Trees serve as natural shade providers, fruit providers or privacy screens in the garden - to increase their decorative value, planting them with a ground cover is a great thing. Suitable varieties and planting practices are crucial for planning.
Which ground cover plants are suitable for planting under trees?
Shade-tolerant ground cover plants such as anemones, celandine, hellebores, cranesbills, forget-me-nots, ferns and bulbous flowers such as ornamental onions, grape hyacinths, tulips and daffodils are suitable for underplanting trees. Periwinkle and ivy are robust and sturdy alternatives.
What ground cover plants can do under trees
Some solitary trees or groups of trees at the edge of the garden have a somewhat functional existence - for example, simply as a property boundary or as a privacy screen. In order to bring a little more liveliness into such a scenario and increase the feel-good value of your garden, underplanting with a pretty ground cover is highly recommended. With decorative foliage and delicate flowers, this can create highly attractive structural and color contrasts.
A somewhat more pragmatic reason to plant a ground cover under trees is the soil-improving effect of many varieties. This can be very beneficial for the microbiotope under the tree.
The arguments for underplanting trees with ground cover plants at a glance:
- optical enhancement of peripheral groups of trees
- attractive structure and color contrasts
- soil improving effect of ground cover
Species check – which trees, which ground cover?
Other trees, other roots
Of course, you have to coordinate the species when planting trees, taking both the tree and the ground cover into account. Not only does the ground cover have to be able to tolerate a shady location, the properties of the tree are also relevant. Shallow roots such as maple or beech can take away nutrients and water from the ground cover - they also make planting a little more difficult. You have less soil available here and have to be careful not to damage the tree roots. If necessary, you must or can apply an additional layer of soil.
Typical deciduous forest ground cover and bulb flowers
When choosing a ground cover, the first consideration is of course the shade orPartial shade tolerance is crucial. Varieties that like to grow naturally on forest floors are particularly suitable. These include, for example, anemones, celandine, hellebore, cranesbill, forget-me-nots and ferns. The delicate flowers and leaf structures of all these species blend in very harmoniously and naturally under deciduous trees.
In addition to these typical, simple deciduous forest beauties, many other, more visually present species are also possible, for example ornamental onions or bulbous flowers such as grape hyacinths, tuples and daffodils. With their large, colorful flowers and their rather taller growth, these varieties form a relatively powerful contrast to the treetop.
Simply periwinkle or ivy can also be used as simple, robust and relatively sturdy underplants.
