Pacific Northwest Gardening: Mistakes I have made in my gardens, 1 by Rarejem

Rarejem wrote:
Pixy, I would love some Mt Fuji MG's! Have grown them in the past and they are stunning. Will counter your diabolical scheme however with an offer of an exchange of Ipomoea Magnusiana, which has a lovely palm shaped leaves, pretty white flowers, and really cool little fuzzy seeds!

Jnette, I have a climbing hydrangea under a cedar (up against a lovely root of a fallen douglas) and it has done nicely for me, but like Bonehead mentioned, it took several years for it to do much more than sit there and make me fret that I had lost it. Now it is happily climbing, but I have had it there for about seven years. I have tried cup and saucer a couple of times, but I was in the same boat as you... only got a few blooms at the end of the season. Last year, it didn't stand a chance as the dogs were chasing something under the trellis it was planted on. Will make another attempt at it again this year, because the foilage was pretty.

Ladybug, I have lots of stuff planted under my cedars, and have done quite well with most of it. The toughest part is getting through the roots to dig a hole, and you have to water very regularly in these areas as the trees drink a lot and the canopy doesn't let much water through. Have been wonderfully successful with grasses, hellebores, azaleas, cyclamen, heathers, and groundcovers under mine.

Here is my back pond garden in the spring which is planted around two large cedars. It does have an underground spring that runs through that general area in the winter, and I run soaker hoses daily in the summer, but the effect is lovely and shows that it is possible. This is at the end of April last year