The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Gardens => Topic started by: Snoopy on October 29, 2009, 10:26:42 am
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Hi
I need some help and advice.
Have a stream, with about two feet of a border thats flat, then drops down to the stream by about four feet deep very sharply.
I have fought nature for six years, pulling out horsetail, bramble and weeds, and planting forsythia, buddlea and alpines and daffodils, but fighting a losing battle.
Can anyone advise a ground cover plant that would matt, and grow downhill to the
water level?
Julie
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Have you tried Lamium (two varieties I have grown are pink flowers with darker green leaves and yellow flowers with lighter green leaves), and Bugle (dark green leaves with lilac flowers) Both are prolific - we grew them in a woodland area but they are very adaptable. Also heathers might be good but need ericaceous soil to do well. You could also plant the thornless bramble and harvest the berries. Found this pdf file on teh 'net http://www.floralocale.org/u_search3.asp?ds=1&anytime=1
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It's not ground cover Julie, but have you thought about willow ?
It's great for wetter areas, roots so easily, grows quick you can coppice it and use it for firewood or maybe weaving ? (there's tonnes of other possibilities too - living structures, contorted willow for selling to florists or making decorations) You wouldn't need to let it get too big either if you intended weaving with it.
Sorry, I know it's not ground cover - but it's productive ;) I could give you some cuttings when you're over if you want them - just let me know.
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Willow was my first though - you get coloured varieties to and it's very good at stabilising the soil.
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Yes, Willow is a possibility further down the land, and thanks both for the idea.
The thing is, near the entrance and gates to the farm, the stream is very very pretty, and has little mini waterfalls with us being on the mountainside, and edges our land from the road up the mountain to the windfarm.
Rather than block out the stream from view of the road and visitors, I wanted to make a pretty but low maintenance feature of it.
Horsetail and bramble take over all the time, which edge both sides of the very pretty lane, but I wanted it to look a little more, erh, polished, just for about 50 feet in both directions from my gate entrance (which is a bridge over the same stream).
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Photos cause I don't think I explained the situation well enought for you to imagine:-
(http://www.tullywoodfarm.com/images/stream.jpg) (http://www.tullywoodfarm.com/images/stream2.jpg)
Top One is above the entrance, and bottom one is as you approach the entrance to the farm.
Can you see I need something to look pretty, but also edge the roadside so as not to
block out the view of the stream.
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Okay, so I'm thinking periwinkles, candytuft, snow in summer or some variety of sedum.
Or if you're looking for something evergreen - Ivy, juniper, phlox or euonymous would be my suggestions.
Sorry I've not inclued any links - just going to get my tea but just google them to see photos.
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Snoopy, your stream is great... even better than that though, what a lovely cat!! Just snuck in the second picture... he's alot like ours, does he have to get involved in everything as well?!
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Yes Little Blue - thats our Amy - she is Lizzie's mum - there is a picture of our Lizzie on the cats bit.
I have eight cats, and they follow me everywhere - can't get out of the placve on foot without being followed. The local farmers find it a hoot and cannot believe that if I go for a long walk, so do my cats and dogs ;D ;D ;D
Ans sometimes pigs and goats too ;D ;D ;D
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Your stream looks lovely - I daren't post pics of mine - might pollute the forum - it is a very ominous shade of grey and I have given up on Scottish Water, and the Environment services. They have been and looked and looked and gone so many times before. ::)