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#1
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Good plants for shaded areas?
After working outside on our property all last weekend I'm really looking
forward to getting down to some gardening this year ;-) A large part of our 2.5 acre lot is wooded with very tall pine trees (no lower branches, branches and needles up towards the top) and some smaller hardwood trees (1" - 6" diameter). After our neighbor had a fire in the woods we've decided to clear out some of the smaller trees, pine needles and vines and try to get some mixture of ground cover and flowering plants going to provide us a buffer around the house in case of another fire. Can anyone recommend plants that grow well in the shade, that will have some variety in color, size, etc? You can get a pretty good idea of what the area I'm talking about looks like in the second photo down he http://woozy.com/fire/ We don't plan on planting the whole thing, but a good 20 - 30' out from the house is what the fire department recommends. We have about 10' of lawn and then we need to go 10 - 20 into the woods. Thanks, Robert |
#2
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Robert,
I *think* that azaleas should grow fairly well in partial pine shade (assuming the sun shines on the azaleas part of the day). If you like hostas, you might check out the selection at Plant Delights http://www.plantdelights.com/, where there are a "gazillion" varieties for sale. BTW, do you know what fueled the fire? Was it the pine needles under the pine trees? (There are pine trees near my house, but I always thought the pine needles themselves were too damp to burn; I might re-think that and rake more of them onto compost piles.) Anne Lurie NE Raleigh "Robert" wrote in message hlink.net... After working outside on our property all last weekend I'm really looking forward to getting down to some gardening this year ;-) A large part of our 2.5 acre lot is wooded with very tall pine trees (no lower branches, branches and needles up towards the top) and some smaller hardwood trees (1" - 6" diameter). After our neighbor had a fire in the woods we've decided to clear out some of the smaller trees, pine needles and vines and try to get some mixture of ground cover and flowering plants going to provide us a buffer around the house in case of another fire. Can anyone recommend plants that grow well in the shade, that will have some variety in color, size, etc? You can get a pretty good idea of what the area I'm talking about looks like in the second photo down he http://woozy.com/fire/ We don't plan on planting the whole thing, but a good 20 - 30' out from the house is what the fire department recommends. We have about 10' of lawn and then we need to go 10 - 20 into the woods. Thanks, Robert |
#3
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Hi Anne,
Thanks! The fire was fueled by pine needles and fallen branches, leaves, etc.. It was that Sunday evening a few weekends ago where it was really nice during the day and then got really windy at night. Our neighbor had a small bonfire going down by our lake and the wind picked up suddenly and that was all it took. I had a couple of fire extinguishers and a hose and went over there as soon as she called me but it spread faster than you would imagine. The fire extinguishers were pretty much worthless. Luckily the Bahama Volunteer Fire Department did a great job of containing it and putting it out. We will be forever grateful to them, with that fire and the wind feeding it, it looked for a while like everything was going to go up in flames. Robert "Anne Lurie" wrote in message . com... Robert, I *think* that azaleas should grow fairly well in partial pine shade (assuming the sun shines on the azaleas part of the day). If you like hostas, you might check out the selection at Plant Delights http://www.plantdelights.com/, where there are a "gazillion" varieties for sale. BTW, do you know what fueled the fire? Was it the pine needles under the pine trees? (There are pine trees near my house, but I always thought the pine needles themselves were too damp to burn; I might re-think that and rake more of them onto compost piles.) Anne Lurie NE Raleigh "Robert" wrote in message hlink.net... After working outside on our property all last weekend I'm really looking forward to getting down to some gardening this year ;-) A large part of our 2.5 acre lot is wooded with very tall pine trees (no lower branches, branches and needles up towards the top) and some smaller hardwood trees (1" - 6" diameter). After our neighbor had a fire in the woods we've decided to clear out some of the smaller trees, pine needles and vines and try to get some mixture of ground cover and flowering plants going to provide us a buffer around the house in case of another fire. Can anyone recommend plants that grow well in the shade, that will have some variety in color, size, etc? You can get a pretty good idea of what the area I'm talking about looks like in the second photo down he http://woozy.com/fire/ We don't plan on planting the whole thing, but a good 20 - 30' out from the house is what the fire department recommends. We have about 10' of lawn and then we need to go 10 - 20 into the woods. Thanks, Robert |
#4
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Robert,
I *think* that azaleas should grow fairly well in partial pine shade (assuming the sun shines on the azaleas part of the day). If you like hostas, you might check out the selection at Plant Delights http://www.plantdelights.com/, where there are a "gazillion" varieties for sale. BTW, do you know what fueled the fire? Was it the pine needles under the pine trees? (There are pine trees near my house, but I always thought the pine needles themselves were too damp to burn; I might re-think that and rake more of them onto compost piles.) Anne Lurie NE Raleigh "Robert" wrote in message hlink.net... After working outside on our property all last weekend I'm really looking forward to getting down to some gardening this year ;-) A large part of our 2.5 acre lot is wooded with very tall pine trees (no lower branches, branches and needles up towards the top) and some smaller hardwood trees (1" - 6" diameter). After our neighbor had a fire in the woods we've decided to clear out some of the smaller trees, pine needles and vines and try to get some mixture of ground cover and flowering plants going to provide us a buffer around the house in case of another fire. Can anyone recommend plants that grow well in the shade, that will have some variety in color, size, etc? You can get a pretty good idea of what the area I'm talking about looks like in the second photo down he http://woozy.com/fire/ We don't plan on planting the whole thing, but a good 20 - 30' out from the house is what the fire department recommends. We have about 10' of lawn and then we need to go 10 - 20 into the woods. Thanks, Robert |
#5
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Hi Anne,
Thanks! The fire was fueled by pine needles and fallen branches, leaves, etc.. It was that Sunday evening a few weekends ago where it was really nice during the day and then got really windy at night. Our neighbor had a small bonfire going down by our lake and the wind picked up suddenly and that was all it took. I had a couple of fire extinguishers and a hose and went over there as soon as she called me but it spread faster than you would imagine. The fire extinguishers were pretty much worthless. Luckily the Bahama Volunteer Fire Department did a great job of containing it and putting it out. We will be forever grateful to them, with that fire and the wind feeding it, it looked for a while like everything was going to go up in flames. Robert "Anne Lurie" wrote in message . com... Robert, I *think* that azaleas should grow fairly well in partial pine shade (assuming the sun shines on the azaleas part of the day). If you like hostas, you might check out the selection at Plant Delights http://www.plantdelights.com/, where there are a "gazillion" varieties for sale. BTW, do you know what fueled the fire? Was it the pine needles under the pine trees? (There are pine trees near my house, but I always thought the pine needles themselves were too damp to burn; I might re-think that and rake more of them onto compost piles.) Anne Lurie NE Raleigh "Robert" wrote in message hlink.net... After working outside on our property all last weekend I'm really looking forward to getting down to some gardening this year ;-) A large part of our 2.5 acre lot is wooded with very tall pine trees (no lower branches, branches and needles up towards the top) and some smaller hardwood trees (1" - 6" diameter). After our neighbor had a fire in the woods we've decided to clear out some of the smaller trees, pine needles and vines and try to get some mixture of ground cover and flowering plants going to provide us a buffer around the house in case of another fire. Can anyone recommend plants that grow well in the shade, that will have some variety in color, size, etc? You can get a pretty good idea of what the area I'm talking about looks like in the second photo down he http://woozy.com/fire/ We don't plan on planting the whole thing, but a good 20 - 30' out from the house is what the fire department recommends. We have about 10' of lawn and then we need to go 10 - 20 into the woods. Thanks, Robert |
#6
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Hi Robert,
Fine Gardening's June 03 issue had an article about choosing appropriate plants for areas prevalent to fires. The article listed several plants which were fire retarding (not apt to burst into flames--fleshy moist leaves, deciduous trees and shrubs) which should be planted next to a home structure, and fire resistant plants (less likely than other plants to burn, will slow an incoming fire) which should be planted farther out from a structure. Some examples: Fire-retardent: Bergenias Blueberries, huckleberries Daylillies Dwarf periwinkles Lilacs Viburnums Lawn Grasses Wisterias Fire-Resistent Bearberry Columbines Contoneasters Poplars Salal Sumacs Wintergreen Yarrows Beyond the subject of fire retardent plants, my favorite shade loving plants that perform well in our shadies spots -- Columbine heuchera camelias hostas anemones sweet sarcocoa daylillies confederate jasmine indian hawthorne hellebores daffodills bleeding hearts ferns astilbe foxgloves pachysandra happy gardening! Heidi Robert wrote: After working outside on our property all last weekend I'm really looking forward to getting down to some gardening this year ;-) A large part of our 2.5 acre lot is wooded with very tall pine trees (no lower branches, branches and needles up towards the top) and some smaller hardwood trees (1" - 6" diameter). After our neighbor had a fire in the woods we've decided to clear out some of the smaller trees, pine needles and vines and try to get some mixture of ground cover and flowering plants going to provide us a buffer around the house in case of another fire. Can anyone recommend plants that grow well in the shade, that will have some variety in color, size, etc? You can get a pretty good idea of what the area I'm talking about looks like in the second photo down he http://woozy.com/fire/ We don't plan on planting the whole thing, but a good 20 - 30' out from the house is what the fire department recommends. We have about 10' of lawn and then we need to go 10 - 20 into the woods. Thanks, Robert |
#7
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Heidi,
Thanks for the great list! Robert "Heidi" wrote in message .. . Hi Robert, Fine Gardening's June 03 issue had an article about choosing appropriate plants for areas prevalent to fires. The article listed several plants which were fire retarding (not apt to burst into flames--fleshy moist leaves, deciduous trees and shrubs) which should be planted next to a home structure, and fire resistant plants (less likely than other plants to burn, will slow an incoming fire) which should be planted farther out from a structure. Some examples: Fire-retardent: Bergenias Blueberries, huckleberries Daylillies Dwarf periwinkles Lilacs Viburnums Lawn Grasses Wisterias Fire-Resistent Bearberry Columbines Contoneasters Poplars Salal Sumacs Wintergreen Yarrows Beyond the subject of fire retardent plants, my favorite shade loving plants that perform well in our shadies spots -- Columbine heuchera camelias hostas anemones sweet sarcocoa daylillies confederate jasmine indian hawthorne hellebores daffodills bleeding hearts ferns astilbe foxgloves pachysandra happy gardening! Heidi Robert wrote: After working outside on our property all last weekend I'm really looking forward to getting down to some gardening this year ;-) A large part of our 2.5 acre lot is wooded with very tall pine trees (no lower branches, branches and needles up towards the top) and some smaller hardwood trees (1" - 6" diameter). After our neighbor had a fire in the woods we've decided to clear out some of the smaller trees, pine needles and vines and try to get some mixture of ground cover and flowering plants going to provide us a buffer around the house in case of another fire. Can anyone recommend plants that grow well in the shade, that will have some variety in color, size, etc? You can get a pretty good idea of what the area I'm talking about looks like in the second photo down he http://woozy.com/fire/ We don't plan on planting the whole thing, but a good 20 - 30' out from the house is what the fire department recommends. We have about 10' of lawn and then we need to go 10 - 20 into the woods. Thanks, Robert |
#8
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Vinca Major is a fast growing, aggressive ground cover that grows well
in the woods. It is like periwinkle only much larger. It will pretty much take over an area, however, but is nothing like some of the worse spreaders like kudzu or Ivy. |
#9
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Thanks,
That might actually work nicely for some sections of our property. How do you start something like that off? At our old house in Durham we tried to plant ivy on a slope in front of the house and it failed miserably. I've been trying to grow some Carolina Jasmine here which is supposed to be a fast grower and it isn't doing much either. I don't seem to have the touch when it comes to vines. I do best with vegetables in raised beds and everything else is downhill from there Robert "ncstockguy" wrote in message om... Vinca Major is a fast growing, aggressive ground cover that grows well in the woods. It is like periwinkle only much larger. It will pretty much take over an area, however, but is nothing like some of the worse spreaders like kudzu or Ivy. |
#10
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Thanks,
That might actually work nicely for some sections of our property. How do you start something like that off? At our old house in Durham we tried to plant ivy on a slope in front of the house and it failed miserably. I've been trying to grow some Carolina Jasmine here which is supposed to be a fast grower and it isn't doing much either. I don't seem to have the touch when it comes to vines. I do best with vegetables in raised beds and everything else is downhill from there Robert "ncstockguy" wrote in message om... Vinca Major is a fast growing, aggressive ground cover that grows well in the woods. It is like periwinkle only much larger. It will pretty much take over an area, however, but is nothing like some of the worse spreaders like kudzu or Ivy. |
#11
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Robert,
It's odd about ivy: people who hate it have trouble getting rid of it, and people who want it have trouble getting it to grow. In my case, it grows way too well next to the house (and up the wall), but not so well on a small sloped area just a few feet away (I think the water runs off before the ivy can use it). One personal observation about Carolina Jessamine (jasmine): I think it likes to be left undisturbed. There was an abundant vine on my deck railing when I moved here; however, after gently removing it from the railing so I could power was & re-seal the deck, the vine never did well again. I planted another one in its place, but apparently did not give it the support it wanted, so that particular vine only grew along the ground under the deck rather than up the railing. If you drive around, you'll see that some of the best vines are growing on chain link fences, where I doubt the vines get much attention, if any (based on the vegetation in the surrounding area or parking lot). Anne Lurie NE Raleigh "Robert" wrote in message ink.net... Thanks, That might actually work nicely for some sections of our property. How do you start something like that off? At our old house in Durham we tried to plant ivy on a slope in front of the house and it failed miserably. I've been trying to grow some Carolina Jasmine here which is supposed to be a fast grower and it isn't doing much either. I don't seem to have the touch when it comes to vines. I do best with vegetables in raised beds and everything else is downhill from there Robert "ncstockguy" wrote in message om... Vinca Major is a fast growing, aggressive ground cover that grows well in the woods. It is like periwinkle only much larger. It will pretty much take over an area, however, but is nothing like some of the worse spreaders like kudzu or Ivy. |
#12
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Thanks Anne,
We have some sort of vine that grows wild here and eventually kills some of the trees. I've cut some vines down that were up to 1.5 inches thick. I don't know what it is but it grows like crazy. We also have honeysuckle growing along an old fence which smells great when it blooms. Its just the vines that *I* try to plant that have a rough time. ;-) I guess I'll keep trying different things until I stumble across the right one. Robert "Anne Lurie" wrote in message . com... Robert, It's odd about ivy: people who hate it have trouble getting rid of it, and people who want it have trouble getting it to grow. In my case, it grows way too well next to the house (and up the wall), but not so well on a small sloped area just a few feet away (I think the water runs off before the ivy can use it). One personal observation about Carolina Jessamine (jasmine): I think it likes to be left undisturbed. There was an abundant vine on my deck railing when I moved here; however, after gently removing it from the railing so I could power was & re-seal the deck, the vine never did well again. I planted another one in its place, but apparently did not give it the support it wanted, so that particular vine only grew along the ground under the deck rather than up the railing. If you drive around, you'll see that some of the best vines are growing on chain link fences, where I doubt the vines get much attention, if any (based on the vegetation in the surrounding area or parking lot). Anne Lurie NE Raleigh "Robert" wrote in message ink.net... Thanks, That might actually work nicely for some sections of our property. How do you start something like that off? At our old house in Durham we tried to plant ivy on a slope in front of the house and it failed miserably. I've been trying to grow some Carolina Jasmine here which is supposed to be a fast grower and it isn't doing much either. I don't seem to have the touch when it comes to vines. I do best with vegetables in raised beds and everything else is downhill from there Robert "ncstockguy" wrote in message om... Vinca Major is a fast growing, aggressive ground cover that grows well in the woods. It is like periwinkle only much larger. It will pretty much take over an area, however, but is nothing like some of the worse spreaders like kudzu or Ivy. |
#13
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Good plants for shaded areas?
Thanks Anne,
We have some sort of vine that grows wild here and eventually kills some of the trees. I've cut some vines down that were up to 1.5 inches thick. I don't know what it is but it grows like crazy. We also have honeysuckle growing along an old fence which smells great when it blooms. Its just the vines that *I* try to plant that have a rough time. ;-) I guess I'll keep trying different things until I stumble across the right one. Robert "Anne Lurie" wrote in message . com... Robert, It's odd about ivy: people who hate it have trouble getting rid of it, and people who want it have trouble getting it to grow. In my case, it grows way too well next to the house (and up the wall), but not so well on a small sloped area just a few feet away (I think the water runs off before the ivy can use it). One personal observation about Carolina Jessamine (jasmine): I think it likes to be left undisturbed. There was an abundant vine on my deck railing when I moved here; however, after gently removing it from the railing so I could power was & re-seal the deck, the vine never did well again. I planted another one in its place, but apparently did not give it the support it wanted, so that particular vine only grew along the ground under the deck rather than up the railing. If you drive around, you'll see that some of the best vines are growing on chain link fences, where I doubt the vines get much attention, if any (based on the vegetation in the surrounding area or parking lot). Anne Lurie NE Raleigh "Robert" wrote in message ink.net... Thanks, That might actually work nicely for some sections of our property. How do you start something like that off? At our old house in Durham we tried to plant ivy on a slope in front of the house and it failed miserably. I've been trying to grow some Carolina Jasmine here which is supposed to be a fast grower and it isn't doing much either. I don't seem to have the touch when it comes to vines. I do best with vegetables in raised beds and everything else is downhill from there Robert "ncstockguy" wrote in message om... Vinca Major is a fast growing, aggressive ground cover that grows well in the woods. It is like periwinkle only much larger. It will pretty much take over an area, however, but is nothing like some of the worse spreaders like kudzu or Ivy. |
#14
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Good plants for shaded areas?
"Robert" wrote in message ink.net... Thanks, That might actually work nicely for some sections of our property. How do you start something like that off? At our old house in Durham we tried to Vinca Major is not, as far as I know, sold in nurseries -- actually I think it may be classified as a noxious weed in NC? I seem to remember reading that somewhere. It puts out long runners that root wherever they touch the ground. They have large dark green leaves and medium size light purple flowers. A string trimmer or something similar is definitely required to keep them confined to a particular area. Vinca Minor is definitely sold, looks similar (but smaller), and is not as agressive a grower. It's still nice though, and I haven't found it to require anything at all. I planted individual plants about 8 inches apart in compacted clay soil, did not amend, did not fertilize, did not mulch, and did not water :-) I now have a nice groundcover that I mow back every fall and it fills in by the end of spring. Interestingly, whoever lived here before planted some Vinca Minor, and it looks like they got (possibly just one) Vinca Major in there accidentally. So in some areas I have an "undergrowth" of Vinca Minor covered with a layer of Vinca Major! The Major will take over the whole yard if you are not careful. I have pulled up plants, left them in the driveway for days, and they have rooted when they got moved into a dirt-covered area by my car repeatedly backing down the driveway over them! |
#15
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Good plants for shaded areas?
"Robert" wrote in message ink.net... Thanks, That might actually work nicely for some sections of our property. How do you start something like that off? At our old house in Durham we tried to Vinca Major is not, as far as I know, sold in nurseries -- actually I think it may be classified as a noxious weed in NC? I seem to remember reading that somewhere. It puts out long runners that root wherever they touch the ground. They have large dark green leaves and medium size light purple flowers. A string trimmer or something similar is definitely required to keep them confined to a particular area. Vinca Minor is definitely sold, looks similar (but smaller), and is not as agressive a grower. It's still nice though, and I haven't found it to require anything at all. I planted individual plants about 8 inches apart in compacted clay soil, did not amend, did not fertilize, did not mulch, and did not water :-) I now have a nice groundcover that I mow back every fall and it fills in by the end of spring. Interestingly, whoever lived here before planted some Vinca Minor, and it looks like they got (possibly just one) Vinca Major in there accidentally. So in some areas I have an "undergrowth" of Vinca Minor covered with a layer of Vinca Major! The Major will take over the whole yard if you are not careful. I have pulled up plants, left them in the driveway for days, and they have rooted when they got moved into a dirt-covered area by my car repeatedly backing down the driveway over them! |
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