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Old 04-02-2003, 12:42 AM
paghat
 
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Default Myrtle Tree Underplantings

In article , "Crabby Barnacle"
wrote:

I have a huge 100 year old Myrtle tree. (NOT a crepe myrtle). It's the
kind of Myrtle that's also called a California Bay Laurel. I've heard it's
a big allelopathic (sp?). I'd like to do some underplanting and add some
low evergreen shrubs near it.

Does anybody have experience about companion planting with this tree?


I think Salem Or might be good camellia country, & most Camellia sasanquas
stay pretty small (seven feet high if trellised, or can be left free to
sprawl as snaky humpy groundcovers); they like the shade & the only worry
would be if the tree sucked the ground too dry or you forgot to water
under the tree enough. The cliche evergreen shrub for under trees is
Aucuba; to ever have the huge berries you have to have at least two
shrubs, one of them a male. Also Japanese holly, the one with black
winter berries, will do nicely in shade. Whatever you end up deciding on,
you should also put in a few Cyclamen coum and/or C. hederofolum tubors,
because these thrive up next to tree trunks & don't seem to mind getting a
bit dry from time to time, blooming Autumn and Winter very short, then
gorgeous leaves winter & spring. The tubors live pretty much forever, as
long as many trees live anyway. I'm just totally enamored of cyclamens &
surprised so many gardeners don't have them or think they're delicate.

-paghat

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"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/
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Old 04-02-2003, 01:06 AM
Crabby Barnacle
 
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Default Myrtle Tree Underplantings

I have a huge 100 year old Myrtle tree. (NOT a crepe myrtle). It's the
kind of Myrtle that's also called a California Bay Laurel. I've heard it's
a big allelopathic (sp?). I'd like to do some underplanting and add some
low evergreen shrubs near it.

Does anybody have experience about companion planting with this tree?


Rain2Fall
From sunny Salem, Oregon


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Old 04-02-2003, 04:01 AM
DGiunti
 
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Default Myrtle Tree Underplantings

In article , "Crabby Barnacle"
writes:

I have a huge 100 year old Myrtle tree. (NOT a crepe myrtle). It's the
kind of Myrtle that's also called a California Bay Laurel. I've heard it's
a big allelopathic (sp?). I'd like to do some underplanting and add some
low evergreen shrubs near it.

Does anybody have experience about companion planting with this tree?


If it really is a California Bay Laurel 100 years old it is likely a 40 foot
thick shrub workings it's way to being a tree in the center. They (at least as
far south as the bay area) are invasive to the point where you really have a
hard time digging near any of the trunks without the use of a saw. They are
just like that were they grow naturally in Mendicino county too. It grew fast
enough there that my friends there used it as their primary cooking and heating
fuel. I would expect the same thing in Oregon.

They like a lot of water, if they can get it. Without it they may be more
manageable.

If it does not look like that, it's not a California Bay Laurel.


David Giunti email: unity
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Old 04-02-2003, 03:44 PM
Pam
 
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Default Myrtle Tree Underplantings



Crabby Barnacle wrote:

I have a huge 100 year old Myrtle tree. (NOT a crepe myrtle). It's the
kind of Myrtle that's also called a California Bay Laurel. I've heard it's
a big allelopathic (sp?). I'd like to do some underplanting and add some
low evergreen shrubs near it.

Does anybody have experience about companion planting with this tree?


OK, we have some common name confusion going on here - is the tree a California
bay (Umbellularia californica) or is it a true laurel or sweet bay (Laurus
nobilis)? The first has some allelopathic properties but nothing to the extent
of a black walnut and small evergreen shrubs should have no problem becoming
established. How much shade does it cast and how rooty is the soil in the area
you want to underplant - these factors will determine what will work. IME,
Umbellularia tends to be a bit of a moisture hog - looking for plants that
tolerate dry shade might be appropriate. It is more commonly seen as a large,
multi-trunked shrub with foliage down to the ground - would love to see a
mature, tree-like form. Assume that your tree is limbed up appropriately,
otherwise underplanting would be impossible.

pam - gardengal



Rain2Fall
From sunny Salem, Oregon


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