Hi, Suzanne!

Another Black Walnut sufferer! Friend!

When my husband and I bought this house two years ago, the 1/3 acre lot came with two Black Walnuts.

One was once a seedling that had been neglected for far too long -- it was about 20 feet tall, with a trunk 10" in diameter. It was in the middle of the back lawn, and the grass below it had already begun to die off in an ever-widening circle around it...

Of course I cut it down immediately. The obnoxious stump is still sending up suckers that grow 6' tall each season, but I keep cutting them back, and I may use some Roundup on it this year... as much as I detest Roundup!

The second tree I cannot cut down, and I'm not sure I really want to. That one is old -- VERY old, perhaps more than eighty years old. It grows at the side of what I've come to call "the shady patio area", and the branches arch thirty feet from the trunk in every direction. It dumps its litter everywhere, and it had already killed off many rhodies that were foolishly planted in its root zone.

However... It does have a wonderfully gnarled trunk now... and the deformations caused by its tremendous age add a charm to the garden that cannot be imitated by any kind of young nursery specimen. Over time, it has lost huge branches, leaving black, gnarled stumps high on the trunk; it has accumulated a green fuzz of moss as much as four feet up the trunk; and it has allowed a few plants beneath it to survive, and even thrive.

So, here is a list of things that look wonderful and thrive beneath a Black Walnut. They will all be quite happy in your moss garden:

Sweet violets -- they carpet the ground everywhere under the tree. They're blooming now, filling the air with their wonderfully elusive scent.

Japanese Maple -- My favorite tree in this yard! It gives a feeling of lovely serenity to the garden. It grows only four feet away from the Walnut's trunk. It is large and quite graceful, a vase-shaped tree with many arching branches and the most lovely, delicate foliage all summer long.

Common bluebell -- Scilla, I think? This grows everywhere, in very healthy clumps that bloom for several weeks in March and April. It adores full shade. Some consider it a weed -- but it's easy to dig up if you want, and I'm very fond of it.

Vinca -- My single plant was left in a pot under the tree, forgotten, unwatered... and thriving! It sent out so many runners that rooted in place, I now have many plants plus the original pot. It loves the shade, and it's perfectly content to ignore the walnut completely.

Camellias -- There is a huge Camellia growing in this area. It's thriving, and will soon be covered again with blossoms.

Fatsia japonica (old name Aralia japonica) -- These were planted directly under the walnut, not two feet from the base of the trunk. They are mature now, about ten or twelve feet tall, with berries every spring that attract the most exotically-colored bird I've ever seen in this area. (Sorry, not a bird person, can't name it -- but it's red and black and yellow, and VERY cool-looking. The birds come to eat the ripe Fatsia berries, and that's the only time of year I ever see them.) The foliage of the Fatsia is large, shiny, and evergreen -- very tropical in appearance. The Fatsias are so happy there that when we first moved in two years ago, I harvested several dozen seedlings (the birds eat the berry flesh, but spit out the seeds) which are now of a good size to plant back under their mothers (which have grown spindly and a bit bare-trunked with age, looking more like palms than the dense-foliaged juveniles).

Arum italicum -- these grow in clumps all over the shady areas of my yard, including under the walnut. They seem to be affected only by the amount of moisture available -- they like soil that doesn't get too dry. They're lovely now -- but in summer they seem to cease to exist!

And lastly -- because I don't know if you have enough sunlight to keep them happy, but you can try -- there are tulip bulbs under the Japanese maple that are still coming up, (though they must have been planted over five years ago) and there are King Alfred daffodils blooming in abundance under the huge Camellia.

I don't know what else will survive under the Walnut, but I'm going to try some other things according to the families of things that have done well. For instance, since tulips are doing all right, I'm going to try a few shade-loving lilies, which are distant relatives. I'm also going to seed some Johnny-Jump-Ups (the purple-and-yellow pansy violets) so I have some cheerful color in summer, when the sweet violets will have long faded. The bamboo I just planted seems to be doing fine, even though it's a "grass" -- and I'm going to try Lily of the Valley, just because it tends to take over anywhere that it likes!

Please let me know if there's anything growing well under the Walnut in your yard right now?

Love,

Claudia