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Eucalyptus vs alternatives - FIGHT!

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    #32
    Squiggle
    Registered Users Posts: 1,254 ✭✭✭Squiggle


    my3cents wrote: »
    You don't dot them all over the place you have a plan and plant them in large groups called beds. The more beds there are the less grass there is, win win.

    Good to see you acknowledging that spending less time tending to grass in a garden is a salient design feature. Putting long sweeping "beds" at the sides will further contribute to that cause. Kids will also appreciate an unimpeded grass area.
    However each to their own and if a gardener's proclivity is to spend hours walking behind a mower cutting grass and dodging numerous trees/beds every week then so be it !


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    #33
    Lumen
    Registered Users Posts: 31,072 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    Excellent. I was expecting a fight over the Eucalytpus but a fight over planting schemes is equally welcome. :pac:

    The next challenge is, now that I've a plan for filling the edges of my garden with trees, what do I do with the shady area under them, perennials-wise?

    my3cents suggested Cyclamen in the recent thread about indoor planting. These look amazing:

    IMG_3020s.jpg

    What other colourful ground-cover plants work well in acidic soils under trees?


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    #34
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 49,524 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    wild garlic? something you can eat.


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    #35
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 49,524 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    ah, just noticed the comment about acid soil. i don't think that suits wild garlic.


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    #36
    Lumen
    Registered Users Posts: 31,072 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    ah, just noticed the comment about acid soil. i don't think that suits wild garlic.
    Although on the other hand I could make a deep bed of used mushroom compost, which is supposed to contain loads of chalk, and then the legendary invasiveness of wild garlic would be kept at bay by the wall of acid surrounding it.


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    #37
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    wild garlic? something you can eat.

    No don't its a dreadful weed that you can never get rid of.

    Something I'd 110% recommend on an acid soil with shade and ideally loads of leaf mold (including pine needles) is Cornus canadensis https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/4384/Cornus-canadensis/Details. It can take a while to get it going but its a gem if you can, also goes well with cyclamen.


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    #38
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Lumen wrote: »
    Although on the other hand I could make a deep bed of used mushroom compost, which is supposed to contain loads of chalk, and then the legendary invasiveness of wild garlic would be kept at bay by the wall of acid surrounding it.

    If you've got acid soil live with it, a wood land with an acid soil is the norm because the leaf mould creates those conditions even over chalk. The number of woodland plants that require a limey soil are far fewer than those that require an acid one.


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    #39
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    A few more that spring to mind are Wood anemones https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/1243/Anemone-nemorosa/Details , they are supposed to perfer alkaline soil but I've had them doing well in acid soil and winter aconites are another https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/6540/i-Eranthis-hyemalis-i/Details.

    Neither are strictly ground cover but the point is with little light in a woodland there isn't much that is a continuous ground cover. Most flowering plants just take advantage of the conditions and flower before the trees gain their leaves in spring.

    Throw in snow drops, spend some money and get an expensive named double form and keep dividing it. If you can do that often enough in about 50 years time you can make a fortune selling them.

    Please please don't plant any bluebells of any form.

    Now if you are feeling really rich you can blow a load of money on Trilliums


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    #40
    Lumen
    Registered Users Posts: 31,072 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    my3cents wrote: »
    Please please don't plant any bluebells of any form.
    Invasive?


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    #41
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 49,524 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    my3cents wrote: »
    No don't its a dreadful weed that you can never get rid of.
    heh, i planted some in the woodland section of my garden last year.
    i've bluebells there too.


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    #42
    macraignil
    Registered Users Posts: 3,443 ✭✭✭macraignil


    Lumen wrote: »
    Excellent. I was expecting a fight over the Eucalytpus but a fight over planting schemes is equally welcome. :pac:

    The next challenge is, now that I've a plan for filling the edges of my garden with trees, what do I do with the shady area under them, perennials-wise?

    my3cents suggested Cyclamen in the recent thread about indoor planting. These look amazing. What other colourful ground-cover plants work well in acidic soils under trees?

    Flowering well in the garden next door at the moment is vinca minor
    It's a lot nicer than the brambles and nettles that have taken over the majority of the derelict garden there, and it must be some way hardy to be thriving with no attention.
    Also looking well at the moment and worth considering is cornus alba siberica
    I have a number growing well in the middle of taller trees and shrubs. It is taller than the standard ground cover so it would not be suitable for areas you still want to walk about but I just thought I should mention it since there was another cornus mentioned in one of the recent posts and this one looks particularly good at this time of year when the red stems can be seen easier when the leaves have fallen. The examples I have seem happy to sprawl about at about 1.5metres high but the RHS page does say they can reach 2.5metres and so again it would not be a low growing ground cover.
    When the lower branches tip the ground they root and it's very easy to propagate because of this. I planted a single branch three years ago and trimmed off more than ten new good sized plants just this week as it was spreading too close to a viburnum that has not got fully established yet. While I have a good number of them planted now I have seen them spread a bit in just a few years so I might have to prune them back more regularly in future. This is said to be good for the stem colour as it is strongest in vigorous new growth.


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    #43
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    Lumen wrote: »
    Invasive?

    99% chance of them being the foreign invader the Spanish Bluebell and they are annoyingly invasive. I spent 10 years in one garden getting rid of them.

    The reason I don't like them is you can have some early flowering gem with a splash of blue that clashes with the colour of the flower you really want show off coming up right through it. Then after a while you can't dig a planting hole without digging up immature bluebell bulbs. You end up having to spend ages getting rid of the small bulbs if you don't want newly planted stuff swamped with them.

    There are plenty of nice small bulbs that are worth cultivating that there is no point have a brute like a bluebell in with them.

    Don't forget you won't have a true woodland you'll have a copse at most and the great thing about that is the number of locations you have that are more woodland edge with some sun during the day than deep woodland with dark shade. I'd be planning plenty of plants for the woodland edges where you are going to get more weeds anyway if you leave the ground exposed and then keep any thoughts of ground cover to further in.

    Another genus worth investigating for shade are the Epimedium's not massive ground coverers but they do stay low and produce small but interesting flowers.

    Woodland edge's with more of a Northern aspect is always a good spot for Hellebores.

    Not forgetting that if you have a woodland you need a woodland path through it and you can put plant smaller shade loving plants along the edges of the path. In fact think of it like having flower beds within your woodland.

    I used to mow a 100m path through Celandines each spring, during the summer it was scrappy grass that needed a pass with the mower every couple of weeks just to define it. The advantage was it encouraged people to walk through the woodland area and see all that was planted there and provided a new vistas to view the garden for minimum effort.


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    #44
    magicbastarder
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 49,524 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    i think it's relatively easy to get guaranteed english bluebells? mine certainly are.

    one problem for me is i was given wild garlic bulbs by a friend - it turns out they were three cornered leek, which some people seem to refer to as wild garlic. they're edible, but not much character to the taste.


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    #45
    Lumen
    Registered Users Posts: 31,072 ✭✭✭✭Lumen


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    i think it's relatively easy to get guaranteed english bluebells? mine certainly are.
    A quick search suggests your English ones can be hybridized by bee pollination, and would then be more vigourous than English or Spanish.


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    #46
    my3cents
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,764 ✭✭✭my3cents


    magicbastarder wrote: »
    i think it's relatively easy to get guaranteed english bluebells? mine certainly are.

    one problem for me is i was given wild garlic bulbs by a friend - it turns out they were three cornered leek, which some people seem to refer to as wild garlic. they're edible, but not much character to the taste.

    Another argument would be why plant a brute you might end up not wanting and will grow almost anywhere when you are creating an environment that is ideal for nicer plants.

    To some extent a woodland garden is self weeding or at least many of the weeds you get in the open garden have a hard time so if you plant plants that enjoy the woodland environment you make the chore of gardening easier.


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