Please or to access all these features

Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Help needed to reclaim garden - what can I plant under a copper beech?

4 replies

RustyBear · 10/04/2007 16:50

Since I developed a hip problem & FIL died so that DH spends all his weekends at MIL's, our back garden has pretty much gone wild, so on Thursday I'm getting someone in to have a look with a view to reclaiming it. Trouble is, she's going to ask what I want to do and I really don't know.
We have a big semicircular flowerbed at the bottom of the garden, with a lovely copper beech tree at the back. When we moved in 15 years ago, the flowerbed was completely empty & over the years we've put various shrubs in, but because of the beech tree, only the ones at the front & sides thrive, so now we have a horseshoe of shrubs, with a gap in the middle. At the moment, this gap is filled with bluebells, whitebells, primroses & celandines which look really beautiful, but the rest of the year there's really nothing except a lot of grass.
I'd really like to keep the 'woodland glade' look' but is there anything I could put in that would survive under the beech tree & give a bit of colour at other times of the year? Or would I do better to just start again with something completely different?
I'd really appreciate any suggestions - Thanks

Pictures here and here show you what it's like - this is today, at about 4.30

OP posts:
OrmIrian · 10/04/2007 16:54

Cyclamen?. Acers which will give light lacy foliage at a lower level?

OrmIrian · 10/04/2007 16:55

Also azaleas might be OK if the soil type is OK.

fishie · 10/04/2007 16:58

violets for next spring? i have a very shady garden and it is diffcult, esp where dry. try here

RustyBear · 10/04/2007 16:59

Thank you both - will look at the website & try & find out about the soil.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page