Something to Contrast with Bluebells

 My local mobile post office man threw this one at me today.

He has a wooded area, mainly of cob nuts, with a carpet of bluebells
underneath. He would like to plant some contrasting flowers (red and
yellow/white) to flower with the bluebells. In spring, the canopy is
quite thin, but gets thicker during the summer, but still has light
coming through. At least 6" of the soil is just leaf mould.

What would anyone suggest?


--
Roger T

700 ft up in Mid-Wales

 


Sounds wonderful. Why pollute it?

Mike


--

...................................

Don't take life too seriously, you'll never get out alive.

...................................

 On Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:18:45 +0100, Roger Tonkin


Natives would be best, but it's a free country. Primroses, though they
may flower too early for his purpose. Or try cowslips, which are a bit
later: they probably won't find it too shady in a hazel plantation.
Celandine spreads like mad when it's happy, but disappears for most of
the year; wild garlic (ramsons) if it's on the damp side. If he
doesn't mind spending money, there are white forms of the English and
Welsh bluebell (best not to add Spanish bluebells, in spite of what
some members of the group say: Brit ones are definitely more
graceful). Too cold for Allium triquetrum: I tried them in West Wales,
and they died of cold even there.

--
Mike.

 On Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:18:45 +0100, Roger Tonkin


It's surprising how many people love the simple "bluebell wood" and I
wonder whether adding yellows and reds might not create something a
bit garish - echoes of the "marigold and lobelia" displays of the 70s
and 80 (waits for someone to say "and today"!)

What about hellebores as a way to introduce some variable colour but a
bit more muted. Mix in some cowslips; both will gradually spread. For
something a bit more garish, though, I have a vision of some dwarf
rhododendrons as the canopy won't be suffocating when they are due to
flower.

Cheers
Jake
==============================================
Gardening at the dry end (east) of Swansea Bay
in between reading anything by JRR Tolkien.

www.rivendell.org.uk

 
Among the common flowers of woodland floors are Allium ursinum (ramsons)
and Anemone nemorosa (wood anemone). The former is white, the latter is
usually white; sometimes pink or blue. I forget the precise flowering
times, but IIRC the Anemone flowers well in advance of bluebells.

There is a yellow anemone (Anemone ranunculoides); the hybrid between
this and Anemone nemorosa is cream-flowered.

There are white and pink bluebells - even white and pink forms of the
native bluebell.

Another pink-flowered plant is Claytonia siberica (pink purslane).

Red is hard. Most spring flowering plants are in the white to yellow or
blue spectrum.
--
Stewart Robert Hinsley