Plant Ideas Needed
Hi
We had a rare opportunity to tackle the garden yesterday while my inlaws looked after the toddler, including taking out several uninvited trees. We had to prune a beloved but overgrown broom to get to them. It's great for the bees and we love it - but it's way bigger than the border and I know they don't like pruning. The plant next to it has never attracted wildlive (it's tree like- identified as sambuca nigra but never seen berries on it so I'm not sure), so we're thinking of starting again in that area. It is a narrow border on clay which gets the sun, and we'd be planting on roots - any thoughts? We want plenty of pollinator value.
We're also looking for a shade and clay tolerant living mulch for under our double cordon pear to give the weeds a run for their money, in the nectar bar border.
Thanks!
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Another nice plant for perfume at this time of year is Sarcococca confusa. We had a bumblebee on it yesterday and a butterfly last week.
Sorry to jump in, but always on the look-out for plant ideas for a family-friendly garden.
Pansy, when I Googled the Sarcococca, some of the images show berries, I can't find anything to suggest that they're toxic, presumably it would be mentioned on RHS or somewhere if they were?
Gardens are filled with toxic plants. I estimate that there are more toxic ones than non toxic ones in my garden.
As with all aspects of their growing up, children need to be made aware of the fact that not everything they meet in life is benign. But nor is everything they meet out to get them.
Bluebells and snowdrops seem to thrive when growing under trees in our area, I agree with pansyface that Buddleia also grows in the most poor of soils and certainly attracts butterflies. It is a fairly cheap plant to buy so if you have to remove it or it doesn't take then you won't have lost a fortune.
Sorry for the delay in replying, small ones do attract illnesses and eat time. Ooh, can buddleia be propagated by cutting? We already have a lovely white one, recently had its annual haircut (with a saw!!)
When you say do a proper clear out, how would you accomplish that? Time and funds are limited.
Guernsey Donkey2, some of our crocuses do ok, but our clay soil eats bulbs, it gets too wet over winter.
My husband was thinking of a holly for this area, as they're quite slow growing.
Any ideas for a shade and clay tolerant ground cover? I may just propagate my oregano.
Buddleias take really easily from stem cuttings - we have far too many because OH had nearly 100% success rate and can't bear to throw any away
.he took them in about June I think ......usual method of cutting just below a leaf node, stripping off lower leaves and sticking them round the edge of a pot of compost. No covering or bottom heat required.
I cut back the giant buddleia here and used a stout stem as an additional support for a small tree. That support is now a fully flourishing buddleia which will need removed! They're hard to kill
Pachysandra will do fine in your shady clay bookmonster. Also Tiarellas and Heucherellas and Heucheras. Geraniums too.
Thanks for the ideas! When we took out the indian bean tree it was already under planted so we didn't have any dilemnas about what to do with it. Any tips on root removal ??