The Message Board

RE: shade plants

Posted 166 days ago

What about Hellebores or Hostas
_________
crazy gardener addicted since the age of 5 years old still digging it

RE: shade plants

Posted 165 days ago

Some idea as to your location would be a help. Just a general idea would do. We could suggesty something tropical and then find out you live somewhere that has cold temperatures.

RE: shade plants

Posted 164 days ago

We live in the south west slopes of NSW where we get hot dry summers and frosts in winter. The garden is a strip along the verandah that buts up to lawn. It gets sun in summer but mostly shady in winter. The house is brick (red). I dont think tropical plants would survive the dry summers.

RE: shade plants

Posted 159 days ago

You didn't say where you live so I don't know what your conditions are, but you are right about the roses. Roses just love the sun. Remember, that roses grow like crazy in Morocco and the southern european countries as well. As long as they get the water they love, and lots of sun, roses will thrive.
One of my favourites is hydrangea. You wouldn't believe how many varieties of hydrangeas there are. Try gardenia. Again, they will grow in shade much more happily than in the hot sun. Another plant that looks terrific is Chinese star Jasmine trained on a frame or standardised on a stake. I have done something quite unusual with jasmine. I got a roll of chicken wire ten metres long, unrolled it and then rolled it just once lengthways and put wire ties all along it to make this long sausage of wire and then staked it in the ground with tent pegs so it wouldn't move. I then planted Chinese Star Jasmine plants about a metre apart the whole length of the sausage and trained the jasmine over the wire. Well, you should see it now. It hides the bottom of an ugly wall along the driveway on the shady side of the fence and has really taken off. It is really easy to keep in shape with a quick clip with hedge shears if you want to retain the sausage shape but now what I have done is attach some lengths of small wire netting onto the high part of the fence near the house to the sausage and I now have six lots of stems growing up these pieces of netting which I also keep trimmed. That now hides an ugly, wooden paling fence. By the way, I am a horticulturalist and landscape designer so I do all sorts of crazy things which people seem to love. Have a go at one of those. Remember with hydrangeas, the coloured ones will be pink if your soil is alkaline and blue if you soil is acid. White ones are always white. If your soil is acid, put some lime on it to make them pink and if your soil is alkaline and you want blue/purple ones, put some Hydrangea Blueing Agent in the soil all around the plants especially when first putting them in. Mix it in with a good compost. They flower for so many months and are gorgeously decadent with their great big heads of flowers. In my back yard here, I have alternated hydrangeas which you can let grow up to 1.5 metres if you want in acid soil and they are a gorgeous purple and then the beautiful cream gardenias with the fabulous perfume. I have standardised the gardenias, too, so you have a sort of up/down/up/down effect and the bushes can be planted closer together. It looks sensational. In front of them I have planted some "little spotty" eucalypts which have tiny leaves, heads of cream flowers and grow to about eight metres and they are out of the shade of the fence but protect the outer edges of the hydrangeas and gardenias. It looks a picture. I need more land because I have run out of space and have so many more ideas. The front garden is amazing too, with a backdrop giving shade (west facing) and privacy to my bedroom. I have grown a beautiful peach bougainvillea on a fan shaped espalier frame and keep it a little trimmed so that I don't lose the flowers but it is a breeze to care for because it doesn't grow wild when you plant it like that. I have also grown two wisteria on a 3m standard frame which looks like a Hills hoist. One is blue and has racemes of flowers 1 metre long and the white one has racemes of flowers half a metre long. In spring it just looks amazing with all these loooooonnnngggg racemes of flowers hanging from the frame. I keep it pruned in shape so that the flowers are the spectacular sight in spring and in summer, it is just like a lovely shade house.

RE: shade plants

Posted 145 days ago

Hi Perregrine,
You mentioned you have a bougainvillea plant, i saw that you said prune it a little so that It don't lose the flowers, I have a feeling I have lost my flowers, you see i was told i can cut back my plants and so i did, now they haven't flowered as yet but now i dont remember exactly when they do flower.

I was also told i can transplant the plants that are growing in the ground into pots as they are thorny and very dangerous.
I have the tall variety and the bambino ones.
I was going to buy half barrels and put them all in there own barrel away from harms way.
I would now like to grow them in these big pots anyways.
I can actually grow them in the big pots and let them grow where the fence line is in my backyard, it also has plenty of sun.
I want to move them as they grow out towards the council path and i am too short to keep them under control.
Can you tell me when is a good time to have them dug out and put into there barrels please.
How big of a pot do they need to grow in.

I think i was told to start sort of digging a shovel down the sides of them and water them until they can be moved.
Is that right or have i got it wrong.

I also have some wisteria plants growing, am i suppose to trim them back, if so when may i ask.
I would love to see mine flower in spring as you mentioned.

I have some jasmine that was given to me, i have a shaded area along my carport, i was going to attach some chicken wire and grow the jasmine within the wire.

If anyone has any suggestions please let me know and thank you.

RE: shade plants

Posted 139 days ago

Brad if your preference is for roses because they smell nice you could have a good spot there for a perfumed garden, some excellent perfumed plants which are very asthetically compatible are Citrus trees, Gardenia, Cestrum nocturnum (night Jamine) Jasmine officinalis, Star Jasmine (Tracelospermum), Port wine magnolia (Michellia) and Daphne.

On the other hand if you want flowers you could go for a Camelia and azalea look, Some camelia have a nice fragrance too and those two groups could be mixed.
_________