Natives Under Pines

9 years ago

My parents have conifers at the entrance to their driveway in circles of mulch. Since I can't abide empty mulch, I'm trying to plant flowers under them, natives preferred. If any "take off" and spread I'll transplant some to my parent's summer place.

I planted Virginia Bluebells, Trillium, Canadian wild ginger, and Bloodroot under both.

One also got ferns. (Cinnamon ferns and some random other variety) mayapple, and Viola pubescens.

The other also got some native Delpnium and Jacob's ladder.
Also Lily-of-the-Valley.

Will any of these plants not play well with the others? (ie crowd them out). Is the Anemone quinquifolia I got at a plant swap worth adding?

Zone 6, dappled shade and morning sun, thin layer of improved soil over dense acidic clay.

Featured Answer

wisconsitom

9 years ago

Ed, usually Lily of the Valley refers to Convallaria majalis, a Eurasian species now widely naturalized in N. America. There is a related plant-Convallaria majuscula-found roughly in the SMokey Mtns. region, which is also a good-looking plant.

I've had the former, C. majalis in my yard forever. Let me tell you, it's one tough competitor. For quite a few years, I had a section of my back area where I let thugs fight it out-such things as the plant in question, Virginia creeper vine, ostrich fern, and Aegopodium podagraria or bishop's goutweed. You get the picture! Guess which was the strongest competitor? Yup, lily of the valley. It was able to completely vanquish a starting bed of ostrich fern. That fern is a colonial species with otherwise amazing tenacity, far beyond anything I've ever seen cinnamon fern do, although that species too has some colony-forming ability.

The native C. majuscula is one I've never seen, but from the pictures, it appears to have similar flowers and foliage. I can't vouch one way or the other as to it's aggressiveness in the landscape.

+oM

Comments (6)

agkistrodon
9 years ago
Anemones are usually great for attracting caterpillars/moths/butterflies and they are beautiful...I'd def. add them! The bluebells, trilliums, ginger and bloodroot should all do well together! I think, however, that Lily of the Valley is an introduced species and though I have no experience w/it, I've read that it is invasive...so not so sure about that!

Sounds as if you are creating a beautiful woodland patch!
edlincoln
Original Author
9 years ago
The Lily-of-the-Valley was transplanted from elsewhere in the yard...so if it was going to spread into the lawn, it would have. It *is* very aggressive....it filled the flower bed it's in. I'm hoping the native bulbs will do their thing before it springs up, and I'm only experimenting with it in one of the two mulch patches. I've hear different accounts as to it's invasive status...it is either a plant that comes in both North American and European varieties or an invasive introduced a very long time ago.
The other thing I'm worrying about is the ferns. And is "Anemone quinquifolia" showy enough to be worth it?
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edlincoln
Original Author
9 years ago
So the consensus is that the Lily-of-the-Valley will clobber the trillium? I was hoping the bulbs would do their thing before the Lily-of-the-Valley sprouted.

What about the other bed, which has ferns? Should I pull the ferns out to give the Mayapple and trillium a chance?
wisconsitom
9 years ago
Well, mayapple is itself quite capable of forming large colonies. And I'm a fern lover. So I guess that if it was my situation, I'd try to work those three together for a while and see what happens. Just my $0.02.

+oM
honymand
9 years ago
I live in Denmark, well within the native area of C. majalis and have it in my garden. It does indeed form a very dense network of roots which will easily clobber your Triliums.

However - some plants actually go well with C. majalis. At least two species of Anemone, Anemone nemorosa grows in the wild here in Denmark and also Anemone sylvestris. Also different species of Narcissus and tulips will do well with C. majalis. Just be sure always to pick sturdy varieties.