Vera Marie's Flowers under the Prune Tree garden

Created on Monday, 09 Jun 08

This Italian Prune tree has been a problem since we moved in 19 years ago. It was surrounded by black plastic covered with beauty bark that had composted and was full of weeds. There were a few holes cut in the plastic with flowers growing out of them. One was a clump of bluebells. There was also a stump of another prune tree next to it.

We tried separating the bluebells and spreading them around the tree. The stump was taken out the next year. I didn’t realize at the time that each place you nick the root of trees in this family, a shoot will grow up. We’ve been fighting them ever since. Also, the leaves of the bluebells, and tulips I added soon after, made it difficult to weed the area in the spring.

I’ve never been much for gardening when it’s cold and wet, so we tried a vinca groundcover, hoping it would fill in and help hide the dying leaves of the various bulbs. Unhappy with that solution after a couple of years, we pulled out the vinca.

After a few years of nothing much, we built a raised bed with two layers of wall block. We put in 4 azaleas, which we managed to kill within 3 years. The only things that thrive under the tree are the bulbs we put in nearly 20 years ago. Unfortunately, they look good for a month at most. The rest of the spring they look bedraggled as they die back and the summer is a complete loss, with only dandelions and shoots from the prune tree growing.

This year I want to come up with a plan to deal with the mess that is the flower bed under the prune tree. Although if I had my druthers, the tree would go. I would like to replace it with a hawthorn, but Mr. H. is adamant. He likes the prune tree.

First up, clean up the area and spread corn gluten to control new weed growth.

Organic Garden

Garden Type: Flower | Sun: Partial Sun | Soil: Combination

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Italian Prune tree

Prunus domestica

I don't like this tree. It's got more dead branches every year. Has...
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Name	Added	Garden	Swaps Available
Ceanothus Ceanothus	17 Jun 08	Flowers under the Prune Tree Garden	California Lilac (0)
Creeping Thyme Thymus praecox ssp. arcticus	24 Jul 08	Flowers under the Prune Tree Garden	Creeping Thyme (1)
Creeping Thyme Thymus serpyllum	13 Jul 08	Flowers under the Prune Tree Garden	Carpet Thyme (2)
Daylily 'Little Christine' Hemerocallis	13 Jul 08	Flowers under the Prune Tree Garden	Little Christine (0) Daylily (1)
Daylily 'Metaphor' Hemerocallis	13 Jul 08	Flowers under the Prune Tree Garden	Metaphor (0) Daylily (1)

Want to comment?

Renemarie wrote:
I still suggest containers on top of crushed gravel. Oh yes, and a sculpture. When I get my Weed Dragon, I’ll let you borrow it and Mr. H and torch those upstarts straight to Hades.

Posted on 10 Jun 08 (about 6 months ago)
Vera Marie wrote:
In my neighborhood, as you well know, gravel collects pine needles. In no time I’ll be back where I started, except I’ll have gravel mixed in. Mr. H is a huuuge fan of gravel and lava rock for areas he doesn’t want to mess with. In my opinion, it hasn’t been very successful around the foundation or against the fence. I’m not quite ready to give up yet.
We are, however, open to the idea of the Weed Dragon. If you don’t burn down anything on your property.

Posted on 10 Jun 08 (about 6 months ago)
Renemarie wrote:
Pine needles—no worries. That’s where the containers come in. Just put so many containers in there that the needles can’t get to the gravel. Just think of all the combinations of sizes, colors, textures available. And the statue of David.

Posted on 10 Jun 08 (about 6 months ago)
Happibun wrote:
I like the idea of a statue of David repelling pine needles, I presumably Michelangelo had that in mind when he made the original. I wonder if the Venus de Milo repels moss? ;-)

It seems that we have prune trees in common, though I rather like mine. I chose one with a bent trunk, so it would lean over the fence and minimise the shade it cast. I can get away with partial sun and full sun plants under it.

No matter what you plant under a tree you dislike, you will still dislike it. Perhaps it is time to arrange an unfortunate accident involving the statue of David and a crane?

I’ll watch out for developments :-)

Posted on 17 Jun 08 (about 6 months ago)
Rainymountain wrote:
How about taking away the brick wall, leaving the bulbs and letting the lawn grow up to the tree. Some tete-a-tete daffodils to naturalize would be a great addition. After the bulbs have flowered you could just let the grass grow a little until the bulb leaves have died down a bit and then mow as you do the rest of the lawn.

Posted on 30 Jul 08 (about 4 months ago)
Vera Marie wrote:
Rainymountain, I’m pretty sure it would not work at this point as the number of woody shoots is overwhelming. And pretty painful to walk on, even after they’re cut back. My research suggests I’ll be unsuccessful, but I promised the Mr. I’d give it a try.

Posted on 30 Jul 08 (about 4 months ago)