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Woodland Planting Ideas Please!

jasminewhitejasminewhite Posts: 21
in Plants
Hi all,

I recently removed a lot of Rhododendron ponticum from our garden leaving loads of space for new plants and would love your ideas on what to replace them with. I am looking for...

- Shade loving. The areas are beneath 20ish metre tall oak, pine and conifer trees. Any new plants will get covered in leaves.
- I'd like mostly large shrubs over 2m and multistem trees up to 4m to give the feeling of depth that we've now lost.
- Some evergreen and some deciduous. Would love some winter interest.
- Some low ground cover too. If ferns, please could you recommend which?
- Wildlife friendly/beneficial. The garden is forest-like and wild looking at the moment. New plants need to look natural in the setting and native is great.
- Low maintenance please. 

Thanks in advance for all advice!
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Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Are you sure you've got rid of it all? It's particularly tenacious unfortunately. 
    Have you a photo or two of the site? That can help with getting a better idea of the space.  :)
    Also - whereabouts are you - roughly? Your general climate will be a major factor in what plants will thrive  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    HOSTAS

    Devon.
  • jasminewhitejasminewhite Posts: 21
    edited February 2022
    Hiya, Hostas sound great thanks. Are there any you'd particularly recommend that wont mind getting buried in leaves?

    Fairygirl, that's a really good point. We're in Hampshire. There's loads of ponticum still in the garden and the other side of our boundaries so I doubt this garden will ever be free of them, especially during my lifetime! I have cleared some areas and half cleared others. Later on I'll post a pic of the main parts I want to focus on.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It's a dreadful shrub - highly invasive and very damaging. We have an ongoing battle with it in Scotland as it chokes everything in sight in our glens if it gets a foothold. 

    The amount of moisture available to plants will make a difference to choices, as well as what time you can give to get them established. It's not too difficult here because there's enough rainfall to penetrate dense foliage, but that's not the same if you're in a drier area  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • jasminewhitejasminewhite Posts: 21
    edited February 2022
    Yeah it is awful.

    The soil can be very wet in winter as there's clay underneath but dry in summer because of the trees. I am looking at Aesculus parviflora. Also would love a Callicarpa 'Profusion' and a Viburnum Opulus if they can handle the dry. Maybe a Corylus avellana 'Contorta'.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited February 2022
    The Viburnum might be ok if it isn't too dry for too long. Same for the contorted Hazel.
    I've never grown Callicarpa, or the Aesculus, so can't comment on how well they would do. 
    Just thinking - as you've had no problem with rhodos growing [ ;) ] you could certainly try some of the pale varieties of rhodo - Cunningham's White is very easy and grows fairly speedily, but also Azalea luteum. It's particularly nice with scented flowers that I can even smell with my rubbish nose. 1st one is evergreen , 2nd is deciduous.
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Pieris might do well as a taller shrub.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Camellias and Fothergillas.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • februarysgirlfebruarysgirl Posts: 835
    When I was buying plants for a shaded area in my garden, I got them from this website https://www.plantsforshade.co.uk/ I couldn't tell you exactly what ferns I have, only that they're various types of polystichum. Also, heucheras, heucheras, heucheras 😁
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    I grew Aesculus parviflora in a permanently shady part of my garden in Yorks.  It did well and flowered - not in dry shade though, under the "drip line" on the NE side of deciduous trees.  It got to about 2m tall by 4m across.  It suckers a bit.



    Behind it, in even denser shade, was a winter-flowering honeysuckle, Lonicera purpusii 'Winter Beauty'.  Flowers fairly insignificant but beautifully scented.  A biggish shrub, bit untidy looking.

    Also a Rubus cockburnianus 'Golden Vale', which looked fab in the winter.  Bit of a thug though...  it looked lovely winding through a big Sambucus nigra 'Black Lace'.  Those should be ok once established even if it's dry in summer, I'd have thought.  Bees loved the flowers on the Rubus, and birds ate the elderberries, so that covers the wildlife aspect too...   :)


    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
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