I'm hoping some of you landscaping experts can help me beautify the front of our house. The very front of our house (south side) has no landscaping at all - nothing - except for a very large maple tree that shades the entire entryway. I don't like it being so bare at all, so that's my project for this summer. The east side has two pitiful azaleas, one of which I'm already working on digging out, and a beautiful camellia, which is staying.
Most of this was posted on the Getting To Know You... thread, but I'm starting a new one to hopefully get more help. Judy asked if I had thought about raised beds. I told her:
I don't really want to do raised beds. I can, but I don't really want it to be that formal-looking. A "garden on purpose" is not really the look I want under the maple tree, and raised beds, in my opinion, make it look planned out. Does that make sense? LOL I'd like shorter plants there, 2 feet or under, and my husband has requested that it not look like a jungle. He's developed this fear that I'm going to make it so he has to have a machete to walk through the yard, but that's not my intention at all.
The soil under the maple tree is pretty good (I think), but very firm, I suppose because of the feeder roots of the maple. I'm wondering, though, how I'm going to dig in that and if it will affect the tree. I had planned to work in some good soil (probably Miracle-Gro potting soil) in each hole that I dig for plants. Think that would work? I'm really concerned about digging around under the tree a lot, too. Is that a problem for maples?
I also need some ideas for what would work under the maple tree. It's pretty much full shade under there, with just a tiny, tiny bit of evening sun. I've skimmed the thread about planting under a maple, but I've got to go back and actually read it and look up the plants suggested. I've got some seeds for Pigsqueak (Bergenia cordifolia). I really like the look of it, so I'm hoping to be able to plant some of those there. My husband likes hostas and ferns (though the two hostas I planted in my nursery bed last year haven't come back, so I'm worried about the hardiness of hostas) (PS I checked them just a few minutes ago, and they HAVE sent up a few new leaves, so I guess they survived after all!), and we have tons of Monkey Grass (Liriope muscari) in the nursery bed that is just waiting to be transplanted to a permanent home. I'd like some flowers under there, too, so I'm thinking maybe some impatiens or begonias, but I'd like to be a bit more creative and original than that. While I love impatiens, and do plan to have some, they're waaaay overused in this area. I don't mind having to water it during the summer, but I don't want it to be a very high-maintenance area beyond watering. A very short groundcover is something I'm looking for, too, because grass doesn't grow under the maple much at all, and I don't want it tall enough for snakes to be able to hide in. We have the occasional copperhead and I don't want it to be inviting to them. I'd also like a flowering vine or two to grow up the trunk of the maple, but it would have to be happy in all that shade and not damage the maple.
The front steps are in an awkward spot as well. The right side is pretty much completely shaded by the maple and the steps themselves, but the left side gets a fair amount of afternoon sun. I'd like to have the same type of plant growing on both sides of the steps, but I don't know what would do well in both places. Impatiens, I'm sure, but again, they lack the variety and creativity I'm longing for. I have tons of seeds, so if you have any suggestions, there's a fair chance I've got the seeds! :o)
Pat brought up the concern that nothing growing under the maple indicates it is drinking up all the available water. I've been looking at drought tolerant plants to go under the maple. That's why I said, though, that I didn't mind having to water. I know whatever goes there, I'll have to water pretty frequently.
I'd certainly appreciate any ideas you might have to toss my way.
Thanks all!
Planting under a maple tree...
If you can post a picture or two, it might help those who know more about these things than I do.
Judy
I don't have any pictures of the front yard and my camera battery refuses to hold a charge anymore. I'll try to get a picture in the next few days.
We bought 6 loropetalum yesterday and put one on either side of the steps and 4 down the east side of the house. They have beautiful purple-burgundy leaves and bright pink flowers. I love them! Zone-wise we may be right on the fence, as the PF shows them to be 7a or 7b, depending on the exact cultivar, which I don't know. My husband has known the nursery-owner for years and he swears this is one that will survive here. Anywhere else I might have questioned his motives for telling us that, but I trust him. Besides, we were looking at yews that were $6 each more expensive, so if he were out to make money, he would have pushed those. And he knows I'll come back and fuss if they die! LOL
We also got 3 Variegated Solomon's Seals (how could I resist??). I'm going to dig up the two hostas that have come back and plant those and the Solomon's Seals in an already-existing raised bed that is next to the front porch. It is under the maple, too.
My husband has his heart set on a low mountain stone raised bed around the maple, so I suppose I'll give in on that. He's in agreement with me that it won't be just a plain ole square, rectangle, or circle. Sweeping curves are what we're going for, so that suits me fine. :o)
Now, my biggest problem with all of this is the monstrous Camellia that sits right in the middle of the east wall. It is huge! It was over 8 feet tall, but my husband pruned it back to about 5 feet last year. It still towers over everything else that will be in that bed. I've got to research and find out how short we can keep it pruned and it still be healthy. It's probably 6 feet wide, as well. It's been there forever. I looked at it yesterday, trying to see if it could be divided into two or more plants, but no...it's all one huge plant. I'm not complaining, mind you. It's beautiful when it's in bloom and the glossy evergreen leaves are lovely in winter. I want it to look pretty, though - not stick out like a sore thumb.
Things seem to be falling into place for the front. I want to get more hostas and some ferns (both things my husband loves - gotta keep him happy!). And I need to figure out what to use for color under there. Impatiens this year, I'm sure, but more creativity next year hopefully.
I have two Loropetalums on a west-facing wall (it gets shade in the afternoon from trees across the driveway), and they're now in their third season and doing fine here in 7a/6b.
Watering is going to be one of your biggest challenges, along with the maple's roots, which will instinctively grow towards the water you provide. I lost two Daphnes planted near a silver-leaf maple, and I suspect the problem was the tree roots sucked up the water and kept the area dry, even though I watered regularly. Not trying to scare you - just forewarn you. I've planted hostas under my four (sigh) silver-leaf maples, and they do prety well with annual applications of rotted manure in the spring, a mulch of shredded leaves in the fall, and lotsa water all summer.
Thanks for telling me your experience with the Loropetalums, Terry. It gives me hope for ours. Four of them will get full morning sun - nothing to shade them. The two by the steps will get some afternoon sun. I do worry a bit about the North winter wind on the ones on the east side, but I may come up with something to shield them by winter time. I'd like to put a 6 to 8 foot piece of lattice work at the north end of that bed to provide some privacy for our driveway/backyard. I don't know how much protection the lattice itself would provide from north wind, though, or what I could grow on it that would remain leafed out during the winter to block the wind.
I'm going into planting around the maple with the highest of hopes and lowest of expectations. I know it's going to be a challenge to provide enough water for all the plants. I have got to do something, though. It looks so bare in front, almost abandoned! LOL I can't stand it. It may end up that I have to sink containers in the ground and grow plants in those, but with all the big surface roots of the maple that would be challenging in itself. Time will tell, I suppose.
What about laying down heavy landscape fabric over the ground before we build the raised bed? Would that stop the maple's roots from coming up into the soil of the bed and soaking up all the water?
I don't think landscape fabric will help much and (speaking personally), I wouldn't fool with it. It *might* keep the roots at bay for a season or two, but I've pulled up a lot of very heavy landscape fabric around here (courtesy of the same former owners who planted these blasted maples) imbedded with tree roots.
And - if the fabric is doing what it's supposed to - it's going to let the water pass right through, so the only barrier it theoretically provides is to keep the tree roots away from your plants. But eventually, the roots of your plants and the roots of the tree will penetrate it.