Re: Acid-loving plants

On Mon, 31 Jul 2000 20:52:27 -0500, you wrote:

>Can anyone help with instructions on preparing a shadegarden dedicated to
>acid-loving plants?
>
>The house we recently bought has a rather large yard with some good trees
>and sufficient space for specialized gardens. On the north side of a row
>of huge arborvitaes that run along the back of the property, my husband
>wants to make an "acid garden". This would consist of a Carolina
>silverbell tree, various azaleas and rhododendrons, a fothergilla--maybe a
>few heaths and heathers if they can tolerate the amount of shade that is
>there, and maybe blueberry bushes, unless they need more sun. What else?
>I'm sure there are other plants that would be happy in this type of
>environment and would love to have suggestions. Trees, shrubs, even
>acid-loving annuals and herbaceous perennials would be possibilities. I
>know that hostas tend to be acid lovers. Are there hosta CVs that would
>particularly like this type of environment?
>
>The area is higher than the house, gently sloping down, and is currently
>lawn and under that, yellow clay which is probably mildly alkaline. (And
>yes, I do intend to have the soil tested just to confirm my hunch about
>the pH.) We propose stripping off the sod and adding topsoil, amending it
>to increase the acidity. We'd work in some pine bark mulch, copper
>sulphate, maybe Starbucks coffee grounds, whatever, to lower the pH. The
>idea would be that with the soil pretty much adjusted, we wouldn't need to
>keep watering with Mir-Acid and such. Is this a viable idea? Has anyone
>else succeeded with this type of garden? Thanks!
>
>
you should probably wait a year for the pH to adjust (if it is
seriously alkaline).  What trees are there now.  Oaks leaves are, I
believe, acidic -- for ex.  If it's not seriously alkaline, I
poisanlly (!) think that plants have a pretty high tolerance for a
range of pH.
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