hosta substitute

Argh- I just lost the long message I had, so now you get the abbreviated~~~ Please kindly see my question in Shade Gardening at http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/709235/
if you could help guide me to something similar to large hosta except that voles don't like to eat it. Thanks!

Sally, when I had a big black snake in the water garden last year, I bought a container of snake repellent. Smelled just like mothballs only very strong of mothballs. Later, when something was uprooting my newly planted perennials, I sprinkled some of the snake repellent in the bed and it worked like charm to stop the groundhog or rabbit or whatever was trying to eat my plants.

If you don't want to use snake repellent, there's a rodent repellent too.

http://www.biconet.com/critter/rodentgranules.html

BTW, the snake repellent worked very well on the snake too. When I sprinkled it on the ground around the ponds, the snake moved over to my big flower bed next to the kitchen. I sprinkled it there and the snake apparently decided this wasn't the best yard for hanging out. LOL

thanks hart~ I should probably try the snake repellant for my groundhog : ^ )
What I'm really hoping for is a large rounded leaved perennial, not too tall, tolerates shade and clay. I had the bright idea of putting in these plantings 3 years ago and now have lost my helpers. I want to fill the space so I don't have to worry about the mulch or weeds.

What about brunnera? I love mine and they like shade but are pretty tough. You can get solid green or variegated in several types and the electric blue little blooms in early spring are very pretty.

the brunnera sounds great! not familiar but read plant files. any chance you have a bunch extra ? Do you have green or variegated?


This message was edited Apr 4, 2007 9:23 PM

I only have the solid green. I know I won't have a bunch - they don't spread that fast or self sow that much here. Give them a spot that has more moisture than I do and they'll spread nicely for you, though. Anyway, I might have one or maybe two self sown seedlings but I haven't seen any yet.

I'd be glad to save you some seeds. I think they're easy from seed. Also, I saw some of the white ones at Lowes yesterday. Nice sized pot and I'm sure they weren't expensive.

Bluestone has three of the regular green ones for $14.95.
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/BRMAS.html
and the white ones for $14.05.
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/BRJFP.html
I'm sure you'd be better off getting the white one at Lowes - bigger plant, less money.

Crownsville Nursery has several kinds. (Isn't the variegata to die for?)
http://www.crownsvillenursery.com/perennialsbd.htm

I don't think I knew anybody who had brunnera before they started breeding the kinds with the different colored leaves, but they're all just gorgeous plants. The leaves are so lush and green and the flowers are tiny but breathtakingly pretty. Tough too - they do okay with the dry soil here and I've never had any disease or bug problems with them at all.

Another really pretty plant for shade, and I can give you some of these, is clustered bellflower. The dark purple flowers are stunning and everyone who sees my garden when they're blooming flips over them. The do spread, especially when given a moist site. But it isn't hard to pull them back or just sink a little plastic border to contain them.
http://www.gardenopus.com/images/DSC02355.JPG

Again, no disease or bug problems at all. I've been trying to get some orange poppies going with them. That's the combination I had in my old garden and the purple and orange were so pretty together. This picture doesn't do them justice - the purple is darker than shown in the photo.

hart- its so nice of you to research this for me ~ ) of course your experience with the plant is vital
I really wouldn't want to impose on your brunnera . If you get seed I would try it from seed for fun. It seems to be an underappreciated plant. There's a thread in ID about Hydrophyllum, a native , someone has one with spotted foliage and it looks really interesting, but also seems to be almost unknown commercially.
The bellflower sounds great too. School colors are red white and blue, (well, we know that blue is in the eye of the beholder for flowers) and late summer-fall bloom gets it there when people are in school. I think it 'would be alright if self sowing; it could fill whats empty and stop when it hits other plantings. hopefully!
Thanks again for taking an interest in my little shade bed~) Just trying to add a little natural beauty to the institution. Some of the staff are appreciative. In fact, last spring they gave me 40 bucks to buy Astilbe 'Fanal' plants as an honor to a retiring staff member. I was glad we had a garden to put them in.

Unless you have a huge bed, you could probably start off with two or three brunnera. The individual plants get very large - my original one is probably 2.5 feet across. They don't get very tall. Another advantage over hosta is they emerge earlier. Mine are all up and growing and are even blooming a little bit. I hope this cold snap doesn't get them but they'll pop right back up if it does.

The bellflowers are fairly short too and then the flower stalks are may a foot or so high when they bloom. There's also a white bloomed variety, Bluestone sells them. That would fit in well with your colors.

Hart, those bellflowers are lovely! I found the PF link... http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/989/index.html My mom has shade -- and rampaging deer! I wonder how they would do for her...

I've got some brunnera started from seed, so hopefully I'll have a couple of those to put in for her also.

Great thread -- thanks for all the ideas!

hey crittero- were the brunnera easy from seed? where did you get seed?

I'm up to my eyeballs in deer here and they have never bothered the clustered bellflowers or the brunnera.

I got the seed in a DG trade, will have to check to see what the species/variety actually was... but I wintersowed them, and I've got little sprouts!

Good news about the deer-resistance of those plants... definitely have to get some in for my mom. She's pretty much given up on gardening, because what they don't eat gets trampled or pawed up, but every so often I stick something in for her. :-)

I'll be sure to pot up some of the bellflowers for the swap.