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Please tell me about the north side of the house

Posted by vegangirl z6 VA (My Page) on
Tue, Apr 5, 05 at 7:12

I am confused about this. Do you plant really cold-hardy things there because it stays so cold, frozen and not much sun in winter or do you plant things that are more tender and early blooming because you want them to stay dormant longer? The north side of our house gets practically no sun in winter but gets lots of sun in summer. It is also buffeted with strong winter winds.


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Please tell me about the north side of the house

VeganGirl,

Both of the situations you remarked on are correct. The north side of the house is generally the colder side and so you would tend to plant more cold hardy plants. Conversely,
the cold can also be used to your advantage. If you live in an are with late frosts, planting on the north side of the house could keep your plant from flowering to early which would be killed by the frost. In my town of Flagstaff, we have to worry about the late frosts and so I try to plant many fruit trees on the north side of the house to keep them as dormant as long as possible.

I hope this helps.


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RE: Please tell me about the north side of the house

eden, thanks for clarifying that! We have late spring frosts too, up until the end of May, so even though there are peach and apricot varieties that are cold-hardy, the frosts always kill the fruit. We rarely get plums wither. Unfortunately we live in a frost pocket. But we do manage to get apples and pears most years.


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RE: Please tell me about the north side of the house

I have a Daphne odora there that does well. It also has sharp drainage because it is elevated 2 railroad ties above the driveway. Campanula pocharskyana also likes it there, and Cyclamen hederifolia.


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RE: Please tell me about the north side of the house

hemnancy, I have a C. pocharskyana. Maybe I'll get some started there. It would probably make a nice ground cover under the shrubs.


 
 

 

 


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