Re: plants for zone 4 dry shade?
- Subject: Re: [SG] plants for zone 4 dry shade?
- From: G*
- Date: Sun, 29 Apr 2001 08:22:02 -0400
Hello Terry,
Good to see your name again. Hope that all is well with you, yours and your
garden.
Have you thought of going up rather than down into the roots of the two trees?
perhaps a raised bed located between the two trees would work best. Then further
out where the root mass is a bit less you can do a bit more of the digging down.
Tree roots will eventually get into the raised bed as well, but will take 3 years
or so and that will give your perennials time to get settled in and take the
competition.
Another option is to grow the early bloomers that go dormant later in the
season as the demand for water increases. Just locate them with ferns, or
perennials that bloom later in the season. trick is to keep things alive the first
full season so they can get settled in and compete.
Gene Bush Southern Indiana Zone 6a Munchkin Nursery
around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com http://www.munchkinnursery.com
----- Original Message -----
From: Terry King <taeking@ENDLESSHEALTH.COM>
Subject: [SG] plants for zone 4 dry shade?
> I just joined this list a few days ago. Hello to Marge, Gene, Rosemary, and
> any others who might remember me from the Gardens list a couple of years
> ago.
>
> I have a spot I want to develop into a new bed. Its under Douglas fir and
> Larch. The spot gets lots of medium to bright shade as the tree branches
> begin about 15' up. The soil is *very* dry volcanic silt with little, if
> any, organic matter. I will ammend some but I can't dig too deeply because
> of the tree roots. I'm willing to start with annuals but eventually want to
> include hardy perennials. Perennials must be able to with stand temps. down
> to -30 without snow cover since the trees prevent much snow from
> accumulating.
>
> I would appreciate any suggestions or ideas.
>
> Thanks,
> Terry King
