I simply want some opinions on what some people would do between these roots??


This last picture is of a root that's kind of in the way of my raised rock garden.Is just covering it will soil & pea gravel & putting something like Rupestre 'angela' over it an answer.The tree the roots belong to has been cut down so the root in TIME will decay.That is the highest part of it here's the rest of it.Right where i want to put drought tolerant plants and some others that take full to partial shade.

Jelinda, I love those roots, I think I would just incorporate them into the bed for artistic interest.

Yes, there's always room for artistic interest. Sometimes you can't find it and here's some for you right under your feet (when you stand on it, that is).

Yup, I vote for having them show in your garden!

too, I llike how they look. But as the tree is dead you could saw through the raised sections and pull them up, if they really bother you.

What would i do without all of yall's artistic minds.It never occured to me to do that. I was just thinking of them as a problem spot.But they don't bother me,i do have drift wood for the bed so they will fit right in.

Now that's solved just fill in around them & then plant something

Any opinions on the other roots? These tree's aren't anywhere near my rock garden.They are just an eye soar.
They are on the top of the top,first terrace (we called it).The weather especially with all the rain we have had over the last 3 months has really washed that hill pretty bad.It goes all the way across my yard,above it it's flat ,then there's the road.I thought if i tried to fill in between the roots,plant something & then maybe use rock,something to hold the dirt until the plants can cover then the roots at the bottom of the trees would be covered and would keep dirt in that spot & without hurting the tree's.

I read an article about putting beds around trees.It said not to!! The flowers would take nutrients from the tree.So if i planted things with shallow roots & added dirt,fertilized maybe that wouldn't be a problem.

Wonder if i should have put this in a forum that wasn't so specific to a type of plant?I may find help with this one in a sedum or something besides semp's & jovi's.This isn't part of my rock garden,maybe i should have put the first picture on a different thread??


If you could line these pictures up there would be one missing between the last 2.That's the top terrace i speak of.The "thing" in the 1st. picture is going in my rock garden my gs (5 yrs. old) calls it an ostrich sp.You know the big birds,i also have a metal cat & a rooster pot holder i think i may work into the bed.My father-in-law makes yard art.
I am thinking about ground covers to keep the dirt from washing.Hubby working on grass Like i said this should be on another forum,but which one?? Any idea's Lynn,your good at what should go where.

Sorry,i got wordy again!!

I had read that trees take away the water and nutrients from the plants below! Go figure

I sort-of built up beds around a lot of our trees. I didn't use soil, however, as it's said to smother the roots of the tree. I just laid out a couple of inches of compost and let the worms take it from there. Each year I add more compost, whenever I have it to use. I've pretty much limited my under-plantings to things that don't require a rich soil...just in case. Trees and plants seem to do well together here, as long as compost is replaced as it disappears.

2011


2012

I think those areas are another great opportunity to plant things that are drought tolerant. Many ground cover type sedum are drought tolerant, epimedium (which will get some height to it), hellebore. There are all kinds of plants that could grow there and stabilize the soil and not take a lot of water. Or care that the trees are taking most of the ground water.
Winter/Spring blooming




Mid Spring blooming, evergreen



Violets, evergreen and reblooming



Columbine and Lily of the Valley, will go dormant in the summer



Daffodils http://garden.org/plants/searc...

Some of these are evergreen some will go dormant when summer arrives.

Dead trees eventually fall down and become a hazard. I would trim the tops off before I invested a lot of time planting around the roots. Once the tops are safe, you could plant semps in nooks and crannies in the remaining tree itself.

Are all the trees dead Jelinda? If so I agree with twit. If that is the case the above plants wouldn't work that well, because they need the shade from the trees when they leaf out.

No,no I'm sorry i just took the picture it's dormant.The problem is that the tree's are on that terrace (hill) whole family has always called it a terrace because our land is terraced off into sections,flat then a little hill,the weather over many many years has washed that top terrace badly and I was looking for something to help if even the slightest bit,until a wall can be made or something to stop the washing.We have started at the bottom building up the ground & planting grass.Our hopes are to work our way up to the terrace,& level it up some,grass will hold some soil.But i thought if i could put compost maybe between the roots & plant drought tolerant with shallow roots.

Chelle,I use compost it's a forest compost that i buy by the truck load from a guy who lives out here in the boonies with us.Is that what your talking about? Also we don't rake leaves we mow them with the lawn mower. It really helps the leaves break down faster & i figured that would help our wind blown ground.Anything to help amend my yard.

I just thought every picture i've seen of Jovi's they seem to be growing almost in a line? I don't have any but i do have 1 coming with some semps i ordered from Simply Succulents.They grow between rocks why not roots?? One problem i can think of would be they would only get partial/dapple sun in the mornings when the sun is low enough to shine up the hill??

Lynn,I do love Hellebore!! I've never grown any but will look into them as well as the others.

Thanks for the help yall

The other plants listed with the hellebore would work also.
Will be fun to see what you do with the area. Keep ups posted.

There are also ground cover sedum that will do well in shade with the roots and all.

Yes, forest compost would be great.

Another thought for you...

I've also used split logs, in whatever size is convenient to carry, staggered downhill through my compost to help hold it in place until new plantings are established. By the time the logs start to break down your plants should be able to go it alone. Maybe you could also try a few deep-rooted perennials here and there to further help with the erosion issue.

with Chelle' s idea of using logs to help establish support for foundation plants.

Another couple very easy plants are Forsythia and Buddleia (butterfly bush) and these would have deeper roots that would hold more soil in place! They grow fast and easily, so you could start them out smaller and have a nice sized bush in just a couple of years! As Lynn says "Forsooth a Forsythia"!

I have 3 forsythia babies.I planted them last spring,my mother-in-law has huge bushes of them all around her yard,she dug up babies from under 3 of them & gave me.Only 1 has bloomed,it's different than the other 2. I've been meaning to ask if anyone could tell what their names where because the 1 is so different.

It doesn't have little slender leaves like the other 2,it has bigger fatter leaves that turned red before falling off this fall.Then i noticed it started getting a bud looking thing on it,that ended up being seed pods.I don't have pictures of the seeds,i don't think.I lost all my pictures on my computer after about end of Sept.I need to keep up with backing up copied of the pictures i have now!!! But i have pictures of it lately when it bloomed.

I never got any thoughts on planting Jovi's between the roots after i putting compost between them, almost a mini raised bed.??!!