ideas for planting in a drain field

My husband and I are trying to get some ideas of what to plant in our drain field that is not grass. It needs to have shallow roots as the leach field is buried only 6" from the surface of the yard. We are in a partly shady to shady area as most of the lot is wooded. Appreciate the ideas. We are trying to put in a lot of beds in the yard and have all garden-no grass.

Jamie

Would something like violets, or Sweet Woodruff work, both do well in shade and are shallow rooted.

Marcia,
Thanks for the idea. We may incorporate some of these into the area. I don't know how well violets do in our hot NC summers. I probably need something that is somewhat drought resistant as well.

i just planted a hosta garden and its over the top of the septic field and tank. Im hoping it doesnt need any work for at least 3yrs at that time i will be able to divide them and share them with friends-i also have some patio blocks to take up some space.

jnn...I'm in Hillsboro, just a tad north of ya, and our wild violets blanket our little orchard area and love our leach line/drain field area. I think you'd do well with them. (Great suggestion, Marcia!)

As for drought problems...if they are growing in your drainfield area I doubt they will suffer from any lack of water. Violets offer a great "cover crop" and beautious flowers.

And by the way, I don't remember welcoming you to DG...so,..

A Hearty Welcome to DG! See ya around the site!

edited for keyboard reluctance (or spelling error?)



This message was edited Dec 16, 2004 11:44 PM

i use alot of sedum ground covers too-in sun and shade.
OH and as shoe said-WELCOME to the garden!

my ajugas go crazy too!!

i think myrtle spurge would grow anywhere!! its taking over my gardne!
good luck on your hunt!

Jack in the pulpits. Can't say I can think of anything else right now.... oh, how about ferns?

Thanks for all the suggestions! I will try some violets and some ferns. I'd love to put in hostas, but the deer will eat them right up! The only thing I've found to make them stay away from some of our plants is to spray milk on them, but I don't want to have to do that with a real big area because you have to keep reapplying the milk and it would get rather costly and time consuming. I do use it on my roses though, and the little buggers have stopped chewing the bush down to the nibs.

Take care, all!

What about a few irises? They'd be pretty. Cannas should work too.

Or you can do a false creek and line the drain area with stones? Might get pricey though.

Six inches of soil will dry out rather quickly unless you have neavy clay soil which might create other problems with drainage. You didn't mention the soil type the drainage field is in. When we had our septic system put in, we were told NOT to plant anything other than grass over the drainage field and we have very, very sandy soil. An ideal drainage field will drain down and away from the tank so there shouldn't be any extra moisture over the leach field. The higher the clay content, the more time it takes the buried tanks to drain. Adding extra water to the area might not be such a good idea.

Have you given any thought to using potted plants? Using pots of different sized gives you a greater variety of plants from which to choose. Many of the shade loving shrubs will happily grow for years in pots given periodic repotting. The advantage of gardening in pots is that you can move the pots out of the way when the tanks need servicing.

Hope this helps.
Bettydee

We have clay soil. We live in North Carolina, so the soil is pretty heavy. Thanks for the head's up about the leach field as that is what we are worried about. Sounds like we will have to be very careful about what we put in this area. Here's a photo of the area. As you can see, we have built a bed here and will have to very careful about making sure the water still drains down the hill. I think we will have to take some of this soil away and put it in another bed.

That's a beautiful area you live in. Even though it'll be difficult to find something for that area, please think twice before resorting to some kind of awful invasive weed.

Is this boggy? I'll alert Equi, our bog expert...I think.
I'm very familiar with the NC clay, mainly, it's not easy to dig in, but my favorite herbs grow great in it.
That,s just opposite of my 55mph perk sand here.
Beautiful spot, hope some of those trees are hardwoods. You have a lovely blank canvas to play with, have fun plant away.

I'm certainly no expert and not even close as I struggle myself half the time with what's most appropriate for dry shade. BogMan is the acid bog expert around here but these aren't acid bog conditions. The drainage area poses challenges more so because what you plant there may "travel". Like you said, you're going to be careful about making sure the water still drains downhill but that water will then be draining off site. Best not to consider any non native plant material that "naturalizes" or you may not be too high on the popularity list with your new neighbors when the plants don't respect the boundaries of the property lines. The leach field sounds fun. You have an entire world of plant materials open to you. Soggy gardening can be the best. Clay can be the pits but is not necessarily the end of the world as there are plants out there that are clay busters. Baptisia comes to mind but there are many others.

As far as septic fields... all different types and we don't know which type of system she has. Generally when they caution against planting anything other than grass it is an overgeneralization aimed at deterring folk from planting shrubs and trees which could theoretically result in system failures and we surely don't want a septic field system failure. Point in context, our septic field is being planted with native species that have roots extending down 10'-12' with 3'-5' being about the average. I consulted with heritage biologists and watershed management engineers before I started this though. So far, our system is not only functioning, but functioning quite well and has not been in need of repeated servicing as have systems owned by neighbors planted in basic grass. I am wondering if the roots just don't speed up the process of conversion to potable water. I mention this only because each system is very different and it is best to basically pick up the phone and contact the individual who designed any given system.

Here are some ideas for your leach field and tell me what you think after you look up photos-
Downy Yellow Violet (Viola pubescens)
Turk's Cap Lily (Lilium superbum)
Black Snakeroot (Actaea racemosa)- very showy
Yellow Windflower (Anemone ranunculoides)
Green Dragon (Arisaema dracontium)- I think you'll love this
Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense)- great foliage
Bigleaf Aster (Aster macrophyllus)
Shooting Star (Dodecatheon meadia)
Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum)
Black Cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides)
Round-Lobed Hepatica (Hepatica americana)- beautiful
Twinleaf (Jeffersonia diphylla) personal favorite
Barbara's Buttons (Marshallia grandiflora)
Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica)
Bowman's Root (Porteranthus trifoliatus)
Celandine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum)

All of the above can handle shade and moisture.

If you add rocks for aesthetics, take a look at this-
Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum)

You might want to look closely at Tiarellas and Heucheras and additionally well behaved Pulmonerias, Hostas, and Dicentras.

In the fern department you might want to take a peek at these and see what you think-
Royal Fern (Osmunda regalis)
Hay Scented Fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula)
Interrupted Fern (Osmunda claytoniana)
Log Fern (Dryopteris X celsa)
Marginal Shield Fern (Dryopteris marginalis)
Tatting Fern (Athyrium filix)- personal favorite
Cinnamon Fern (Osmunda cinnamomea)

I like ferns and hostas. It's an addiction for me. Actually, shade and soggy plants in general are my downfall. I can't exercise any restraint.

They sell a special Butterfly Weed (Asclepias Tuberosa) that does well in clay soil. If you're interested, I'll searcho through my catalogs and let you know where I saw it.

They sell a special Butterfly Weed (Asclepias Tuberosa) that does well in clay soil. If you're interested, I'll searcho through my catalogs and let you know where I saw it.

Whoops, I forgot that's a full sun plant... sorry.

What about a native oxalis? Can spread fast though... Are there native Oxalis?
LOL Sorry, I try and save all the weeds in our pots/gardens. Even some of the wiregrass, LOL!

Maybe you can find "sterile" plants that don't produce viable seeds and grow slowly?

To the best of my knoweldge, there is no such thing as an oxalis native to North America. They most certainly have "naturalized" though just as Dame's Rocket, Burning Bushes, Lily of The Valley, and English Ivy have. There is an underground tuber to the oxalis plant that is covered with many tiny bulblets. Each one of these little bulblets is capable of making a whole new plant. Many people who try to eradicate this plant by removing them find that the little bublets that fall off come back 10 fold. Tough plant to get rid of once it establishes.

Sterile plants aren't necessarily "sterile". Pristine example of this is the Bradford Pear that has escaped cultivation. The Bradford Pear is a Calleryana Pear. Cultivars have been released of this monster and have been sold at WalMarts, K-Marts, Lowes, Home Depots, as well as respected nurseries across the nation. They're cheap and people buy them because they grow fast and have pretty white spring blossoms. The Calleryana cultivars have beautiful names like Aristocrat Pear, Cleveland Select Pear, Whitehouse Pear, Stonehill Pear, RedSpire Pear, Autumn Blaze Pear, Trinity Pear and a host of others. These cultivars hybridized and continue to hybridize with the orignal Bradfords and the offspring are anything but sterile. Hmm, how do I know this? I purchased several Bradfords and Cleveland Selects. They did their Calleryana Pear thing and began making appearances all over my property just last year. I probably nailed about 10 little Calleryanas but I caught it fast and removed the parent plants. This year I suspect I will find about 20 from the seed bank that will be there but they are easy to spot and it won't be a big deal.

Much more research out there since the publication of this article however this one happens to be short and sweet without a lot of technical data-
http://www.agnr.umd.edu/ipmnet/5-8art1.htm

Thanks Lauren, as usual, excellent advise.

Wow, thanks for all the suggestions. I love this website! I do think we will have fun trying to find some good plants to put in this area. I will look up some of the things you have all suggested and give you some updates as we start planting this part of our garden. We are having fun with this, especially because we decided to do no grass.

The trees, by the way, are a mix of Pines, Poplars, white Oak, Maples, Sweet Gums and a few Beaches. We are also planting a Cherry Tree (not in the Leach field, of course!) and a Pomegrante (just for fun-we got this at the botanical gardens in Chapel Hill, NC). We are trying to stick to mainly native plants, but also adding some tropicals and other plants that are not too invasive, but some will spread out a bit, like the Monarda, Helleborus, etc.

Cheers, Jamie

I'm sorry. I didn't know you were trying to stick mainly to native plants. Scratch the Pulmonerias and Hostas from my list as those are definitely not natives. There are several Dicentras that are natives such as Dutchman's Breeches and Squirrel Corn but most are not and you'll need to check the binomial of each one individually to see whether it is native to NA or not. The Helleborus that you mentioned is a member of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) and its native range is Europe. Many Ranunculaceae can get a little aggressive so that might be one to watch closely. Every other plant I listed was native to NA and east of the Rockies.

I think you have a wonderful front yard and I hope you will post photos this coming spring.

Best wishes to you,
Lauren

Well, it's hard to keep only to natives in NC because so many beautiful plants have naturalized there. We all battle deer, squriels, slug, mole, and other preditors on our gardens, but fight them.
Gretaduck, a member here might have some deer defense if you want to plant Hostas and they are so beautiful in areas like yours. She has a place at Pittsboro. Thankfully they didn't clear cut the land as they often tend to do in NC.developments.

I will have to contact Gretaduck as we live just 10 miles north of Pittsboro. I'm also trying to find a local garden club, so maybe she will know about one around here.

I love this website! It is so helpful!