See, I don't think I'd mind if the creeping violets became invasive. First, it's better than looking at a carpet of dead leaves. And second, my grandmother's name was violet. So every time I see one (especially African violets), I think of her. So, I'd consider that a "friendly weed."
As for the fuschia, I tried this one: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.focal.plane.btinternet.co.uk/visitors_pix/fuschia1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.focal.plane.btinternet.co.uk/visitors_pix/fucshia1.htm&h=400&w=302&sz=29&tbnid=qJ0gI7r80EIJ:&tbnh=119&tbnw=90&start=3&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfuschia%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG
which is the only variety I've seen in the local nurseries. Makes me wonder about the correa -- do you s'pose it will be suitable to this climate? Where have you acquired it? Oh, I do know it needs to be overwintered indoors or in my greenhouse. It's a tad tender for my zone, but with TLC, should be fine.
What grows in the dark, practically?
I know you are well into the "advice" stage here, but I just have to tell you that I almost spit Coke on my computer screen when I read where you wrote "I would rather chew off my foot than plant nandina." HA! I feel the SAME way. And there was some gnashing of teeth when I expressed that opinion too. But my house is 80+ years old and in a historic district. Which means there are lots and lots of rules. One is, no mature trees are cut down unless they are diseased or causing property damage. Now while it's great to have trees 5 miles from the downtown area of a big city, it does present gardening challenges. Part of my property is in full sun while the north side is total shade. So someone decided that nandina aaaaallllll the way around the house would be fabulous for a foundation plant. Granted, it does grow well in full sun to full shade with no water or fertilizer whatsoever, but where I'm from that's called a "weed." And it will NOT let go! I had to hire an arborist to drive a small stump grinder around my entire house to grind the roots down about 10 inches. He couldn't get right up to the house without hitting the slab, so I STILL dig out new growth in some areas right up against the house. I now call it the Devil's Plant because I swear Satan is down in Hades holding on to the roots of these bad boys. As a caveat, I do have a couple in the backyard still as specimen plants and keep them pruned in a unique shape so they are cool to look at. And my great dane gets IN them to hide b/c he really thinks you can't see his big butt sticking out. No trampling or peeing on his part will kill them though. Same with the mondo grass. On that note, we just installed a DIY "invisible fence" system to keep the dogs out of my flower beds. So far that is working WONDERFULLY!!!! Now they only go where I want them to. Also, I thought the urine problems were mainly caused by female dogs b/c of the hormones. Maybe I am thinking of discoloring grass though.
Anyway, thought I would share my nandina hate- maybe we can start an anti-fan club. Ha!
Jamie
Well, I'm glad to find I'm not the only nandina hater. However, my hatred for the asiatic jasmine burns with the intensity of 1,000 suns. There's a little patch surrounding my Japanese red maple (which I luuuuurve). Every year, I wade in, intent on ripping out the whole mess. (I want to plant esperanza there.) After about four hours of digging tangled vines up only to discover I've cleared about 4" of vine away from the perimeter, I go back inside, disgusted, disgruntled and disappointed, hands sticky and shredded. Jasmine, happy to have a haircut, just gets stronger. Aiiiiiigggggghhhhhh.
Friends don't let friends plant exotic invasives, that's my motto!
I'm not a big fan of the mondo grass either, but it's a little easier to control. I like the dwarf mondo quite a lot -- looks like moss almost and is a very pretty, no maintenance ground cover. I have it instead of grass in parts of my front yard.
My other most-hated plant are camphor trees. They're freaking weeds in these parts. Really big weeds. In a rental house I used to live in, there were two camphor trees that were so close to the house, they were rubbing on the eaves. So the landlady and I cut 'em down and hauled 'em off. (These were like 20-30 foot trees: two chicks and a big bow saw!) After a few weeks, the stumps (cut level to the GROUND) sprouted new babies. I lopped 'em off. The more sprouts. Landlady mixes up motor oil and kerosene or some other similar horrible, volatile mixture, cut grooves into the stumps and poured this toxic chemical all over the stumps, in the grooves, around the plant. Few weeks later... new suckers sprout back up again! I reapplied the evil chemical mixture. I sprayed with Roundup (last resort). I let the dog pee on 'em. Everything we tried has failed. things keep coming on back. This house is across the street from where I live now and I noticed today that they have been allowed to sprout back up and have almost reached the eaves again. New renters are not gardeners like me. I'm just glad it's not my house, but I still have to look at it every day. Somehow, she managed to get rid of the mimosa tree, which I sort of like. (They look like trees you'd see in Dr. Seuss books.)
Need a wet wipe for your monitor? ;>) Be careful, Coke makes your keyboard keys sticky.
Girl you are too funny!
I like mondo grass too. I have it in a few places. My husband hates it too- go ahead and sign him up for the "intensity of 1,000 suns" kind of hate. I removed it from the front altogether, but convinced him it DOES have a place in our shady backyard. I transplanted some in the heat of summer and it died. I may be the only person in history who managed to kill mondo grass. :) Wish I had the same luck with nandina. That stump grinding thing does work. Wonderfully actually. If I could have gotten it right up against the house my nandina nightmare would be 100% over. Oh, and a shot of Roundup made this stuff grow MORE I think. My boy dogs both squat to pee like girls, go figure. But it's good for me b/c they don't lift their legs on any of my plants! But my husband doesn't like it. I almost had him convinced to run over and lift their legs for them when they are doing their business to "teach" them. But I couldn't keep a straight face long enough so he knew I was messing with him. If he thought it would work, he would have done it! But I still don't think that would have wiped out the nandina. I will post some pictures of that mess when I get home. It was unreal how overgrown it was.
http://www.robsplants.com/garden/shadegarden.php
This is a web site with a list of Shade plants.
Anna
Oh, how 'bout that? Turns out I have a Hellebore -- a lenten rose. Which should mean, it's Lent, it should be blooming right now! It's not. I planted it more than a year ago. Me thinks I have a soil problem. Anyway, thanks lazygirl for the link! Very informative.
Geez, Texasgarden... I've pulled up mondo grass and left it on the curb to ROT and it still lived... how can you kill mondo grass? (Isn't it "monkey grass" down here in the South?) LOL
Ha! YES- to me it's monkey grass but not everyone calls it that. And I think most southerns call Floridians "southern yankees" so how did YOU know about that? :) If you're a native, I guess that explains it. I don't know what I did. We dug it up from the front with HUGE rootballs attached. then we planted it along the back fence. It was August, but started pouring down rain on us as we were planting it, so I thought it would be ok. It's monkey grass for God's sake. But it turned brown and never recovered. We mowed it to the ground and now and then little sprouts of green try and come up, but to no avail.
I have Lenten roses/hellbores and it isn't blooming... but I just planted the little 1 inch transplants this September so I will probably have to wait a year for blooms. I hate waiting...
Great link Anna- thanks for posting it.
I'm on my way now to plant some of those shady things. Loved the pics and advice. thanks for the thread
I'm not a native; in fact, I'm a Yankee -- but please don't tell my neighbors. They think I'm Southern! (Must be that Cleveland accent! ;>))
The person I learned about gardening from -- my roommate in South Florida many moons ago -- was originally from southern Alabama. He taught me to call it monkey grass, and I believe that's the more appropriate name, so I stick with that. He also calls Crepe Myrtles "Crappy Myrtles" and I tend to use that one too. They're gorgeous when blooming but people lop 'em back to trunks and they're the ugliest things ever. And so ubiquitous. Blech. I hate to insult plants that some people love, but we're back to gnawing off limbs again...
Well I think south Alabama qualifies as Southern huh? Hopefully he rubbed off on ya. Ha! When I lived in Georgia, I jokingly made a comment about how the Southerners were driving me nuts. My boss said "well, you're a Southerner too." And without thinking about it, and in all seriousness, I said "no I'm not, I'm a Texan." Yes, I actually do make a distinction! I think I put a Civil War requirement on my classification b/c I don't consider Texas, Louisiana or Florida "southern" even though they are geographically. It just isn't the same kind of "southern" as Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia. Except Atlanta. That is NOT a southern city!!! :)
I sort of agree on Crepe Myrtles- cut 'em back and don't use them as parkway trees!!! That's a big thing in my neighborhood. There was a thread a while back where everyone was "allowed" to cut loose and say what plants they hate without any gnashing of teeth. It was actually really funny. But it's funny how some people take it personally when you say you don't like a particular plant or tree that they like. :) Nandina is my big one. My best friend also hates impatiens but I love them, so it was funny when you said that! I also don't care for begonias and most ferns. Especially Boston fern. I say this as I am ducking and covering my head. :) However, I am going to plant 3 trees and put 2 tall, iron planters between them with Boston fern in each. I saw that in a yard on my way to work one day and thought it looked really nice. Now I just have to identify those trees!!! I was going to post a picture, but I feel like a stalker taking pictures in front of a stranger’s house. And ok, the real reason is that they have no leaves on them right now so it may be hard for anyone to help me!!!
I work for a company in Texas and am going there more and more frequently (San Antonio) so I think I agree with your comments. It's like it's own country, completely separate and apart from the rest of the country. I feel the same way about Florida and California, but you gotta admit... I'm closer to Georgia than most of the rest of Florida. I sort of feel like the panhandle is the "southern" part of the state. Once you get about to Gainesville, you've gone so far south, you're back up north again.
I don't like begonias either... or boston ferns. (Sword ferns in these parts.) I think there are appropriate uses for all of these plants, just not in my yard!
There's a house a couple blocks from mine that I have deemed "The Best Garden in Tallahassee." I slow the car or stop on my walks to check it out and see what her Brugs are doing or how her Century plants fared the last freeze or whatever... What's blooming in TBGIT? I'm sure the people who live there wonder why I'm always staring in the direction of their house. I'm going to have to bang on the door one day and introduce myself. Maybe I'll make a friend and get some cuttings!
Wait a couple more weeks and those trees will start filling out and in the meantime, maybe introduce yourself so the owners don't call the police when you steal images of their trees!
I'm waiting a few weeks before I post a picture of what I think is a dying dogwood and then I'll be soliciting suggestions: get rid of it? Leave its bones for birds?
What is it about Crepe Myrtles that people insist on mangling them? There are a number of great cultivars now that only get about 3 feet tall. They are actually not that common here - and I do whack my short ones in the perennial garden back pretty much to keep them that size, but you don't see them because of the other flowers until they bloom. It's funny, agapanthus, star jasmine, privet trees, and juniper of just about every shape and size are leftovers from landscaping from the 50s and 60s and you see entire yards of them here. Ceanothus (which is a natural for the area) luckily has a short life span so it hasn't taken over. Each area to it's own boring overplanted thing I guess. :-)
Funny you should say that Doss! I watch all those HGTV shows, and the two that come to mind are Designed to Sell and Curb Appeal. It seems that those 2 shows are always set in California. The first thing that gets me on Designed to Sell is how much those modest little houses are being sold for... I don't know how ANYONE in California can own a home unless you are loaded. And the second thing I notice (first thing actually on Curb Appeal since home values aren't normally mentioned) is the junipers! In EVERY makeover it seems they have boat loads of juniper to rip out! We can add that to my "plant hate list" actually- juniper. Yuck. In my area, I have noticed it's holly bushes, boxwood hedge and nandina. Crepe Myrtles are just put in the "wrong" places, IMO. I like them as accent plants, the smaller type especially, but not loooong rows of them down a parkway. To me, that needs to be big trees with a canopy. That's why my parkways are bare still- I am on a corner lot so I have 2. I don't need more huge shade trees, but I don't want the crepe myrtle row either. :) So I'm not sure what to do with them.
Is a parkway that funny strip of land between the street and the sidewalk? If not, what is it?
Yes, the parkway is the funny strip of land between the sidewalk and the street - that is almost impossible to landscape. I have some raphiolepsis in there but they are turning up their toes because they like it dry and the whole hill drains into them.
Wow, you have a parkway to put trees in? How about flowering crabapples? They come in just about every size and color. Probably my favorite tree. I also love Chinese Pistache. Nothing turns more red in the fall and they are a reasonable size. I have a Ginko in the parkway that people actually come to visit when it turns yellow in the fall.
These Chinese Pistache look bigger than they are. They have red berries after the leaves fall off. They are probably only 15 feet tall.
Yeah, we are on a corner and have a pretty good sized lot. Our portion of the parkway is NOT planted. Just a whole bunch of additional grass to mow during the growing season. I do love how the City pointed out that while it was not "my property," it was "my responsibility" to keep it mowed. Hmmm. Interesting! Those are gorgeous trees you pictured there Doss! I only get sun in my front yard and one side area of my backyard. I am reeeallly scared to put trees with large canopies b/c while I love shade gardens and love my partial shade in the back, I would like SOME areas for full sun plants.
I live in a historic district and one of our many rules involves an "approved planting list." They really only enforce it on the parkways though. I am pretty sure that the first 2 trees you listed are approved, but I'm not sure about the Ginko. I will have to look into that!
In addition to what I can and cannot plant, the problem of cats/dogs/people roaming around and trashing the common area, and the water/care issues with parkway plantings, there is also a rule that 50% or more of all parkways, front yards, and side yards visible from the street has to be grass. That adds yet another challenge of what I can do there! A nice row of pretty trees that won't shade my front yard would be ideal. When we moved in it was a nice row of those tall, skinny cypress trees. The arborist actually laughed out loud when he came to help us do the demo phase 2 years ago. He said they are meant to be planted close together as a sound/visual barrier, not spaced 10 feet apart. And it did look really funny! So those got plowed down and ground up too.
Thanks for the info Doss- I'll have to check into those trees. I am a "plant trees in the fall" kind of gal so it will probably not be done for a while though.
Okay, thanks. I have a mature maple in my parkway. Horrors! I can't plant around it for the roots, it is pushing up the sidewalk, and the city won't let me cut it down. I've been trimming it every year, hoping that it will die. This year I am trying spring bulbs.
I think I would be pouring some round up on the roots of that bad boy! Or inject it with a fungal disease. Ha! That is BAD when they ruin the sidewalk. There are some sidewalks in my neighborhood that look like bike ramps because the tree roots have pushed them up so much. The City WILL let us cut down mature trees in that situation. Especially if you can prove that it is at risk for the roots getting into your pipes. Now that is brutal!!!
You guys were talking about "stalking" gardens. In my younger days, my husband and me were driving by a house that had such a beautiful garden, and we saw some flowers we had never seen before. We stopped and asked what they were, ended up leaving with so many plants and seeds we made a new garden, and a lasting frindship. So dont hesitate to indroduce yourself, gardeners as you well know love to talk about thier gardens and share what ever they can. I know I do, people stop at our house on thier walks and we have a great time. I really cant think of a plant I hate right now. I'll keep thinking.
Two points:
In my part of the world, that strip of grass between the street and the sidewalk is called the "swale."
And I also hate juniper. But only with the burning intensity of 500 suns. ;>)
But I really like agapanthus. Because it's fun to say. Agapanthus. Agapanthus. (Not so much fun to type!) I bet I drive my co-workers crazy! LOL.
You know, I have some copper sulfide to kill roots in the pipes. What do you think would happen if I climbed up and poured it into the crown of the tree? Evil!
Hey, where did you get copper sulfide? Think it would work if I snuck across the street in the middle of the night to murder my former landlady's camphor trees? (She'd probably appreciate it!)
I got copper sulfide at the hardware store. It's my "last resort" store around here. If nobody else has ever heard of it, these guys can get it for me. I try to keep them in business. You think the city will get suspicious if trees start dropping off, conviently producing more sunny gardening space?
When I was a kid, our neighbor planted a pecan tree on the "swale" (that's for you Dog). My dad begged the guy not to put it there b/c it would drip sap all over his car. My dad restores classic cars and the one he drove had to be parked on the street as most cars were in this neighborhood. The neighbor just sort of laughed it off and my dad kept telling him he was serious, don't plant it there. My dad was a highschool teacher and the Ag teacher had a "new chemical you could only get if you were a professional" kind of stuff. It ended up being Roundup! So the neighbor did plant the tree, and it grew, and sap went everywhere. It was about an inch from what would have been our side of the parkway. Well, my dad went out in the middle of the night and poured the Roundup at the base of the tree. The more the guy watered the tree and fertilized it trying to revive it, the more the poison worked. Now normally I would not agree with these tactics, and my dad would not normally do such a thing, but to me the dude deserved it! He would laugh as my dad was scrubbing sap off his car and say stuff like "I bet you hate me now huh?!" Like it was funny. So Sylvia, I say poision it! Ha!
Vizz- you make a good point. I LOVE when people compliment something in my yard/garden and ask what it is or where I got it. Then I want to share with them. If these people were ever outside, I would ask. But I don't want to knock on the door and it's not somewhere I walk by. It's on a pretty busy street I drive on my way to work. And everything looks pretty well established- I wouldn't say a "gardener" lives there. Very formal, low mainteance yard. I did see that he/she covered those ferns with sheets every time we got an overnight frost, until it got late into winter and sheets don't cut it anymore. Now they are just dead in the plant stands. I may stop and ask... we'll see. Not like I can get seeds or a start off the trees I am lusting over!
If you don't want a big canopy - then I suggest either the Ginko or the flowering crabapple (there are at least 125 cultivars). I grow grasses, Iris, landscape roses under the Ginko. My Crabapple is a weeping one and it's tiny - Or maybe a flowering plum.
And Dogzilla - I just came up with a brillliant shade plant. Bergenia Crassifolia. It grows in total shade under my Oak tree. I also have a plant that is related to Camellia but doesn't have any flowers. The foliage is lovely. It grows in black shade. I'll take it to the nursery and find out what it is or put it on the plant ID.
And property values in the San Francisco Bay area?? My daughter just sold her 1100 square foot house for $900,000.00. Sadly, she's moved to Boulder where she could afford to live. Mostly people here have family money or they both work. There's a lot of money from start-up company stock too. That's probably were most of it comes from. At least my younger daughter has decided to stay. Although with her line of work she could work most places, this is really the center of the area for her career.
As far as killing trees, there's an even better method which envolves taking a chink out of the tree and putting plant killer on it. (evil grin) Of course you might get caught.
My daughter has a poplar - illegal in many states - in county land, but they won't take it down so it keeps sending runners up into her lawn. Bad trees are very very bad. I have a beautiful big Walnut - of course I'm always fighting to get things to grow.
Agapanthus is fine (and fun to say) and it blooms at a great time. It's just entire front yards of it that make me sad.
$900K? That is INSANE!!! My cousin is an engineer and so is his wife. They both make excellent money. They lived in Oklahoma City until recently, and could live very well there. Then my cousin got a few job offers. He really wanted the one in San Francisco, where his wife also could have gotten a job. But to have a comparable house/lifestyle would have required quadrupling (at LEAST) both of their salaries. It was home prices that caused them to choose Colorado. But they are in Littleton. Huge house in a very "posh" neighborhood, finsihed basement that is actually a movie theater- stadium seating and all. Huge yard with a pool, etc. No way they could have gotten something like that in Cali! Too bad though, because it's beautiful there.
It's really sad that our children can't afford to live here. Town's changed too. In the morning if you go downtown you can smell the coffee a mile away. And there are several people on most corners with their cell phones glued to their heads.
But the weather is perfect (heat gives me migraines), and we have access to a lot of wonderful things. And my friends are here. And my MD too. I think that he's keeping me alive.
Oh, Dogzilla, while it won't bloom in the dark, Distitis Buccinatoria (mexican trumpet vine) and Campsis mme Galens (both red) will grow and bloom in partial shade. They are so beautiful. Campsis Mme Galens is not invasive like the Campsis you normally think of. There is another orderly Campsis named "Morning Calm" that is a breathtaking peach and yellow buy you can only get it mail order so far as I know. And did we cover climbing Hydrangea? Some of the Hydrangea's can tolerate more shade than others and I believe that the climbing one can.
This Hydrangea vendor has a lot of beautiful ones. Haven't checked them out in the watchdog, but their website is good. They might be able to help you.
http://www.hydrangeaselect.com/
I just saw climbing hydrangea in a catalog and it said "part to deep shade."
Yes Doss, that is a shame. The climate there is almost perfect- too bad it isn't practical for average people to live there. :(
I think that I'll put one in my corner behing the Japanese Maple. They say that the first year is slow but once they get established it's a matter of keeping them in line.
Actually, if I murdered too many trees in the dead of night someone would indeed notice. I would guess most of you have never been to this fair city, but it's like someone carved a town out of the forest. (Link: aerial view of downtown: http://www.serpicorealty.com/capitolview.jpg Here's another shot: http://www.aerialsinc.com/images/500x300TLH.jpg) You can't swing a dead cat without hitting a couple trees. So, no, nobody would really miss the neighbor's camphor trees, least of all the neighbors. But we're pretty serious about trees around here. We have these canopy roads (link: this is in the middle of town: http://www.downtownmarket.com/images/tallycan2.jpg) that are two lane highways in the middle of town. The residents refuse to allow the city to cut 'em down to widen the roads and alleviate gridlock. If we're gonna sit in traffic all day, we'd rather be staring at green instead of concrete. You have to get permission from the city to remove any tree that has a trunk diameter of more than 5 inches. There's a special committee and everything.
Anyway, yes, we've covered the climbing hydrangea. I'm going to check with my local native nursery and see what they have -- I think they have some. They'll order it for me if they don't.
I'm also thinking of replacing my dying dogwood with a Fringe Tree (http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1654/index.html). 'Cause if they're all over the place, I never see 'em. Or else I think they're dogwoods or am confusing them with something else.
I have a corner like this myself, although here in zone 11 the heat is much more intense!
You might want to try an Australian Tree Fern, I have one that I adore, about 5 feet high, that I have underplanted with other small specialty ferns...like birds nest and rabbits foot. I also bought a miniature palm at a local store, about 6 inches high four years ago, but is now about 4 feet high...I dont know the name).
This garden is in the north west corner of my yard, under two large heavy live oaks, and surrounded by a 10 foot tall thick ficus hedge. Very dark! But oh so beautiful! Other plants I have put here include diffenbachea and calla lillies that have just loved this place...also elephant ears. For contrast in the summer I have planted white calladium...
Good Luck!
I had an Australian Tree Fern near that corner (or was it a Tasmanian Tree Fern? Practically the same plant, so to-may-to, to-mah-to) and my dog peed it to death! I plan to invest in another one and fence it off from the dog because I really love 'em. I have couple rabbit foot ferns in the greenhouse, ready to go there as well. I'm also a big fan of Cinnamon Ferns because they make me sing that Neil Young song, Cinnamon Girl, while I garden. Only I change the words...
"I wanna plant some cinnamon ferns...
I wanna live for the rest of my life...
With the cinnamon ferns..."
What, you mean all gardeners don't rewrite old songs in their heads as they putter about? (My dogs just love it when I sing to them... My neighbors are sure I'm insane.)
Dogzilla the word lady. (agapanthus, agapanthus). I went to the nursery yesterday - a sad experience. They had about 3 ferns. I got home and they called me saying that they had the Giant Ligularia (now that's a great word, Dogzilla) but it turned out to be a giant Liliarope. Now there's another plant that will grow in the dark. And it will happily make a pretty substantial clump in no time at all. Have you thought about ginger - I mean the kind that stays low, not the tall stalk kind. It has great foliage.
I'm glad you sing to your pups. And a cinammon fern is a lovely plant. I love ferns in general.
My rock guy didn't come on Tuesday. It was pouring. So maybe next week. The most important part is that he's the guy that put in the sprinkler system and I don't know how to add on to it. I've got lots of extra stations but I think that he forgot to wire them. Also, he's the only one I've found who will fix the fountain with the granite ball. It turns out that you have to take the granite ball off the fountain to get to the motor - and you have to pick it straight up in order to not break the pipe. Stupid design. I'm going to see if we can put the pump outside the dumb fountain. I never want to have to do this again. This is the second time it's broken. It needs a timer or something too, so it doesn't get turned on and left on. The grandkids are apt to turn it on and it doesn't hold very much H20. Maybe a child-proof cap?
Well, I woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I need a Dogzilla song to get me in a better mood.
Ligularia... Nah. Too unfamiliar on the tongue. Try Sopchoppy. That's a town in North Florida. Loads of fun to say. I think of Hong Kong Fooey. SOP-Chopeeeee! Hi-ya!
Here you go: "Everybody was Kung Fu fighting...
Those cats was fast as lightning..."
Now adapt for the rock guy...
"My rock guy was s'posed to be here...
Instead it was pouring...
Maybe he'll fix my fountain....
:: wanders off, humming::
A thousand thanks for the Kung Fu fighting song - appropriate, don't you think? And you guys in Florida have so many really fun city names. You could go on all day.
And evidently Ligularia's name's been changed anyway. They decided that it was misclassified, but the name is even weirder and I can never remember it and no one knows the new name anyway. You'd think that there would be a common name for it. The more I think about it it's one of my favorite shade plants. And it's evergreen. The flowers are worthless and better cut off but I guess you can't have everything!
As far as fringe tree, it's beautiful but they can't tolerate drying out. I don't know if that's a problem for you. It's a great trait if it's next to or in a lawn. Most trees don't like damp feet. Can Redbud trees take shade?
I found a good website for you about Florida native shade plants. Maybe you already know about it. I've bookmarked the page for trees and shrubs for you.
http://www.floridanativeplants.com/articles/shade_plants1.shtml
I do love Lorapetalum. It comes in a great dark red foliage color and a green color with pink new growth. They both have lovely little pink flowers all over them in the spring and then sporadically through the summer. I have some that are 7 feet tall, some that I've kept to 4 feet tall and a few that I'm keeping to 2 feet. The reason I thought of them is that they call them "Fringe flowers". They also tolerate shade. In fact, they fry if they get too much sun.
Now I've got "Kung Fu" fighting stuck in my head, and I only know the first two lines. It's a catchy tune.
GREAT link. Thank you. I forgot about my beloved Beauty Berry which is like a native Floridian's nandina. They make gorgeous purple berries that the birds just love, and live in the woods, so they can tolerate some pretty deep shade. I think I'll stick a couple of those in the yard.
I'm not sure about Redbuds. They're all over the place here, but I've never noticed if they're in sun or shade.
I'm glad that you liked the link. I think that redbuds were on that link but it seems that they get pretty big.
Yeah, Redbuds are like oak trees. They're big and they're everywhere.
Just what you need - more shade! Just went and googled up Beautyberry Images. The berrys are sure a pretty shade of purple. I can see why you love it.
Must be beautiful in the spring when all the redbuds bloom. We're losing our California live oaks here. When the Spaniards came they brought food for their horses and the grass is so tough that native Oaks have an almost impossible time seeding themselves. The University is always planting more on their bare land. I have two in the yard by the big fountain. They have Oak Root Fungus - but then most Oaks around here have it. They are expensive. They have to be sprayed for Oak moth in the spring and then every 5 years or so it costs me about $1000 to have them pruned. I have forgotten to ask. What on earth is keeping that corner so dark in the first place?
Have you shipped off you soil sample?
My Dark Corner of Death (tm) has 10' privacy fence on two sides and is surrounded by trees on all but the west side. There's a Butia or Pindo palm to its north and the east and south sides are fence and camphor trees. Might be a couple oaks in that mess as well. All the trees are on the neighbors' sides of the fence, otherwise I'd be a tree-lopping fool! I may get one of those pruners-on-a-stick and try to trim off a few branches (on my side) to let in a little more light. It's just Tree City USA, man.
I have not shipped my soil sample yet because this little task requires me to dig around in my attic looking for the soil testing kit I picked up from the extension office several years ago. I'm not quite sure which box it's in. Then I have to go dig around in the yard, which should be the fun part. I was hoping to get to it this weekend, but I fear the creeping crud is starting to hit me, so I may sentence myself to bed rest instead of puttering in the yard. :>(
It really is beautiful here in the spring when the dogwoods, spirea, redbuds and azaleas all start blooming at once. Maybe I'll drive around and get a bunch of pictures and post a garden tour of Tallahassee! These things are blooming right now: http://www.floridata.com/main_fr.cfm?state=ref_master&viewsrc=lists/plists.cfm?list=type and will stop you in your tracks when you drive down a street full of dormant, nekkid trees and there's one of these in its full, glorious bloom. I love 'em. (Oh, lookit that... it's a shade lover.) (Other pics: http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/2452/index.html)