On Monday, 4 February 2013 18:23:00 UTC, Dave Hill wrote:
On 04/02/2013 18:16, Spider wrote:

On 04/02/2013 17:49, David Hill wrote:

On 04/02/2013 16:29, Spider wrote:

On 02/02/2013 17:07, Roger Tonkin wrote:

I have a steeply sloping bed, close to the north west

corner of the house. It slopes downwards towards the

house and receives little or or sunshine being shaded

by the house.



It was planted with heathers some 18 years ago, and

they have now gone very straggly and where they've

been cut back off the wall/path unsightly.



SWMBO has decided that they need replacing, but before

doing this I was wondering if there is any other plant

that would provide ground cover for this very shady,

cold slope. It is too steep to work regularly or for

lawn, and the lawn above it is more of a moss bed than

a grass bed!



Thanks for any ideas









Have you thought of covering the top half of it with something like

Juniperus squamata 'Blue Carpet'? It would be hardy enough and easy to

trim once a year if needed. Below that you could try any number of

flowering groundcover plants, including the Hypericum calycinum Sacha

mentioned; periwinkle, epimedium. Slightly taller, but often used as

groundcover is Bergennia. It has lovely, glossy leathery leaves and

pink or white flowers. I have seen an entire bank covered in this and

it looked lovely. You could also fill in with spring bulbs like

snowdrops, dwarf daffodils and muscari. It may be too shady for crocus,

but you could try a few of the cheaper sun-loving bulbs just to see how

they perform.





If you do try Juniperus DO NOT trim it, give it a light pruning if

required but clipping can spoil its looks for a long time.







Actually, this Juniperus doesn't need pruning at all and I am not

suggesting routine pruning. I'm saying that Roger may have to trim away

growths that overgrow his path/boundary. This can be done simply by

studying how the growths sprout from the spreading branches and trimming

sympathetically any unwanted lengths. I have done it many times. Done

properly, you can't see the where it was trimmed. It just fits its

space better.



The only warning I might give about trimming junipers, is to wear gloves

to prevent skin irritation.



I remember seeing a retaining wall topped with around a dozen Junipers

which were trimmed 2 days before the owners daughter got married, the

"Gardener" took shears to the lot to clip them back.

What had been the pride and joy of the garden were massacred, they never

recovered and were removed 18 months later.

On the whole I prefer to plant such that the plant can have it's head little or no pruning. The juniper in question shouldn't need pruning apart from keeping it off paths etc.
Because of my preference I have little experience of pruning junipers but I have seen a relict population of J. communis in rock crevices high on the mountains in Snowdonia where the plants have been grazed by sheep flush with the main surface of the rocks, so only a few inches of plant left. They are obviously stunted and tiny but still apparently healthy and growing. Not much ornamental impact though, in fact it was a while before I realised what they were.

Rod