Re: gravel plants - was: question
- Subject: Re: [SG] gravel plants - was: [SG] question
- From: M* T*
- Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 01:53:31 -0400
Just about everything in my garden seems to prefer growing in our
gravel drive and parking lot...except for true bog lovers, I can't
think of anything that won't grow nicely in gravel, esp. if there's
some humus in it, which our drive and parking area have accumulated
over the years. Around here those areas are the self-seed bed of
choice in shade or what passes for sun here.
I have a section of the driveway - actually two of them - that remain
moist because of downhill drainage and they are covered with Mazus
reptans who prefers this to the nice adjacent bed where it was
originally planted..and this is a moisture lover, so maybe other real
moisture lovers would do well in moist gravel.
Martha Oliver of Primrose Path Nursery told me they grow all their
Primula in wet sand beds - even gave me permission to post her
instructions for making one, which I did as a link to the article
about her nursery.
Plants just love the free drainage of rocks of any size from sand to
boulders, I think, plus the protection the rocks provide for their
roots.
So, Marilyn, I say go for a gravel bed and try anything you want to
in it. I note that some things will grow shorter in the gravel drive
than they do in a regular border, but that could be because of the
compacted stone dust base under our gravel - roots tend to grow
outward rather than down there and the only nutrients are the rather
thin layer of fine humus that's sifted into the stones.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
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> From: Bobbi Diehl <diehlr@INDIANA.EDU>
>
> Marilyn: Scree is what you have. Read up on scree at a rock
gardener's
> website, or in a book. One of my gardens is basically scree, a
former
> gravel driveway with some dirt added over the years. Many plants do
fine
> with this type of super drainage. Sedums, columbines, heucheras,
even
> daylilies. Echinacea and rudbeckia will grow in it, they grow
everywhere.
> Corydalis loves this environment. Daffodils and summer snowflakes
like it.
> I grow some 'Fairy' roses in there and they seem to be happy. I
can't
> think of other gravel lovers at the moment but I bet some of our
fellow
> SGers can.
>
> Bobbi Diehl
> Bloomington, IN
> zone 5/6
>
> On Fri, 24 Aug 2001, Marilyn wrote:
> > what is a scree garden?????? thanks.
> > RLeask wrote:
> > > Why not a scree garden. Pick plants which will do well in the
gravel base.
