North facing garden - border plants

Ali660

Hi Gardeners,

We have a fence down the right hand side of our property - on the other side of the fence, in the neighbour's garden, is a very large tree. We've lived in this house for 3 years and the tree is a pain in the butt. It has grown so much that it is forcing its weight against our wooden fence and its roots are massive (under the fence and into our garden).

We've recently removed 3 scruffy old shrubs (broken 2 forks in the process) but we are unable to remove the roots of 2 remaining scruffy shrubs because they seem to be intertwined with the tree's roots.

Anyway, let me get to the point :-) The soil in the border is old and sandy with some stones in it. Is it worth me planting any nice border plants, eg, lavender or maybe a rhodadendrun or hardy fuschia?? Or should I just get some black sheeting and bark the border?

Although it's north facing and as such does not get any sun in the morning/early afternoon, from mid afternoon onwards it receives the sun from the west.

Any suggestions welcome ... I'd hate to spend good money on plants if they are not going to take well in this inhospitable border!

Thanks in advance,

Ali

ellemm

At work so these thoughts are totally off the top of my head without any plant books to consult

I have a similar problem with a border which is in the shade of next door's trees making it very dry with hardly any depth of soil due to the tree roots. However living in the west of Scotland my soil is acid.

If your soil is sandy, I doubt if Rhododendrons would like it but Lavender probably would as it likes those sort of conditions and Rosemary. I would suggest Googling plants for sandy, dry areas and see what comes up. The wild Fuschia might do well as it often grows by the seaside. What about the ornamental thistles too they like dry conditions and there are so many decorative grasses available now.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Ali660

Will try that - thanks :beer:

I've got a nice rosemary (small green ground level leaves) and a nice flowering rosemary in a pot ... could I transfer this?

It sounds like some heathers might take too ... what do you think?

Ali
x

ellemm

Rosemary should be OK, heathers won't like the sandy soil, they need acid conditions.

Ali660

What about leaving an area free for annuals? My potted petunias are gorgeous but I'm not sure if they'd like this kind of earth ... are there any pretty summer flowers suited to rough earth (also I can't dig deep down because of the wretched tree's roots).

Maybe I could consider a nice ground coverage plant ... any ideas?

Sorry! Complete novice here! But REALLY enjoying what I've done so far so want to keep my enthusiasm up!

ellemm

No apologies necessary...we all have to start somewhere, my first attempts at gardening were very hit and miss...but I kept on trying different things, read a LOT of books and developed my own style of planting. and am still learning after 30 years
Had a look at a couple of books I have on Mediterranean style gardens and came up with the following suggestions:-

ANNUALS
Calendula (Pot Marigold)
Aster
Pansy
Antirrhinum (Snapdragon)
Cosmos
Petunia
Nasturtium
Zinnia
All of these are suitable for shallow sandy soil.
Too late for sowing this year and I don't know if the Garden centres will still have bedding plants but may be useful to plan for next year.

OTHERS

Geranium/Pelargonium
Busy Lizzie
Lavender
Rosemary
Thyme
Sage
Iris
Sedum family, lots of different forms
Ornamental Grasses
Any silver foliage perennials should do well in dry ground

You could also plan some small bulbs for the Spring, which would be planted this Autumn, such as Anemones, Snowdrops, Crocus which don't have to be planted too deeply.

Hope that gives you some ideas.

Laura