How to Choose Plants That Will Grow Well Under Trees
There is something fabulous about the fact that the ground around the trees is covered with a carpet of flowers or other foliage. Even if planted and cultivated on purpose, it can somehow look so natural – as if you stumbled upon a piece of forest that no one else has seen before.
But at the same time, we learn quite early in school that plants need water and sunlight to grow, and life under a tree may not provide optimal conditions. While this is true for some plants, others don’t mind shade and even protect themselves well from direct sunlight.
If you are interested in a few of them, Holly Crossley wrote an article in Gardening, Etc., which gives several examples of plants that grow well under trees and the qualities that make them suitable for shade. Here’s what you need to know.
Periwinkle
This is the first, because probably with that name he needs to increase his self-esteem. With a maximum height of about 10 inches, this purple flower usually appears in mid-spring and stays with us until early fall. But that won’t leave naked under the tree for the rest of the year – the green leaves will live year round. According to Crossley, the lesser periwinkle “is perfect in partial shade under green canopies and grows relatively quickly to form a dense carpet.”
Hostas
Hosts are one of the classic undergrowth plants. One reason for this is probably because they are hardy, low maintenance perennials that spring up in the spring even if you’ve forgotten they were there. Crossley notes that while most hosts like fertile soil, the thicker waxy varieties are also great if the ground under the tree is drier. “Wherever you plant them, mulch and water every year during a drought,” she writes. “Beware of slugs who like to devour leaves.”
Ferns
It’s hard to beat a good fern and its ability to look wild, but on purpose. It’s easy to see why the Victorians were so infatuated with them . But not all ferns are the same, so be sure to pick a strain that can handle the shade, such as stag tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium), Japanese shield fern (Dryopteris erythrosora), or “male fern” (Dryopteris filix-mas), according to Crossley.