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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
Willow
 
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Default Low Light, Low Water Plants

Hi

I finally got someone in to fix the retic in my enclosed garden today. The
soil is in bad shape, it's grey sand & is water repellant, & the garden is
in a position where it gets a little direct sunlight on summer mornings & no
direct sunlight the rest of the year.

I started today by cleaning out the leaf litter & bricks, attacking the soil
with soil wetter & tomorrow will dig composted mulch and a mix of different
animal poos into the soil. I might put the mostly well composted leaf litter
back on top once this is done... not sure yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to the kinds of plants that might do
well in the garden? It's already got a couple of medium sized umbrella trees
but that's it. Because this garden is visible from the bath, I would
eventually like to put some lights in the garden & so I guess some nice
looking foliage would be the go... I was thinking of maybe some Clivia or
fishbone ferns in the front to cover the view of the paving...

How would grasses & Yucca go in this kind of environment? I'm not all that
fussed about flowers & leafy green foliage.

--
Wanda
aka Willow
The missing and definitely not to be taken seriously under any circumstances
garden gnome
http://www.2000cn.com.au/~willow

~~faeries are able to fly because they take themselves lightly~


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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
silvasurfa
 
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Default Low Light, Low Water Plants


"Willow" wrote in message
news
Hi

I finally got someone in to fix the retic in my enclosed garden today. The
soil is in bad shape, it's grey sand & is water repellant, & the garden is
in a position where it gets a little direct sunlight on summer mornings &
no
direct sunlight the rest of the year.

I started today by cleaning out the leaf litter & bricks, attacking the

soil
with soil wetter & tomorrow will dig composted mulch and a mix of

different
animal poos into the soil. I might put the mostly well composted leaf

litter
back on top once this is done... not sure yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to the kinds of plants that might do
well in the garden? It's already got a couple of medium sized umbrella

trees
but that's it. Because this garden is visible from the bath, I would
eventually like to put some lights in the garden & so I guess some nice
looking foliage would be the go... I was thinking of maybe some Clivia or
fishbone ferns in the front to cover the view of the paving...

How would grasses & Yucca go in this kind of environment? I'm not all that
fussed about flowers & leafy green foliage.

--
Wanda
aka Willow
The missing and definitely not to be taken seriously under any

circumstances
garden gnome
http://www.2000cn.com.au/~willow

~~faeries are able to fly because they take themselves lightly~



No Yucca... it likes sun sun and more sun. Mondo grass might survive.

Spider plant? Looks nice for the first couple of years if you keep water up
to it, but eventually gets icky.

Periwinkle? A really bad weed in shaded wet areas, but in an enclosed area
this is not a problem.

You could go with the water theme and put in a pond with small fountain and
goldfish.

If I were you I'd probably get a few nice large pots to put amongst the less
fancy permanent plantings, and also get a small hand trolley to shift them
safely. Then you can rotate nice stuff into view and give the plants a
holiday on your back verandah when they get tired.


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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
Willow
 
Posts: n/a
Default Low Light, Low Water Plants

Thanks. I should have asked about plants that tolerate low light & are
drought tolerant.

--
Wanda
aka Willow
The missing and definitely not to be taken seriously under any circumstances
garden gnome
http://www.2000cn.com.au/~willow

~~faeries are able to fly because they take themselves lightly~
silvasurfa wrote in message
. ..

"Willow" wrote in message
news
Hi

I finally got someone in to fix the retic in my enclosed garden today.

The
soil is in bad shape, it's grey sand & is water repellant, & the garden

is
in a position where it gets a little direct sunlight on summer mornings

&
no
direct sunlight the rest of the year.

I started today by cleaning out the leaf litter & bricks, attacking the

soil
with soil wetter & tomorrow will dig composted mulch and a mix of

different
animal poos into the soil. I might put the mostly well composted leaf

litter
back on top once this is done... not sure yet.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to the kinds of plants that might do
well in the garden? It's already got a couple of medium sized umbrella

trees
but that's it. Because this garden is visible from the bath, I would
eventually like to put some lights in the garden & so I guess some nice
looking foliage would be the go... I was thinking of maybe some Clivia

or
fishbone ferns in the front to cover the view of the paving...

How would grasses & Yucca go in this kind of environment? I'm not all

that
fussed about flowers & leafy green foliage.

--
Wanda
aka Willow
The missing and definitely not to be taken seriously under any

circumstances
garden gnome
http://www.2000cn.com.au/~willow

~~faeries are able to fly because they take themselves lightly~



No Yucca... it likes sun sun and more sun. Mondo grass might survive.

Spider plant? Looks nice for the first couple of years if you keep water

up
to it, but eventually gets icky.

Periwinkle? A really bad weed in shaded wet areas, but in an enclosed

area
this is not a problem.

You could go with the water theme and put in a pond with small fountain

and
goldfish.

If I were you I'd probably get a few nice large pots to put amongst the

less
fancy permanent plantings, and also get a small hand trolley to shift them
safely. Then you can rotate nice stuff into view and give the plants a
holiday on your back verandah when they get tired.




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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
silvasurfa
 
Posts: n/a
Default Low Light, Low Water Plants


"Willow" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I should have asked about plants that tolerate low light & are
drought tolerant.


Sorry, I sorta got the impression you were fixing the water problem by
improving the soil etc.

I've seen a lot of black pebble mulch recently with clumpy type plants like
mondo grass sticking out of it, that's an OK look.

You willing to water much while things establish, or does it have to be
drought tolerant from day 1?


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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
Tish
 
Posts: n/a
Default Low Light, Low Water Plants

On Sat, 15 Feb 2003 18:05:00 +0800, "Willow"
wrote:

Hi

I finally got someone in to fix the retic in my enclosed garden today. The
soil is in bad shape, it's grey sand & is water repellant, & the garden is
in a position where it gets a little direct sunlight on summer mornings & no
direct sunlight the rest of the year.

Sounds like it might be a good spot for Cliveas - they like shady dry
spots with no frost.

Tish


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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
silvasurfa
 
Posts: n/a
Default Low Light, Low Water Plants


"silvasurfa" wrote in message
. ..

"Willow" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I should have asked about plants that tolerate low light & are
drought tolerant.


Sorry, I sorta got the impression you were fixing the water problem by
improving the soil etc.

I've seen a lot of black pebble mulch recently with clumpy type plants

like
mondo grass sticking out of it, that's an OK look.

You willing to water much while things establish, or does it have to be
drought tolerant from day 1?

Another idea... those self watering pots, so you can have nice stuff
without having to water much (but make them plants that can dry out
occasionally, to avoid a mosquito problem). I've got a lovelly combo of
spider plant and that plant with the leaves speckled with pink that is
growing in a self watering pot in south aspected shade.


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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
Willow
 
Posts: n/a
Default Low Light, Low Water Plants



--
Wanda
aka Willow
The missing and definitely not to be taken seriously under any circumstances
garden gnome
http://www.2000cn.com.au/~willow

~~faeries are able to fly because they take themselves lightly~
silvasurfa wrote in message
. ..

"silvasurfa" wrote in message
. ..

"Willow" wrote in message
...
Thanks. I should have asked about plants that tolerate low light & are
drought tolerant.


Sorry, I sorta got the impression you were fixing the water problem by
improving the soil etc.

I've seen a lot of black pebble mulch recently with clumpy type plants

like
mondo grass sticking out of it, that's an OK look.

You willing to water much while things establish, or does it have to be
drought tolerant from day 1?

Another idea... those self watering pots, so you can have nice stuff
without having to water much (but make them plants that can dry out
occasionally, to avoid a mosquito problem). I've got a lovelly combo of
spider plant and that plant with the leaves speckled with pink that is
growing in a self watering pot in south aspected shade.

I've never really been all that keen on Spider plants, but I guess I could
have a hanging basket with it in since there's a retic drip hanging from one
of the rafters in the garden area. I was thinking of putting a fuscia in it,
but I'm really after foliage plants rather than flowering plants. I went to
the nursery at lunchtime today & had a look around. Seems like most of the
suitable plants are leafy green plants. Oh well

I might put some variegated mondo grass or fairly lights in to cover the
borders & then some plants with nice & colourful foliage behind. I've
already got a Moses in the Cradle & some of the pink spotty stuff you
mentioned suffering in a pot, I might try them in the garden, or in pots as
you suggest & see how they do.


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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
John Savage
 
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Default Low Light, Low Water Plants

"Willow" writes:
I might put some variegated mondo grass or fairly lights in to cover the
borders & then some plants with nice & colourful foliage behind. I've


Careful with the varigated plants. They need stronger light than the
plain variety to compensate for their patchy chlorophyll. If the area
is as low in light as you imply, the plain green mondo (short or ordinary)
might do better. Perhaps try both. Just a thought.

The black mondo can look nice, in the right setting, but I don't know
their light requirements.
--
John Savage (newsgroup email invalid; keep news replies in newsgroup)

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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
Willow
 
Posts: n/a
Default Low Light, Low Water Plants

Wanda
aka Willow
The missing and definitely not to be taken seriously under any circumstances
garden gnome
http://www.2000cn.com.au/~willow

~~faeries are able to fly because they take themselves lightly~
----- Original Message -----
From: John Savage
Newsgroups: aus.gardens
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2003 7:35 AM
Subject: Low Light, Low Water Plants


"Willow" writes:
I might put some variegated mondo grass or fairly lights in to cover the
borders & then some plants with nice & colourful foliage behind. I've


Careful with the varigated plants. They need stronger light than the
plain variety to compensate for their patchy chlorophyll. If the area
is as low in light as you imply, the plain green mondo (short or ordinary)
might do better. Perhaps try both. Just a thought.

The black mondo can look nice, in the right setting, but I don't know
their light requirements.


I was considering black mondo grass, but with the area already shaded & with
the soil colour as it is (black with all the compost & poo I put in it last
weekend), the grass would fade into significance. I have been considering
putting some white gravel down as mulch... so I guess if I did that the
black mondo grass would look ok. Does putting gravel down as mulch improve
or damage the soil at all? I'm in Perth so the "soil" is grey sand & is
already fairly water repellant.



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Old 05-04-2003, 07:36 AM
John Savage
 
Posts: n/a
Default Low Light, Low Water Plants

"Willow" writes:
putting some white gravel down as mulch... so I guess if I did that the
black mondo grass would look ok. Does putting gravel down as mulch improve
or damage the soil at all? I'm in Perth so the "soil" is grey sand & is
already fairly water repellant.


Ordinary mondo looks nice, even in shade, and it is quite drought
tolerant. Here in Sydney I've seen it growing in full Summer sun in
obviously unwatered gardens, and while it does brown off, it manages to
rejuvenate when the weather cools.

I don't know much about stone mulch. But I'd expect it would reduce
moisture loss, and would moderate the temperature swing of the soil by
interposing a large thermal mass between the soil and the air. After
watching Quantum on ABC tonight, I'll add that neither will it fuel spot
fires during a bushfire! (Apparently, many homes in Canberra were lost
when embers set fire to garden mulch and the mulch channelled the flames
around the yard and right up to the house.) On last Friday's Burkes
Backyard Don spread white pebbles on top of some potting mix, so I guess
you can take that as an endorsement. :-)
--
John Savage (for email, replace "ks" with "k" and delete "n")

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