybe tackle the soil and its quality 1st.:)

Dig some of that existing soil out,and then dig in some new topsoil.Mix in some compost,some manure and in some grit for drainage.

Depending on what shrubs you want to plant (say Rhododendrons),you would will also need some Ericaceous Compost to where you are planting them.


But look at improving your soil and its quality before you plant anything.:)

peadar76

thanks for the advice paddy. the soil is actually pretty decent. it needs to be rotavated and have any stones removed, and yes compost/manure can only help, but it is fairly good soil. It's not something I'll be doing for a while as it will cost a good few quid to get enough plants for it and funds are tight at the moment.
I wonder could I grow something suitable from seed or cuttings?

Sonnenblumen

Peadar we will all be pushing up daisies by the time Pachysandra managed to do anything in that planting area. Far too small for the location and on its own will be nothing more than weedlike.

If that is what you want, why not plant dandelion seed at zero cost?

If you prefer a cultivated plants why not look at the ornamental grasses?

I had previously suggested you consider Cotoneaster Coral Beauty but other strong looking plants worth considering and which would tolerate the conditions would be Libertia and Astelia.

peadar76

yeah, i need something fairly fast growing. I like contoneaster, but any websites i've looked at say full sun or partial shaded. This planter is in shade 95% of the time. I've seen a type of cotoneaster that was like a mat, it was only about 12-18 inches high, but was thick and completely covered every bit of the ground it was planted on

paddy147

peadar76 wrote: »

yeah, i need something fairly fast growing. I like contoneaster, but any websites i've looked at say full sun or partial shaded. This planter is in shade 95% of the time. I've seen a type of cotoneaster that was like a mat, it was only about 12-18 inches high, but was thick and completely covered every bit of the ground it was planted on

Lots of the shrubs/plants/flowers we have in our garden say Semi Shade,and they do perfectly fine where they are in the north facing/shaded area.



Coral Beauty will do fine.Grows 2-3 feet high and spreads out a good bit.It also hit with the bees (flowers) and the birds too (berries).:)

Once you get day light (which you do judging by your pic),you will be fine.

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=5944


Also,as previously mentioned,give some thought and time to your soil and its condition.

My Potatoes

Are you still considering ground cover? If so, I think Ophiopogon planiscapus 'Nigrescens' would look well here.
The black colour would look well with the white wall, grey trims and grey stone.

At a later date, if you decided on a mixture of plants/colours, well..."black, it goes with anything"!

However, it's a full sun/partial shade plant.