Jaxcasban Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 We live near Cahors in the Lot and get very hot summers and cold winters. We have a large south facing bank which we covered in Hypericums last year. They were only small, about 5 euros each. We have an irrigation system but even so most of them shrivelled up and died whilst the weeds thrived.Any suggestions for something cheap, hardy and pretty ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alcazar Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Weeds?Alcazar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adrianpmills Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Perennial/annual grasses grown from seed, interspersed with spring bulbs and achillea "summer pastels" (also grown from seed) for summer colour - then you could also let some 'weeds' flower. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 [quote user="Jaxcasban"] Any suggestions for something cheap, hardy and pretty ?[/quote]It sounds as if you might need to consider a weed suppressing mat to give your plants a chance to get established. This will also help to retain moisture. Unfortunately not a pretty sight until the plants have spread themselves a bit. For choice of plants I would suggest you look around and see what grows nearby. Shrubs that come to mind are cistus, lavender and thyme, all these grow wild, I imagine, in your area but there are lots of different varieties. Also ground cover roses might be OK and a great favourite of mine is Hypericum Olympicum which is much lower growing than the one you probably had. I would also suggest you put off planting until the early Autumn if you can which will give small plants a chance to get established before the winter, then firm them in if they are lifted by frost.Liz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil.H Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Hi . Im suprised your Hypericum failed to grow as these are THE plant for banks, and they are also normally an excellent weed suppressor.Perhaps you could change variety. I would suggest Hypericum.calycinum , a low growin plant approx 1-1 1/2 ft. Failing this try Cotoneaster.dammeri a lot more expensive than Hypericums but then it is the Rolls Royce of ground cover plants. Once this plant is established not even sycamores find their way through......Good luck Phil.H. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted January 26, 2006 Share Posted January 26, 2006 You could try some low growing small conifers eg juniper. Also I hadsome bushy plants covered with tiny star shaped yellow flowers whichdid well during the heatwave summer but don't know the name.Someonetold me a good trick for watering single plants - before planting dig around hole about ?20cms deep and insert a length of plastic pipingslightly longer than the hole for irrigation. Then plant next to thepipe as usual. The water should then go to the roots. Pat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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