A friend has a small courtyard overshadowed by Sycamores ,as you know they
deposit sticky residue over everything beneath in the summer .
Attempts to grow normal plants has failed ,has anyone any suggestions ,as
the trees are staying put.

Mike

On Thu, 22 Jul 2004 19:07:12 +0100, "Mike"
wrote:

~A friend has a small courtyard overshadowed by Sycamores ,as you know they
~deposit sticky residue over everything beneath in the summer .
~Attempts to grow normal plants has failed ,has anyone any suggestions ,as
~the trees are staying put.
~

I've been trying for 6 years now to get anything to grow under the
blasted things in summer. It's not so much the sticky residue (caused
by the hundreds of aphids you get on *every* leaf) but the shade which
prevents both sun and rain from getting through. Pots are my solution,
and a lot of watering... the conditions are shady mediterranean I
guess.

Spring bulbs love these conditions. I have a fantastic display
permanently planted in the soil beneath. If you water them
occasionally during the summer then come leaf drop and the winter
rains, they get going and produce wonderful colour. Then as they die
back naturally and go dormant, the trees are coming into leaf.

I add colour to the garden in summer by window boxes, hanging baskets
and a perimeter of pots, mostly containing ericaceous plants as I live
on chalk, and concentrate on the back garden display.

I do recommend that your friend collects the leaves in autumn. They
take AGES to rot down (I shred mine to help) but given black binliners
and patience, after a couple of years you get a cycle going and lots
of humus for the soil. Again something bulbs love.

Sadly the Wayback Machine doesn't have the photos that were once up on
moonbells or I'd point you there. If you want to see what you can get
under sycamores and don't mind an attachment or two I can send you
some pics.


--
jane

Don't part with your illusions. When they are gone,
you may still exist but you have ceased to live.
Mark Twain

Please remove onmaps from replies, thanks!

"Mike" wrote in message ...
A friend has a small courtyard overshadowed by Sycamores ,as you know they
deposit sticky residue over everything beneath in the summer .
Attempts to grow normal plants has failed ,has anyone any suggestions ,as
the trees are staying put.

Favourite is to get hold of a copy of _The Reader's Digest
Encyclopedia of Gardening_ or similar (you want a general gardening
book about one-and-a-half to two inches thick, I mean: this is _not_
sarcasm, as they usually say much the same things, but RD is best in
many ways because it has small colour pictures of each plant) maybe at
the library or or quite often charity shop and find the list of plants
suitable for shade near the end.

Easy permanent fixtures include 'spotted laurel', a tough evergreen
shrub with yellow spots which give you back a bit of light (about £4
at garden centres), yellow-leaved or variegated ivies, Choysia
ternata; flowers might include snowdrops, primroses, bluebells
(English not Spanish). I'd go for foliage more than flowers; but there
are very nice shade-loving flowers, though some can be tricky for the
newcomer or expensive.

He or she will need to be strict about clearing up autumn leaves; and
may need to work on dryness if the trees are sucking up all the
moisture.

Mike.

"Mike" wrote in message
...
A friend has a small courtyard overshadowed by Sycamores ,as you
know they
deposit sticky residue over everything beneath in the summer .
Attempts to grow normal plants has failed ,has anyone any
suggestions ,as
the trees are staying put.

I have a dense Acer pensylvanicum in whose shade Hostas, Geranium
sanguineum Lancastriense and Viola labradorica are doing well.

Franz

The message
from (jane) contains these words:

It's not so much the sticky residue (caused
by the hundreds of aphids you get on *every* leaf)


I have plenty of wasps in the garden and consequently very few aphids.
I grow the following underneath the sycamores: Lupins; Geum; Bay willow;
Ground Ivy; Gunnera magellanica (small ground covering Gunnera);
Calendula; Jamaican Antirrhinum (Spelling?); Geraniums; Snowdrops and
Daffodils. All of the above do ok beneath sycamore but you must reduce
the number of aphids (Wasps, Hover flies, ladybirds, soapy water spray)
and ensure plenty of watering.

HTH,

Compo

The message
from (jane) contains these words:

It's not so much the sticky residue (caused
by the hundreds of aphids you get on *every* leaf)


I have plenty of wasps in the garden and consequently very few aphids.
I grow the following underneath the sycamores: Lupins; Geum; Bay willow;
Ground Ivy; Gunnera magellanica (small ground covering Gunnera);
Calendula; Jamaican Antirrhinum (Spelling?); Geraniums; Snowdrops and
Daffodils. All of the above do ok beneath sycamore but you must reduce
the number of aphids (Wasps, Hover flies, ladybirds, soapy water spray)
and ensure plenty of watering.

HTH,

Compo