Re: Pachysandra terminalis was: ground cover
- To:
- Subject: Re: Pachysandra terminalis was: ground cover
- From: M* T*
- Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2000 00:57:15 -0400
I tell ya' Nancy, that totally amazes me and if galeobdolan is one
that you lost, it just goes to show how plants behave differently in
different places! If you ever want to try it again, email me
privately and we can talk about my sending you some.
Pennyroyal is not one I grow.
Pachysandra terminalis is a great plant for deep shade - really does
not like sun and will turn an icky yellowish green if it gets too
much of it. It also does not like alkaline soil, which has the same
effect on it.
It takes about 3 years for it to get really established, during which
time it needs to be watered and weeded. Once established, it
requires absolutely no care and mine only gets overspray watering
from other sections of the garden when it's dry...have never seen it
even wilt. I have it growing in the most absolutely lousy clay that
was never originally amended. Of course, it has swallowed a lot of
leaves over the years, so I'm sure the soil is now actually better
than when it was first put in.
Try taking some cuttings from your lot. Best time, according to
Dirr, is after the spring flush of growth has hardened. He suggests
1000 ppm IBA rooting hormone in a peat and perlite compost. He also
says under mist, but if you enclose in plastic should be about the
same. I have rooted it with no hormone nor mist, but have had losses
that way, too. Of course, can't remember what time of year I was
doing it...could have been any time and not the right time. The
whitish runners will also root.
In my experience, you can cut it back hard just about any time during
the growing season and it will leaf out again. You might try a few
cuttings now to see what happens.
I remember, years ago, being extraordinarily annoyed at my better
half for basically yanking out several yards of it that I had planned
to carefully dig up and transplant. Well, muttering imprecations
fairly loudly, I quickly dug shallow trenches in unamended soil (I
hadn't gotten the new bed prepared yet) and crammed it in, covered it
up and watered it. I just *knew* it would die. Well, it didn't. In
fact, I'd say 85% of it grew away just like it had been handled with
loving care. Now, when I want to move some, I just pull it up and
cram it in the ground:-)
If you mulch the area where you have it growing fairly heavily and
keep it watered, it will spread faster and the rooted runners will be
easier to remove and relocate as they will root into the mulch.
IMO, Pachysandra makes a much neater and less troublesome groundcover
for deep shade than any other plant I grow. It's not terribly
exciting, but if you want a neat, tough evergreen groundcover for
deep shade in zones 3 to 8, it's hard to beat. Dirr notes it does
not perform as well in the deep south as in northern areas.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
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> From: Nancy Lowe <nlowe@hotmail.com>
> Date: Wednesday, July 19, 2000 7:31 PM
> Actually, Marge, I think that's the one I bought in gallon pots and
planted
> a half dozen or so...no luck! Right now, I'm going with the
pennyroyal. I
> bought a small pot of it a couple of years ago, and it looked like
it really
> wanted to spread out. So, I figured bounded by the house and the
driveway,
> it could just go to town. It's not particularly attractive (my
husband
> thought it was a weed, and wanted to spray it with Roundup) but
it's green!
> I planted pachysandra under some trees last year, and decided if it
got well
> established in a couple of seasons, I'd try transplanting some to
my problem
> spot.
> Although, I am happy with the hosta and fern effect; just have to
water
> every day in this weather!
>
> Sounds like the "creeping jenny" wants a little more sun than I
have here,
> but I may keep it in mind for the area where I'm hoping to install
a water
> garden this fall.
>
> Nancy Lowe
> Arkansas, zone 7
>
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