Difficult undercover deck garden planting help req

purplegoanna, Feb 5, 8:17am
the inlaws have finally let me at one of their many gardens but its built in there deck but the garden goes through to the ground, its approx 2m x 2m and its under a clearlight roof 24/7, it faces south/east. Im trying to work out some plants to replant it with, keeping in mind im going to bark it and theyre elderly so as little maintainence is best. Has a watering system set in it but they dont like to overuse it as theyre on tank water. It was planted with herbs and fuchias, but the herbs had long gone to seed and the fuschia was so woody it had borer,+ the cat was using it as a toilet cos it was all overgrown. Itll be completely dug over and had extra soil + compost etc added but im stuck on plants.not palms cos i dont want anything thatll get mealybug (cos its a dry area), being typical they want something with 'abit a colour' colour.i wouldve liked to do grasses cos theyre so easy care with a nice statue.cant do bromeliads as theyre in another garden round the corner.any thoughts and idas would be MOST appreciated as theres another garden on the other side of the deck to do as well if i can pull this one off.(actually theres a whole property but we're starting of small!lol) and yes we're dearly love to just deck over the damn thing and be done with it but they wont hear of it.
purplegoanna, Feb 5, 8:18am
i was thinking orchids!
kp11, Feb 5, 8:38am
Jade trees would do well - they stay compact. easy to trim & do ok in dry conditions, layered with other succulents.No fuss, occasional flowers, minimal maintenance.
purplegoanna, Feb 5, 8:49am
oooh i have a god sized one of them going spare too.got me thinking one major plant with a few pots of scattered plants ontop of the bark that mum can change at her leisure then shes not having to actually dig anything.
kp11, Feb 5, 8:49am
(and a bit of catnip for their puss)
kp11, Feb 5, 8:50am
Sounds perfect!Surround it all with bark & will look good, easily maintained :)
purplegoanna, Feb 5, 9:01am
betta.15yr+ cat got put down! and chickens whom used it as a giant bath got given away.
kp11, Feb 5, 9:07am
Lol.
You include a pretty bird bath in the garden as a feature. mosaic'd by your good self!
westown123, Feb 10, 8:38pm
Could you please explain what a Jade Tree looks like if possible,or should I ask Roger Hunters.!sounds a great starting feature I would like to use,
kateley, Feb 10, 8:42pm
sounds like cyclamen would do well in that sort of spot, or one of the new small camellias.Daphne!
kateley, Feb 10, 8:45pm
On a totally different subject - purple, was it you who sent me the tomato seeds!If so, HUGE thanks. They've been fascinating, all sorts of shapes and colours of fruit and heaps of them.I'm trying to decide whice is my favourite to save some seeds from (but I'm guessing they're quite promiscuous so will quite likely provide more variety next year)
lythande1, Feb 11, 1:44am
I have Majoram under my deck. It's very dry under there but the plant sticks out and gets wet at the edges. It started off a wee thing and now the entire under deck is covered. I did feed it originally but left it alone pretty much, it doesn't care and sits there happily all year round.
It's the yellow variety.
I have no weed mat or bark, very rarely a bit of chickweed tries to come through, I weed it maybe twice a year.that is, notice a straggly trying hard chickweed, pull it out, another might try again in 6 months.
Pretty good groundcover I'd say and it is pretty, not to mention edible.
purplegoanna, Feb 11, 9:16am
yip it was.sadly mine died cos of lack of water.its been soooooo dry here and theres no way i could keep up with the watering can water supply so this winter im setting up a proper water tank to collect the water for next summmer
kateley, Feb 11, 9:15pm
Oh, that's a bummer.Do you still have some seeds for next year or can I send you some!
jan2242, Feb 11, 9:20pm
I have a large garden under my deck which is full of rengarenga lillies. They multiply and are no maintenance, plus have a nice white flower. Nice photo of them in this auction 561233201
purplegoanna, Feb 12, 2:22am
no ive got hundreds of them,.thanks for the offer.
purplegoanna, Mar 3, 4:41pm
i went with some smaller hebes and a nice grass to psot around the edges Deschampsia cespitosa 'Daybreak', FIL will have to wait for the hebes to flower till he gets his colour but theyll fill up the hole and mum wont have to worry about looking after them.man ROGER'S was busy as.he must make a killing.his plants are such good qaulity and price.