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Poor grass under trees, help!
Pinkpepper
Posts: 21
i have a few small trees edging my lawn. The grass underneath is sparse and unhealthy looking. I could lay chippings/pebbles underneath but planting something would provide interest and colour. What would you advise? I'm not green fingered so it needs to be low maintenance and cheap to buy.
0
Posts
Is it shady or does a reasonable amount of light get in?is it damp or dry?
If the conditions are right, you could have all sorts of flowers that would nautralise with what grass is growing, you could go for cyclamen, winter aconite, snowdrops, bluebells. All of these just do their thing, dont need any care and will give you a beautiful space to look at
Alchemilla mollis, epimediums, Ajuga (Bugle) Vinca (periwinkle), hostas and ferns if not too dry, anemone blanda for spring colour, astrantia, brunnera... These mostly for foliage but choice of leaf colours available, mostly early flowering as woodlanders are, though astrantia flowers in summer. Some are evergreen, mix in more spring bulbs for early colour. None need much looking after apart from a tidy up at the end of the year.
Geranium macrorhizum - perennial, low maintenance, white, pink or mauve flowers in late spring, scented foliage which turns red in winter. Plant some daffs aonst it for early spring colour. It will spread slowly if happy but can easily be controlled if needs be.
The other alternative is to remove some of the lowerbranches form the trees to allow mor elight to the lawn then rake the poor grass and reseed in April when it's warm enough and moist enough for grass seed to germinate and take root.
Remember that the height of a tree shows the spread of the roots Any trees will take nutrients and water from the soil, leaving it impoverished which is why not much will grow around the base of any tree.