How To Create A Shady Garden Flower Garden

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Selection of plants for a flower garden under trees

Astilba grows well under trees

Create an interesting flower garden in the garden under the crown of a pine or oak tree. One of the possible places for planting flowers and ornamental plants, which enhance the appearance of the garden, is under the spreading crown of an old tree. Sometimes gardeners, having received a plot, cut off all the mature trees on it.

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This is not always justified and desirable. A shady spot under the trees can serve as a good resting place after hard work in the beds in the hot sun. Here you can create a spectacular flower garden that will become the centerpiece of your garden design.

Consider a number of factors: How much light and rain can penetrate the mass of the crown's leaves? How thick and how many small roots does the tree have? Even if enough light and rain reaches the soil, the tree's shallow roots make the problem unsolvable. Not all tree roots grow straight down into the ground, as beginners usually assume. Most roots grow in the upper part of the ground to a depth of 45 cm, spreading around much further than the development of the crown. Therefore, they can quickly grow, penetrate the flower bed and deprive it of moisture and nutrients.

Fruit trees and maples are some of the most inconvenient for creating flower beds under them. And it is no coincidence that landing under them almost always led to failure and disappointment. But on the other hand, oaks and conifers have strong, deeply growing roots, and therefore they can coexist with other plants.

Ayuga (tenacious)

Flower beds arranged under low trees - those that do not exceed six meters in adulthood, feel good. If there are such trees on your site, you can safely arrange flower beds under them. And get an original picture of lush plants that bloom vividly and look much better in the shade of stately trees.

The development of any site begins with a planting plan. Decide clearly for yourself what you want to get in the end at the chosen place - pleasure for one season or for several years. For a flower garden, use plants that have shallow roots and a non-aggressive root system.

When choosing flowers, it is necessary to present them in perspective: the size of the plants, how quickly they will grow, the flowering time, what degree of resistance to negative temperatures, whether they are drought-resistant or moisture-loving. Is the soil required - acidic or alkaline?

How will they grow and how long will they grow? What sizes can they reach?

It is very useful to look at the plants you have chosen at the age of three from the neighbors, if, of course, they have them. And shrubs are best seen at the age of five, when many of them reach maturity.

The appearance of your flower garden will depend on the knowledge of all these features - whether it will be a successful year-round spectacular place and delight you with a flowering color scheme and texture of leaves, etc.

Preparing a place for a flower garden begins with the complete removal of the sod. To grow herbaceous plants at the foot of a mature tree, the soil there must be, accordingly, without roots. Naturally, you will not deliberately dig up the roots - this method of preparation is the worst. Dig up the soil vigorously to determine root density.

Geichera

If the blade of the shovel hits the root network, move to a new location and try to dig again until the shovel has at least penetrated the bayonet. If the main roots are bothering you, then gently push them away without putting too much stress. Don't chop them off. But if you still cut them, then try to damage no more than 10% of the entire root system. In this case, the crown should also be reduced in proportion to the reduction of the roots, that is, by 10%.

After you have finished digging, prepare the planting holes. Lay them around the perimeter carefully with a thin net to slow down the penetration of new roots from the tree. Always check soil drainage. To do this, make a double depth hole and fill it with water. If the water does not disappear within 15 minutes, you should either improve the drainage (pour 10 cm of pebbles, rubble, gravel on the bottom of the pit), or replace the plant with one whose root system would correspond to wet conditions.

In the first case, on the surface of the rubble, lay a 10 cm layer of fertile soil, consisting of a mixture: 1 part of the original soil + 4 parts of compost or humus + 1 part of sand or gravel. Lower the plant and cover it to ground level with the mixed substrate. Tamp the substrate firmly, add water and tamp again. The level of the root collar should be 2-3 cm above the ground surface. Mulch the plant.

Careful early planting and care as you grow will keep you out of trouble for years. Growing up, the plants will press against each other. Plant or transplant them in time, otherwise the appearance of the flower garden will be lost. Considering the future growth of planting plants, do sparse. And it doesn't matter that the first years of flower beds may not look interesting enough.

Iberis

As for the bushes, it is better to plant slowly growing and in the future small evergreen bushes, for example, dwarf conifers, under the tree. They are a great addition to any herbaceous composition. The sparseness of plantings until the full flowering of perennials can be eliminated by filling empty spaces with annuals, as well as bulbous crops - tulips, hyacinths, lilies or ground cover plants.

For example, if you grow pale yellow daffodils, then after their flowering, only drying leaves will remain. The best way to avoid this unattractive picture is to grow daffodils surrounded by beautiful leafy plants such as host or tall herbaceous annuals and perennials that bloom profusely and slowly wither.

The advantage of annuals is their continuous flowering for several months. By choosing species and varieties with different flowering times, you will create a continuous, solid abundance of color from early spring to late summer. Some of the annuals, such as sage, zinnia, cleoma, cosmos, geranium, and others, retain their charm until they die from severe frosts.

Heat-loving favorites are partially overlapped by early-summer perennials, which also bloom beautifully until they are struck by cold temperatures. You can also create an autumn color scheme by planting perennials such as asters, sedums, chrysanthemums, Japanese anemones, coreopsis, colchicums, roses and ornamental herbs under the tree.

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I recommend trying to plant the following resistant perennials under the tree, preferring low to medium-sized plants:

1. Ayuga (tenacious) creeping, Burgundy blush variety - the most interesting decorative semi-evergreen ground cover plant. Forms numerous bluish-blue flowers from spring to early summer. She has strict strong leaves of a brown-beetroot color with a dark bronze tint. Plant height 15-25 cm. Grows well under a tree.

2. Ayuga. The Feline Giant is a long-lived ground cover variety that grows throughout the spring with rich reddish-bronze leaves and bright blue flowers on sturdy stems. It grows quickly on the ground to form a charming ground carpet. Plant height 20-25 cm

3. Cuff Lady Mandys with magnificent luxurious leaves, on the edges of which dew drops collect at night, beautifully shining in the morning. Their yellow-green leaves and flowers are a good addition to the flower garden. They form beautiful stately round mounds of velvety, lobed leaves from the end of spring. Wild varieties of cuff are in no way inferior to hybrids and therefore can be successfully used to create garden designs.

Cuff

4. Iberis (stennik) is an evergreen low shrub, up to 30 cm high with white flowers. Easy to grow and unpretentious. Leaves are linear-lanceolate. White flowers, about 1.5 cm in diameter, are collected in a corymbose raceme. It blooms profusely in May - June, forming dense rounded pillows 15-25 cm high. It is decorative throughout the growing season thanks to its dark evergreen foliage.

5. Resistant geranium - with elongated bells. It cannot be confused with other flowers, also called geraniums. This is a strong perennial, giving in summer beautiful graceful pale pink flowers with red veins with dissected sides and lobed leaves.

6. Geykhera grade Fiery. It has graceful, elegant leaves and long, swinging shoots with tiny bright red flowers - bells forming airy panicles. The height of numerous stems is up to 60 cm.

7. Hosta (plantain lily, function). The Fresi variety forms amazing cushions of dark green leaves with completely white edges. The attractive host adds elegance to the shade under the tree.

8. Hosta, variety Golden Tiara - dwarf form with luxurious greenery - heart-shaped leaves with a yellow border. Despite the compressed flowers, delicate and beautiful, hosts are still grown because of their rich leaves.

9. Lamb (lamium). Its most decorative variety is speckled lamb with heart-shaped leaves with jagged edges and a silvery border on dark greenery. The flowers are bright pink on small inflorescences. It blooms in early summer. Forms a gorgeous dirt carpet.

10. Lamb - variety Pink tin has pink flowers with oval-triangular leaves, distinguished by a silvery bloom on their surface, they are very decorative. The color of the leaves varies with the degree of illumination.

Platicodon

14. Platycodon (shirokolokolchik). Its spherical buds and large open bells looking up are amazing. Flower size - 5 cm, leaves are bluish-green, serrated at the edges. The plant has up to 10 shoots 30-50 cm high. It blooms in late summer. The color is blue and white.

Such a picturesque mixed symmetrical flower bed can also consist of a set of other flowers.

Monochromatic plantings under a tree are no less interesting. It is most successful to use bulbous crops for these purposes: tulips, daffodils, muscari, tender scilla and others. For annuals, you can use a different planting method. After removing the sod around the tree, place a mat or mat to fit the circle of sod you removed on a clean ground surface. Cover the mat with fertile soil, sow annual seeds or seedlings, moisturize and watch them grow.

This is one of the best ways to plant annuals with beautiful dark green leaves that grow no more than 15-30 cm. Keep your mat constantly moist and soon you will admire the formation of flower bushes from red, pink, pink-purple and white arrangements in a riot flowering. And the choice of annuals is huge. If you create such a flower garden, then this place under the tree will be one of your favorite in the garden. It will fill your garden with charm and decorate it with delicate colors.