Plants for bank under evergreen tree please.
Northants,
United Kingdom 
Hi all,as the title suggests I'm looking for something to grow under a mature evergreen Laurus nobilis .It does get some sun and because the bay is at the top of the bank it's fairly easy to plant into but it's in the rain shadow of the dense tree.I'd like something evergreen and that makes a reasonable clump around 60 cm high.So it can be glimpsed behind my pots from the house.It's alkaline clay soil but actually quite free draining in that spot.Any suggestions?
2 Jul, 2008
Answers
Thanks Spritz,that's an emerald gaiety on the left. I'd need the stronger growing one i think but yes that could look good there.Do you think a lace cap hydrangea could survive to the left,against the fence? My other thought was ferns but would have to be evergreen.
2 Jul, 2008
Hydrangeas need a moist soil so you'd be forever watering it. I'd suggest vinca minor varieties - there are ones with white, blue or purple flowers as well as variegated ones. Also epimdeiums which flower in early spring will take dry conditions once established and grow so densely no weeds can get a foothold
2 Jul, 2008
Thanks Andrew.Not a lover of vinca,I know it's great ground cover but I've always thought of it as a nothingness plant.The flowers are over so quickly and quite sparse unlike the leaves.Epimediums I've grown and I'll have a look through see if there is a white or red flowering variety.Mine was yellow.That would mix rather nicely with a eunonymous.
2 Jul, 2008
OK - sorry - how about Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Tom Thumb'? A lovely little chocolate-coloured shrub - shiny leaves, evergreen. New shoots start off bright greeen and change to chocolate. OR a silver-leaved one - 'Convulvulus cneorum' with its white flowers as a bonus?
2 Jul, 2008
Sorry for what Spritz?? I thought the eunonymous was a great idea.I just shoved the emerald gaiety in just for now ,but I remember growing a var repens variety that had much bigger leaves and that would look good there.I've also found a great epimedium to mix it with .I adore Convulvulus cneorum but it doesnt get very much sun there,only a couple of hours in the late afternoon so may be too little?Just looked up tom thumb ,very nice too.Thank you both.Sometimes a little outside inspiration gets the ideas flowing.
2 Jul, 2008
You may be right about the Convulvulus - I have two and the one that gets more sun is thriving, the other is a lot smaller, but still OK. It doesn't produce many flowers, though.
3 Jul, 2008
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How about the Euonymus fortunei group? There are several different variegated ones to choose from. I reckon they would look good there, Susie.
2 Jul, 2008