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Help planting in/improving dry soil in light shade
Devonian
Posts: 176
Happy Thursday all
I have a border area in my garden (moved in earlier this year) which is sited under a large cherry. The soil here is extremely dry and quite compacted in parts too, as well as being stony (lots of stones have come to the surface as you can see in the photos).
Some notes on location and exposure:
I'm looking forward to having a good crack at this area - I believe it could be a lovely planted spot once I've put in the hard graft. So I'd really appreciate a few pointers to help me A) improve the soil and
what to plant there.
Some of the options I've been considering are:
The images below are taken the morning after all the rain we had yesterday afternoon, showing how little reaches the surface here:
I have a border area in my garden (moved in earlier this year) which is sited under a large cherry. The soil here is extremely dry and quite compacted in parts too, as well as being stony (lots of stones have come to the surface as you can see in the photos).
Some notes on location and exposure:
- Located at the SW corner of the house, and the wind rattles down that side passage during winter! This position does pick up a fair amount of wind, as Easterlies rattle back through in the other direction.
- Faces N/NW - the hedge behind shields it from the Southerly aspect. However, some parts of it receives a lot of late afternoon and evening sunshine during late spring through to early autumn, which can be pretty hot and baking.
- Soil generally is slightly on the acidic side I think (waiting for the hydrangea to flower to confirm it!) There are rhododendrons, azaleas and camellia further along the border)
- This particular part of the garden has quite stony soil, there's a lot of slate in the area. However, other parts of the garden have lovely loamy, rich soil.
- Located in South Devon, so mild wet winters and long warm summers with plenty of sunshine.
I'm looking forward to having a good crack at this area - I believe it could be a lovely planted spot once I've put in the hard graft. So I'd really appreciate a few pointers to help me A) improve the soil and
what to plant there.Some of the options I've been considering are:
- Grasses such as Hakone or Pheasant's Tail (lovely in the breeze!)
- Hosta (might be too dry?)
- Liriope Muscari (not massively fond of this but it would inject some colour at least)
- Lavender Hidcote (not sure I'd get away with this given the amount of shade!)
The images below are taken the morning after all the rain we had yesterday afternoon, showing how little reaches the surface here:
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Posts
The only problem is the tree. You don't want to put tons of organic matter up against it.
It might be a good idea to isolate it slightly, by just putting a small edging round it and then you can load in organic matter everywhere else.
I think you could get hostas in there no bother. They'll cope fine once established. I inherited a few which were under a conifer. They'd obviously been put in when the conifer was small. Needless to say, the conifer grew.I relocated them but the slugs and snails make doilies out of them. They survived under the tree because it was inhospitable for the snails!
Don't think I'd try lavender - I think it would look odd anyway, if you want grasses and ferns etc. The Hakoenochloa will also be fine once established. They prefer some dampness, but they'll be fine. You'd probably get foxgloves to grow there too. They don't mind drier conditions. Over time, you'd possibly get Astilbes established too.
I think the Liriope would also be ok. Spring bulbs too - lots of them will suit the site
I've also got the prostrate Gualtheria [procumbens] in a similar site. It's very useful ground cover
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I think I'll go down the route of Hosta, grasses and ferns to make it all look lush and green, then start adding foxgloves and spring bulbs.
Great idea on the Gaultheria too, what a lovely plant! I'll use that further down the border where it's really shady.
Thanks again!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...