Why not just keep it in ferns? Build your walkway through there,
maybe stick a few things here and there, but mainly let
the ferns stay? Are they ugly ferns? Do they mutter anti-Norwegian
statements when no one is close by?
A benefit of leaving it largely alone is, you won't break your neck
falling while trying to garden up there!
Harry
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 1:32 PM
Subject: Steep area in shade
Could you find some spots where you could stick some Lilies-of-the-Valley?
They will multiply and help hold the dirt.
Brigitte
The Alternative Pond & Gardens Mart, Inc.
http://www.pondmarket.com.
Boswell
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 1:49 PM
To: GARDENS@LSV.UKY.EDU
Subject: Re: Steep area in shade
Why not just keep it in ferns? Build your walkway through there,
maybe stick a few things here and there, but mainly let
the ferns stay? Are they ugly ferns? Do they mutter anti-Norwegian
statements when no one is close by?
A benefit of leaving it largely alone is, you won't break your neck
falling while trying to garden up there!
Harry
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 2000 1:32 PM
Subject: Steep area in shade
How about ivy or pachysandra? Their roots spread out everywhere once
they get established. I have ivy on a hillside and also ostrich ferns.
Karen in zone 6/5b
Pittsburgh, PA
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Hi all
- I need a lot of good suggetions from you to a new very steep part of my
wilderness that I want to start some gardening in. Wild ferns seem to
dominate this area now that could be about 10 x 15 meters.
I started to 'clean up' and made a ziczac walk downsloaps here yesterday
..... it is fading east/north east - it is is along a waterfall and a
difficulty part of a longer walk I try to make along it.
It certainly a shady part of garden - with some big trees at the bottom,
make even the morningsun not come much through here. Soil seem to be heavy
- full of organic stuff. And it is not the shade that is my problem - but
that is is so VERY steep - maybe 1:1 ... so I want suggestion on something
that do not break down by first strong wind or rainfall.
I suppose some the ferns will still be there, but I want something else
too. But it must be something that NOT need lots of care/cutting and so on
because it is about impossible to walk here.
Thanks if someone can help with suggestions.
:) Arnhild
- z8'er in chilly latitude 60 - Hardanger in Norway
*All the flowers of all the of tomorrows are in the seeds of today* -
Proverb from India
Hi again ... I need something to 'hold' the soil here and ..
I have also been thinking of ivy like Karen suggested, that will be
evergreen and that will be good for not loosing soil when raining during
winters. I have a lot of normal green that I can tak cuttings from - but I
wanted a more varigated one to to get some colours - do you have ivy and
ferns together KAren? And the ivy do not climb nd dedstropy the ferns?
Pachysandra has never been 'my' plant ... so also not Vinca that we have
a tread on in GArdens now ... they are ok whne they are good, but maybe I
have had too much weed (goutweed) to pick between them where they were
standing !? :)
Lily-of-the-Valley is also a plant I like Brigitte ... and it also was in
fact one I thought of, but they are small I am afraid they will drown, I
didn't know they were goood holders of the soil ... wonder if I can raise
them from seeds ... they are growing wild in our forrest and since this is
kind of 'wilderness-garden' they will be nice ..will really see if not
there is a spot for them :)
Ferns - Harry - I love ferns - and sure they will stay because they seem
to hold the soil too, but they are not all over here - I even may plant
more! Just find some ostrich ferns in forrest becuase they are nicer and
stronger - but I need something more than mosses between to feel safe - I
think the ferns will like that Harry :) And I want some few things to
brighten up with anothre colour and maybe fragance.
This really can become a surpizing and exciting part of the gardenwalk! At
the bottom is a nice little flat part, a big Norway maple and maybe I put
down some Rhododendron here? I might also have a bench were you can sit and
nobody watching you and the waterfall is a very nice view from here - doing
a curve. And from here it is rather flat down to the fjord and it is
possble to drive a tractor to this 'bottom' from the fjordside, and it is
possible to fish in the waterfall from here and down to the sea. But
walking to the next level of of garden right here will be so steep so there
is an alternativ too!
And Harry - I promise not to fall and break my neck - born here I am like a
mountain goat you know! :) I hope to have an area that when finished
established is not much gardening is needed ?
:) Arnhild - z8'er in chilly latitude 60 - Hardanger in Norway
*All the flowers of all the of tomorrows are in the seeds of today* -
Proverb from India
Hi Arnhild
I hope you are able to find some other interesting selections. I don't =
know if you have tried growing rhodies under the maple, but mine just =
about died. I stupidly wasn't aware of the maple's surface roots when I =
planted them. I finally moved them 2 years ago. They are still small, =
but alive and doing much better in the back below an old high limbed =
hemlock.
Penny
> abbl@ONLINE.NO 04/26/00 01:33AM >>>
Hi again ... I need something to 'hold' the soil here and ..
I have also been thinking of ivy like Karen suggested, that will =
be
evergreen and that will be good for not loosing soil when raining during
winters. I have a lot of normal green that I can tak cuttings from - but I
wanted a more varigated one to to get some colours - do you have ivy and
ferns together KAren? And the ivy do not climb nd dedstropy the ferns?
Pachysandra has never been 'my' plant ... so also not Vinca that =
we have
a tread on in GArdens now ... they are ok whne they are good, but maybe I
have had too much weed (goutweed) to pick between them where they were
standing !? :)
Lily-of-the-Valley is also a plant I like Brigitte ... and it also =
was in
fact one I thought of, but they are small I am afraid they will drown, I
didn't know they were goood holders of the soil ... wonder if I can raise
them from seeds ... they are growing wild in our forrest and since this =
is
kind of 'wilderness-garden' they will be nice ..will really see if not
there is a spot for them :)
Ferns - Harry - I love ferns - and sure they will stay because =
they seem
to hold the soil too, but they are not all over here - I even may plant
more! Just find some ostrich ferns in forrest becuase they are nicer and
stronger - but I need something more than mosses between to feel safe - I
think the ferns will like that Harry :) And I want some few things to
brighten up with anothre colour and maybe fragance.
This really can become a surpizing and exciting part of the =
gardenwalk! At
the bottom is a nice little flat part, a big Norway maple and maybe I put
down some Rhododendron here? I might also have a bench were you can sit =
and
nobody watching you and the waterfall is a very nice view from here - =
doing
a curve. And from here it is rather flat down to the fjord and it is
possble to drive a tractor to this 'bottom' from the fjordside, and it is
possible to fish in the waterfall from here and down to the sea. But
walking to the next level of of garden right here will be so steep so =
there
is an alternativ too!
And Harry - I promise not to fall and break my neck - born here I am like =
a
mountain goat you know! :) I hope to have an area that when finished
established is not much gardening is needed ?
:) Arnhild - z8'er in chilly latitude 60 - Hardanger in Norway
*All the flowers of all the of tomorrows are in the seeds of today* -
Proverb from India
No, the ivy and ferns are in two different areas, but I don't know if the
ivy would be able to climb the ferns very well since they are so soft.
My lily of the valley roots so deep that it is hard to dig up in clay
soil. But mine dies back in early July, which is a lot sooner than I'd
like it to.
Are you warm enough to grow jasmine? In Florida it blooms in the shade
and smells heavenly.
Karen in zone 6/5b
Pittsburgh, PA
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In a message dated 4/25/00 5:21:00 PM Central Daylight Time,
d-k-barker@JUNO.COM writes:
> How about ivy or pachysandra? Their roots spread out everywhere once
> they get established. I have ivy on a hillside and also ostrich ferns.
I don't know how much rain you get, but whatever you plant be sure to have a
lot of different root depths. Having all one kind of plant with the same
root base can mean disaster when it all washes down the hill. Having a
varied depth of roots can prevent this as the deeper roots hold things
together when the more shallow want to shift downhill. One BIL lives on a
hillside in CA. He constantly had mud washing into his back porch until he
was told to try this. Now some of his neighbors still get the mud, but his
seems to have slowed to a bare trickle. Thankfully there are no other houses
above him, and woods below.
Anne in FL
zone 9b, sunset 26
I'd rather be gardening.
Hi Arnhild and all,
When ferns are happy it takes a nuclear blast to get rid of them. Everybody on
the list a few years back read whine after whine from me about clearing a bed
along the driveway. The ferns were blocking my view of the road as I pulled out
and I wanted something shorter, with more color. It took me all summer working
evenings and weekends to clear the rhizomes out of a 50 foot bed and the left
over fragments are my most common weeds in that bed.
Be sure you really want them. However, given the strength and the way that
those roots were interconnected, they would be very good at holding a slope.
I also have a lot of them as undergrowth in my woods and the only thing that
competes successfully is rasberries and small trees. In drought years they turn
gold in August and look pretty bad by August so they prefer a fairly moist
environment.
Esther
Do you have morel mushrooms there, Arnhild (Morchella esculenta, in
particular)? The steepness of your slope reminded me of the year I crawled
on hands and knees up a mountain. In every mossy deerprint, there was a
morel. We can now buy morel mushroom spawn here, but I haven't talked to
anyone who's actually harvested morels from their spawn. Margaret L
we have
> a tread on in GArdens now ... they are ok whne they are good, but maybe I
> have had too much weed (goutweed) to pick between them where they were
> standing !? :)
> Lily-of-the-Valley is also a plant I like Brigitte ... and it also
was in
they seem
gardenwalk! At
> I don't know how much rain you get, but whatever you plant be sure to have a
> lot of different root depths.
---------> we have about 12-1300 mm rain a year (?around 50 inches?) - more
in wintertime than summertime.
Was interesting what you tell about roots with different depths ... and it
makes sence
- but then I have to aks more;
which shade plants have what kind of rootsystem????
Wonder if it excists a kind of list of this somewhere in a webpage ? - or
maybe some of you have in your computer or head?
:) Arnhild - z8'er in chilly latitude 60 - Hardanger in Norway
*All the flowers of all the of tomorrows are in the seeds of today* -
Proverb from India
Actually, I have a slope, too. When I found this, I thought you
might want a look; the plants suggested might not work in your
area, Arnhild.
EPA's Guide to Slope Biocontrols Against Erosion
Accompanying Plant Selection Guide
The list is for Puget Sound. However, there are some very good
explanations of techniques for planting in a slope that seem
very helpful. Now I'm thinking about getting some untreated
cotton cloth guaze to 'roll' up seeds into, then staking that
into the slope to start shasta daisies and purple conflower
clumps. (My slope is mostly sunny, but dry from tree roots.)
Samatha
Z5 - PA
--- Anne Green
__________________________________________________
In a message dated 4/26/00 5:47:53 PM Central Daylight Time, abbl@ONLINE.NO
writes:
Arnhild,
There is no web page that I know of, nor in my head. I was thinking more of
diversity of planting. Since the ferns are already there they have done a
good job, maybe add a few different kinds of ferns. A shade tree or two
Kousa would be nice. A few shade tolerant vines, such as the climbing
hydrangea or something else that may be available in your area. I think
different kinds of plants would give different kinds of roots. Trees are
more deep rooted than most ground covers. Shrubs somewhere inbetween.
Taprooted plants are fairly deep also when mature.
I do have a book called "Right Plant, Right Place" by Nicola Ferguson. It
gives suggestions for dry shade tolerance and deep shade. It also has a
lists for different color gardens, but not one for hillsides, or we could
cross reference.
Here is a list of ground covers that tolerate mild dry shade.
Tsuga Canadensis (Hemlock) Spiraea Prunus (laurel) Hemerocallis
Euphorbia Anemone Cranesbill (geranium) Alchemilla (Lady's Mantle)
Rubus (bramble) ouch Hypericum Veronica Geum Campanula
Polygonum Chiastophyllum Vaccinium vinca minor Mahonia
Rhododendron Hosta Dicentra Astible Lobelia Primula
The next tolerate deeper shade
Luzula
Omphalodes
Blechnum
Cassiope
Arenaria
And full shade
Brunnera Pachysandra Pulmonaria Lamium Epimedium
Phlox Tiarella Gualtheria Forsythia Hedera Jasminum
Fatshedera
I can do another list if you need wet shade
Anne in FL
zone 9b, sunset 26
I'd rather be gardening.
