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HELP! Part-Sun/Sun Companion Plants

8 years ago

Zone 6 here!

I just brought these 3 'Zipper' and 1 'Obsidian' home with me. I'm looking for companion plant ideas that can tolerate sun/part sun. I'm also not sure how to space them or stagger them along this retaining wall. There is only about 18" of planting space between the boulders and concrete edging.

Should I just get a bunch more varieties of Heuchera (thinking one of the lime green varieties) and alternate them? Include grasses? Gold Spires would look nice but there's not enough space to plant that. I planned to do sedum/stonecrop groundcover to cover any empty space between plants.

Comments (8)

  • 8 years ago

    Hah! Thanks sherry sherrygirl, I had attached a photo but it didn't stick I guess!

    I'm not really sure what height companions I'm after, maybe taller...I did get various sedum/stonecrop (also red creeping thyme) groundcover to fill in part of the area and trail down the wall. I'm really struggling because of the narrow planting area which varies between approx 12"-18". I just set the plants up there in no particular order. I can take closer photos if needed.

  • 8 years ago

    Another option is to scrap the idea of Heuchera there and use them elsewhere (we have plenty of options, new construction home). I could just do trailing plants there with a few coneflower or grasses.

  • 8 years ago

    My first thought was some kind of ornamental grasses for some height, mane some iris for spring color? I would group the heuchera at the lowest point because they would be easier to see from the vantage where the picture was taken from. Just my thoughts, hope someone else chimes in here.

    Sherry

  • 8 years ago

    I agree to use grasses and to cluster the Heuchera together. From pictures it looks like Zipper has orange and reds, so if you want to keep that trend, I'd populate the area with orange/red/yellow bulbs mixed around the grasses and then a medium sized Echinaceas that will bloom after the bulbs are done (you can do orange, yellow and or reds if you want to keep the same palette as the bulbs).

    You can use blue switch grass and yellow Echinacea. Or green grass with red and pink Echinacea.

  • 8 years ago

    Will the heucheras not get too much sun there?

  • 8 years ago

    Lovely spot. Would it be good to do some tall things on the upper level and the shorter plants along the bottom level? And some creeping thyme or something amongst the rocks. I can see that this planting area will be very attractive once the plants are in and florishing!

  • 8 years ago

    Thank you for the suggestions. I may move the Heuchera to a different spot but might give them a try where they're at (and move them if it's too much sun). These varieties are supposed to do fine in full sun. I had similar ones (not sure of the variety but they were a bit more goldish orange) at our previous home that I put in our full sun parking strip and they did great once established and that area was surrounded by pavement and rocks.

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