Hi!
We’ve got a long (300m) curved driveway in the macedon ranges with capital pears along each side. Would like to plant something along the edges but not sure what we should choose! Would love suggestions!
Take a look at Brenton Roberts’ instagram account. There’s lots of pics there of his long driveway with pears underplanted, solidly, with Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. He reckons it’s a perfect match, throughout the changing seasonal show of both plants. But you really need to be convinced that you want something under them at all. ‘Edge’ plantings often end up being very high maintenance, as grass so often invades. Whenever I’m planting anything en masse, I’m always thinking about the extent of the interface between the garden bed and surrounding lawn, as this is always the zone of highest maintenance. Wherever possible, I don’t try to avoid the interface between lawn and garden bed by using paths etc separating the two. Obviously that’s not relevant to your planting, beyond the fact that there’s simply no greater ratio of lawn/garden bed interface to planting than when you plant a long edge or ribbon of something. Personally, I’d look at either planting the whole area under the trees, or not planting at all.
I live in the Adelaide Hills, and have a similar dilemma. My driveway is about 250m long, lined with Southwood Dancer Pears. I chose to underplant with Grevillea Poorinda Royal Mantle because it is supposed to be a fast grower and cover 6m – 250m x 3m both sides is a big area to cover!!
The grevilleas were planted as tubestock and have been in for just over a year. I’m pretty disappointed with the results. Quite a few have just died, and the ones that haven’t have become Kangaroo afternoon tea.
We have 6 acres to look after and decided to give up on underplanting the driveway. It’s easier to stay on top of the weeds if the area is clear and we have way too much to do in other parts of the garden already.
What about daffodils or another spring flowering bulb? Taking into account Michael’s points about maintenance, you could still mow these down at the end of the season to keep it tidy. My parents planted 1000 or so grape hyacinths many years ago which have naturalised in their garden near Daylesford and look beautiful at this time of year.
Take a look at Brenton Roberts’ instagram account. There’s lots of pics there of his long driveway with pears underplanted, solidly, with Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. He reckons it’s a perfect match, throughout the changing seasonal show of both plants. But you really need to be convinced that you want something under them at all. ‘Edge’ plantings often end up being very high maintenance, as grass so often invades. Whenever I’m planting anything en masse, I’m always thinking about the extent of the interface between the garden bed and surrounding lawn, as this is always the zone of highest maintenance. Wherever possible, I don’t try to avoid the interface between lawn and garden bed by using paths etc separating the two. Obviously that’s not relevant to your planting, beyond the fact that there’s simply no greater ratio of lawn/garden bed interface to planting than when you plant a long edge or ribbon of something. Personally, I’d look at either planting the whole area under the trees, or not planting at all.
I live in the Adelaide Hills, and have a similar dilemma. My driveway is about 250m long, lined with Southwood Dancer Pears. I chose to underplant with Grevillea Poorinda Royal Mantle because it is supposed to be a fast grower and cover 6m – 250m x 3m both sides is a big area to cover!!
The grevilleas were planted as tubestock and have been in for just over a year. I’m pretty disappointed with the results. Quite a few have just died, and the ones that haven’t have become Kangaroo afternoon tea.
We have 6 acres to look after and decided to give up on underplanting the driveway. It’s easier to stay on top of the weeds if the area is clear and we have way too much to do in other parts of the garden already.
A client of mine underplanted hers with solid Convolvulus sabatius. It works really well
What about daffodils or another spring flowering bulb? Taking into account Michael’s points about maintenance, you could still mow these down at the end of the season to keep it tidy. My parents planted 1000 or so grape hyacinths many years ago which have naturalised in their garden near Daylesford and look beautiful at this time of year.