Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I hope all you gardeners can give me some suggestions. This year I paid a fair amount of money to someone who brought in some native plants. Some are doing great, some not so great. I suppose that is to be expected.
I live in the Triangle area of North Carolina, which has dense, clay soils. My backyard has a slope that comes down from the property behind me (which is currently undeveloped) and then flattens. I have some catch drains on my patio. When we have a lot of rain, the yard gets boggy. When we don't, it's dry, dry, dry and I am going broke trying to keep everything watered. Half of the back slope gets very little sun, the other half gets about 60% sun in the afternoon. It is rimmed with Lariope.
The front beds get a decent amount of sun, especially in the morning. I am on a hill, so on the hill there is a messy hodgepodge of pachysandra, English ivy, Japanese honeysuckle, various ferns, Virginia creeper, a lot of lariope, and other invasives, plus about a half-dozen small azalea.
At the side and back of the house is a bed that gets very little sun. She planted some maple leaf viburnum there, some of which didn't take, some of which show some growth.
All the plants were pretty young, and it has been a harsh summer, for all the watering I've done (to the tune of $100/month water bills when they are usually $25).
The whole yard is surrounded with eleagnus, and starts shoot up everywhere. It is like playing whack-a-mole trying to keep up with these starts and they are so deep I can't dig them up. I confess that I have been known to cut these these to within 1/2" of the ground and painting roundup on the stumps. (Sorry.)
I am not a gardener. I want plants that thrive on benign neglect (i.e. water, and I'll feed azaleas, which I do like). Right now there is a decent amount of mulch and I will have more put down next year. I had a tree taken down and chipped, and that is the mulch on the back slope.
I can't afford to pay someone more money for planting that aren't going to make it. It's not her fault; she chose plants for when the back slope is boggy and we've had a dry summer. My original purpose was to plant things that would suck up water that comes down the slope when we get a lot of rain, because I get a river at the slope bottom and sometimes standing water.
I think that given my lack of predilection to gardening, I'm going to have to bite the bullet and buy established plants.
I need some suggestions for plants for this area that can tolerate a dry OR wet summer, sun to partial shade, and don't need a lot of attention. Any ideas?
You should bite the bullet and hire a professional who can help you like a landscape architect and not keep wasting your money on plants when the underlying problem has not been taken care of.
We have about the same dilemma, but it’s too soon to tell if we nailed it or not. I’m in zone 8b, coastal ga.
We have a corner of the back yard that is dry most of the time, but when we get a lot of rain, a few times a year, it floods and stays wet for a few days, despite the fact that the soil is sandy and drains quickly. It gets some filtered shade from an oak tree.
DH is tired of all the mulch in that area washing away, causing the weeds to grow, so we’ve planted spreading junipers, in hopes of not needing mulch after awhile. We also have planted an Oriental Paper Bush (Edgeworthia) for visual interest and texture in front of some big thriving viburnum Odoritissimum.
We’ve done the research, planted according to recommendations, and beyond that, it’s all you can do. I call it, “sink or swim” gardening.
So, if you aren’t interested in doing the work, then your best option is to pay someone to take the responsibility of choosing and planting and doing the maintenance.
Last edited by gentlearts; 11-07-2019 at 01:49 PM..
Maybe you need to think about hardscaping some of the yard with a designed garden bed "inside" the hardscaped area. That would give you more control of the soil and the water necessary t keep them thriving. The other suggestion is to invest in some containers and plant in them for interest and color. Put some native plants in that are consistent with the soil you have in that particular area.
Since you're not a gardener, I think hardscaping the back yard (adding a nice big deck?), and doing your gardening in large boxes/pots filled with good potting soil is a good idea. Make it an outdoor room with lots of good comfortable outdoor furniture, fountains, and potted specimen plants.
The other beds could be just something simple like azalea beds covered with thick mulch. Add some big rocks, and it'll be beautiful and easy care.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
