Re: gravel plants - was: question
- Subject: Re: [SG] gravel plants - was: [SG] question
- From: R* F*
- Date: Fri, 31 Aug 2001 01:58:35 -0400
Hi Marge! Great timing on this post, and very informative for me. I have
been wondering just what to do with certain spots of my driveway. The back
porch area, is all pea stone and soil. Seems as though pea stone was added,
sunk in, and added again, and so on. It is shady, with a little sun. I also
appreciated the info on primula- I had just planted mine out back there, but
I am going to check out your article on wet sand beds. Thanks! Robin
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marge Talt" <mtalt@CLARK.NET>
To: <shadegardens@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU>
Sent: Friday, August 31, 2001 1:53 AM
Subject: Re: [SG] gravel plants - was: [SG] question
> 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.
>
