impossible, oh surely not?

 

Judith or David may have an idea, I hope others may as well!

In our little garden in France (Dordogne valley slopes, limestone about
five inches beneath the surface) we have roses, lavender, irises, day
lilies, michaelmas daisies, sage, all abundant.  But there is one bed
where I can't seem to grow anything. It's about eighteen inches deep and
eight foot long, against a limestone drystone wall at the gate of the
garden.  It faces southeast, but in the winter it's in shadow from the
building on the other side of the path.  It gets sun from about nine to
three between April and September.  It has quite a slope. It's a dry bed
and we can't get the irrigation system up there.

There's a well-established Kerria at the top end - and I can't get
anything else nice to grow there at all!  Thistles, grasses, wild
clematis, and ivy grow with abandon.  I've tried canna, which grow like
weeds elsewhere in the village, but the snails ate all the leaves and
they haven't come up at all this year.  I sow nasturtiums, which
sprouted one year but not the next. This year I divided up a choked iris
bed and put in some rhizomes, but snails like eating their leaves too,
so I don't hope for much.  I also put in some spare daffodil bulbs, but
we're rarely there early enough to enjoy them.

Any ideas?  We're there again in June/beginning of July, and again end
of August, so anything that shows in May, June/July, or August/September
would be perfect. It has to be snail-repellent!

There's a page of photos here - the impossible bed is about ten down.

http://www.newcockaigne.demon.co.uk/photos/index.html

--
Kate B

PS 'elvira' is spamtrapped - please reply to 'elviraspam' at cockaigne dot org
dot uk if you
want to reply personally

 


So have you tried ornamental grasses, thistles, eryngium based on what
already grows there)?


Probably not damp enough in winter for daffs.

What about the various succulents? Livingsotne daisies, sedums
(spectabile doesn't get eaten by snails, I don't know about the others)

--
Kay

 

On Thu, 14 May 2009, K wrote

There's a lot of grass around the garden already,so no - I was looking
for flowers, really, something a bit colourful.



Livingstone daisies are annuals, so too late for this year, but I could
sow some next spring.  Sedums are a good idea, though, thank you.  Will
look for some in June - you don't happen to know if there are any tricky
local French words for it, do you?

--
Kate B

PS 'elvira' is spamtrapped - please reply to 'elviraspam' at cockaigne dot org
dot uk if you
want to reply personally

 


Some of the grasses are quite colourful ;-)
(red, orange, steely blue)
But not point having anything that you won't enjoy in that spot.

No  sorry.

Pelargoniums are tolerant of neglect (in this case, a soil that is well
drained to the point of drought), at least the scented leaved ones. But
they do like *some* water in the autumn. Take cuttings before the winter
and grow fresh each year.

Or you could try the aloes, agaves, haworthias - some with bright orange
flowers. Probably have to bring them in over winter.

--
Kay

 

On Thu, 14 May 2009, K wrote

The problem is that we haven't got anywhere to bring them in - there's a
dark room under the house where we store garden furniture, but although
it's damp, there's no way to water anything, and our visits in spring
are either too early to bring things out - Easter - or too late - May,
and we pack up in September or October - we often do try and preserve
things, but it rarely works... :(


--
Kate B

PS 'elvira' is spamtrapped - please reply to 'elviraspam' at cockaigne dot org
dot uk if you
want to reply personally