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Obsessed With Skirts
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Posted by
arbo_retum z5 WinchstrMA (
My Page) on
Wed, May 4, 11 at 21:32
| It�s true- I�m obsessed with skirts. We have many pedestals, columns, sculpture and urn bases throughout the gardens here. More often than not, they are placed on risers because they need more height. Our risers are ugly cinderblock/patio brick type things and I use plant skirts to hide them. I want attractive somewhat evergreen plants that are going to come up very early but not top 10" because then they would hide the decorative pedestal or sculpture etc. My tried and true skirting plants are blue wood hyacinths and hellebores. The former have very wide bright green 10" strap leaves and are among the first things to come up in our garden. They bloom in June and their foliage lasts til late autumn. Hellebores (orientalis is my choice) are mounds of dark rich green leathery large leaves that are present from mid-March through the following winter. In early March, we cut back the damaged foliage to encourage the new flush of leaves and the beautiful flowers which remain for 2 months. Our hellebores are happy in sun to shade. They are not meant for hot sun or deep shade. Other plants that might fill my early and near-evergreen requirements are: ligularia Marie Brizzard (good for a wet spot, but need to remove tall flower stems), geranium samobor (our earliest to leaf out) , corydalis lutea and Dicentra (usually dies back late summer but by that time, other plants may have filled in.) Do you have other suggestions? (Remember- very early to show, rather �evergreen� and dense, and max. height of 10".)
these risers need an evergreen skirt
see how much better this looks?
see this bare bottom wire obelisk
v.s. this skirted obelisk
best,
mindy
www.cottonarboretum.com/
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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| One word - Sedges. They green up as early as mid March. There are lovely native ones - I like them best and a good place to find them is at a native plant nurseries. There are dozens. I probably have about half a dozen such as C. rosea, C. bicknelli (favorite), C. pennsylvania, C. greyii, C. gracillima - but easier to source are the Japanese ones like 'Ice Dance' which if you are zone 6 or warmer are pretty reliable. They do okay in zone 5 but sometimes have years where the clump can be nearly decimated. Carex glauca or Blue Sedge is also a nice one I think it originates from Europe but is more reliably hardy to zone 5 and semi evergreen. It can be a bit hard to find though. |
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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One of my favorite "skirts" - which I use around a low birdbath - is Iberis,
which stays reliably evergreen for me, and mounds up to 9"-10" over time.
I use all manner of geraniums as under-plantings (same idea as a skirt).
Would you consider using a collection of medium-sized rocks as a skirt.
which could then become a miniature rock garden? I use rocks prollificly
throughout my gardens to highlight plants - why not to highlight an
object ? Carl |
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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| Thanks, Mindy. Timely topic. I have too many bare ankles and a bumper crop of corydalis lutea (the originals came from you) and three hellebores looking for homes. Do you have a favorite place to buy your plinths and pedestals, or is buy em when you see em? |
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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| homegoods and the latter. gonative, wish you'd put your place and zone in your moniker.otherwise i can't relate to your suggestions. ice dance is a no here. sedges- carex hobb's blue for instance- is not showing much now; neither are my others dense enough or early enough. i must look into the ones you recommended. you dare grow greyii eh?!! i have never in my entire gardening life seen ANYthing seed that much! love those gumballs though(medeival)!
best,
mindy |
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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| I have both Geranium macrorhizum 'Ingwersen's Variety'(pale pink) and Geranium 'Biokovo'at the base of a dwarf Korean lilac. They bloom early, at slightly different times, and are about 8-12"H. Leaves remain all year. |
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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| I think I fixed it. It is zone 5a and I am in the Chicago region - DH or kids must have been playing with my profile and lopped it off because my older posts show my zone clearly displayed. |
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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| It doesn't really flower, but when you said evergreen and 10" my first thought was paxistma canbyii. Its a darling evergreen woody groundcover. I just trimmed mine today so maybe that's why it was on my mind. Maybe not quite 10", but close. |
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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| pulmonaria, heuchera, euphorbia myrsinites, creeping phlox |
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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| I like the Heuchera suggestion and evergreen ferns, Christmas Fern is evergreen and Brilliant even stands up better for me in the winter. |
RE: Obsessed With Skirts
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| I have several perennials or subshrubs that keep their foliage all winter and don't die back until the new foliage is well established: some of my coral bells/Heuchera, Perennial candytuft/Iberis, cranberry/Vaccinium macrocarpon, periwinkle/Vinca (though I don't know if you would want to put any of that in your garden!), Carex (when the voles don't decimate them), Heath/Erica, and Heather/Calluna. Is creeping rosemary hardy for you or would you be willing to plant it as an early to camouflage the feet of your pedestals? Some of the lower growing lavenders might work also. I also wondered if you have thought about some of the low-growing shrubs like Rhododendron impeditum, 'Ramapo' or 'Purple Gem' or some of the creeping junipers. |
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