Planting Under Trees - Part 5

  For those of you just joining this series, it's about planting in that inhospitable soil directly under mature deciduous trees. In previous parts of the series, I've shared my methods of dealing with the soil and some tough no-coddling groundcovers that do well in these conditions.

  Last week, I told you about a few of the plants that I'm growing in a mixed border, under a group of trees in my USDA zone 7 garden - and some that I can't grow. This week, we'll look at a few more plants that I have found, over the years, will tolerate the rooty conditions under these trees - with a bit of extra TLC and water. Once again, there are several photos, so please be patient while they load.

The Early Birds

  The clump of daffodils (name long forgotten), in the lower right corner of the first photo of the border area (shown in Part 4), has since been split and lined out along the edge of the path, where it emerges in early spring and blooms in mid April. Their dying foliage is somewhat masked by the Brunnera and later arriving Begonia grandis. Its death throes are much less obtrusive than when they were in a tight clump. Dying daffodil foliage is an issue in a border that's seen daily - it seems to take forever for it to brown off enough to remove. I go around and tuck it under adjoining plant leaves as much as possible and remove the leaves as they brown.

  I understand, from posts by folks who know that you can cut the foliage back about six weeks after blooms are finished, whether it has totally browned or not, and it will have done its job of feeding next year's flower buds. But you have to leave it at least this long and don't go braiding it up for neatness. The leaves need to be free to soak up the light and manufacture food for the bulb if you're going to have maximum bloom next spring. I haven't tried this, but will give it a whirl for this lot next year. Since my daffodils are all pretty standard varieties and fairly tough guys, they do quite well competition with the roots of the perennials and trees. Some of the more highly bred show-type daffodils may not fare as well.

  The earliest bird to bloom in this border (and many other parts of my garden) is Pulmonaria saccharata 'Mrs. Moon'. She will often start blooming at ground level in late March. She has seeded around throughout this border, but mostly at the end nearest the Circle Garden. She tolerates dry conditions, but is subject to powdery mildew if allowed to get too dry. After bloom, her silver polka dot leaves form a lively background for other plants.

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