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topie_gw

Bizarre beach rock & sedum bed with plastic mat

topie
14 years ago

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions for how to deal with an unusual garden bed. I was all set to plant a nice shade garden with hosta, ferns, coral bells, Solomon's Seal, Bleeding Heart and Jacob's Ladder until I troweled a little today and discovered this bizarre construction installed by a previous owner of our house.

Here's how the bed is constructed:

LAYER 1: The entire bed is filled with medium sized rocks about six inches down.

LAYER 2: Layer of small rocks.

LAYER 3: On top of the small rock layer is a heavy black plastic mat.

LAYER 4: 1 to 2 inch layer of soil.

LAYER 5: (Ground level) Currently the bed is filled with happily growing Sedum sarmentosum interspersed with small beach stones.

I assume this was constructed to prevent weeds and reduce the work load for the previous gardener.

So now I'm thinking "rock garden". I don't really want to embark upon the massive project of digging out all the rocks. Is there anything that will grow in these shallow soil conditions other than Sedum sarmentosum ? I like the sedum very much, but I was hoping to supplement it with some flowering shade perennials, or something with interesting leaves, preferably native to the northeast of the U.S.A., or cultivated versions of northeast natives.

ZONE: 6B.

LIGHT: Partial shade.

SOIL: Well-drained to dry-ish. Seems drier than the area next to it. The area next to it (without rocks) is completely carpeted with spongy moss.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

Comments (3)

  • Kmac
    14 years ago

    bet no one touches this w/ a ten foot pole, especially if you want to plant shade plants that need humusy soil.
    Can you say DEMO?

  • leftwood
    14 years ago

    Not that it would help your situation much, but I bet Corydalis solida (and perhaps some other cormous species, if you can find them) would live fine. Mine come up, bloom, and go dormant in a matter of 4 weeks.

  • tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
    14 years ago

    How big of an area is this? Black plastic anything is not good. Removing it will cause what soil is there to settle into the rocks, so more would be needed. I would still do it (remove the plastic), add more soil and let the rubble stay where it is. If you make compost, add an inch or two layer evey year after and there will be plenty of organic matter for the plants you've chosen.

    tj

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