On 2009-05-14 11:18:03 +0100, Kate Brown said:

Judith or David may have an idea, I hope others may as well!

In our little garden in France (Dordogne valley slopes, limestone about
five inches beneath the surface) we have roses, lavender, irises, day
lilies, michaelmas daisies, sage, all abundant. But there is one bed
where I can't seem to grow anything. It's about eighteen inches deep
and eight foot long, against a limestone drystone wall at the gate of
the garden. It faces southeast, but in the winter it's in shadow from
the building on the other side of the path. It gets sun from about
nine to three between April and September. It has quite a slope. It's
a dry bed and we can't get the irrigation system up there.

There's a well-established Kerria at the top end - and I can't get
anything else nice to grow there at all! Thistles, grasses, wild
clematis, and ivy grow with abandon. I've tried canna, which grow like
weeds elsewhere in the village, but the snails ate all the leaves and
they haven't come up at all this year. I sow nasturtiums, which
sprouted one year but not the next. This year I divided up a choked
iris bed and put in some rhizomes, but snails like eating their leaves
too, so I don't hope for much. I also put in some spare daffodil
bulbs, but we're rarely there early enough to enjoy them.

Any ideas? We're there again in June/beginning of July, and again end
of August, so anything that shows in May, June/July, or
August/September would be perfect. It has to be snail-repellent!

There's a page of photos here - the impossible bed is about ten down.

http://www.newcockaigne.demon.co.uk/photos/index.html

What a lovely place you have - lucky you! Had you thought of geraniums
- the cranesbills, not the pelargoniums. They tolerate most soils and
don't seem to troubled by pests. Some types don't miind a fair bit of
shade. One that we especially like is called Geranium Jolly Bee and it
flowers for ages here, well into October, spreading quickly into
sizeable mounds. You could try just one or two as an experiment this
year and then add more if it works.
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Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
Exotic plants, shrubs & perennials
South Devon