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sowena

By Sowena

United Kingdom Gb

I have an area of garden which is causing me a problem, the garden in question has a lot of ground elder, I have cleared a large area removed some shrubs and grassed it which has taken well. However next to this area of new lawn is essentially a bed (about 8 foot wide) which contains a Cornus alba and a Cotinus, both of which are to remain, this area is also full of ground elder which I am currently digging out. My question is what to plant in place of the ground elder, I don't think grass will take very well as it is quite shady. I am considering covering it over winter and planting in the spring, and advice would be gratefully received




Answers

 

Best to wait a complete season before doing any permanent planting as the ground elder is persistent stuff and may well put in an appearance next year if you missed any bits of root.

You can grass shady areas if you choose the shade tolerant variety of grass seed which is now available, as long as the shade is not very dense. A photo of the site would be helpful if you can add one to your question.

26 Jul, 2016

 

pachyphragma or pachysandra are both good though I prefer the latter as it is evergreen and a very good /tough ground cover plant that does well in deep shade.
then there are a range of ferns that will do the job for you as well as hostas. Telima, heucherella and tiraella cope in moderate shade as will many of the heucheras.

I had a similar problem and I double dug and sieved the soil before putting it back. It took me ages but the following year I only had 3 showings of plants. so it was worth the effort [border is 30mx 2.5m]

26 Jul, 2016

 

Thank you. I will photograph and post tomorrow, but comments so far are really helpful.

26 Jul, 2016

How do I say thanks?

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