University Of Minnesota Extension Gardening

Te Best Plants For 30 ough Sites

Edited by Mary Meyer, Deb Brown and Mike Zins, Extension Horticulturists, University of Minnesota.

Minnesota's Master Gardeners share their 30 years of experience in teaching in Minnesota

Introduction

Tis bulletin is written in celebration of 30 years of Master Gardener teaching in Minnesota. Here are the BES plants for 30 tough garden sites: dry shade, slopes, lakeshores, all locations that call for tough, durable plants. Also included are hard-to-ﬁnd plant lists of special traits and useful characteristics: self-seeding, fra- grance, long-blooming, minimal litter trees. And who better to recommend these plants than the University of Minnesota Extension Service Master Gardeners? Drawing on their 30 years of teaching and experience, Master Gardeners list here their selections for these tough sites. Inside you will ﬁnd answers to these tough questions: What can I plant under a black walnut? What will grow in alkaline soil? What is a good small tree for a boulevard? What tree is good for my compacted soil? What will grow in dry shade, under trees?

• • • • •

Te University of Minnesota Extension Service Master Gardeners are volunteers who teach horticulture throughout the state. More than 5,000 Master Gardeners have taken the training, started in 1977 by Mike Zins, now retired U of M Extension Horticulturist. About 2,500 are currently active volunteers teaching in schools, nursing homes, community education programs, community gardens, farmers' markets, at county fairs and the state fair and answering phone and email questions. Most counties in Minnesota have active Master Gardeners that extend the research-based gardening information from the University of Minnesota to the public. o contact a Master Gardener near you or to learn more about the program and how you can become a Master Gardener, see

www.mg.umn.edu.

For more gardening information see:

www.extension.umn.edu.

About the University of Minnesota Master Gardeners

30 Years of Master Gardener Teaching

1977 2007

Best Plants for 30 ough Sites

able of Contents

Alkaline Soil .................................................................4 Annuals 3 Feet or More .................................................5 Annual Vines Tat Grow Quickly .................................6 Boulevard Gardens: Perennials .....................................7 Boulevard Gardens: Small rees ...................................8 Broadleaf Evergreens for USDA Zone 4 ........................9 Clay Soil .......................................................................10 Cold olerant Annuals ..................................................11 Compacted Sites: rees .................................................12 Crevice Plants ...............................................................13 Deer Resistant Plants ....................................................14 Dry Soil: Annual Foliage Plants ....................................15 Dry Soil: Shade or Under rees .....................................16 Dry Soil: rees ..............................................................17 Fragrant Annuals and Perennials ..................................18 Fragrant Shrubs ............................................................19 Indoor Low Light ..........................................................20 Knot Gardens ...............................................................21 Lakeshore Native Plants ................................................22 Long-Blooming Perennials ............................................24 Rain Garden Plants .......................................................25 River Banks and Canoe Public Access Areas .................28 Self-Seeding Perennials .................................................29 Septic Mound Plants .....................................................30 Shade: Shrubs ...............................................................31 Shade: Small rees ........................................................32 Shade: all Perennials ...................................................33 Steep Slopes ..................................................................34 rees Tat Produce Minimal Litter ...............................35 Under a Black Walnut ree ...........................................36 References .....................................................................38

top:

Home vegetable gardens need full sun and well-drained soil. Speciﬁc vegetable plants and herbs for alkaline soils and near black walnut trees are listed in this publication.

middle:

Crimson Pigmy barberry, background, toler- ates alkaline soil, is deer resis- tant and can be pruned for knot gardens. Blue oatgrass (middle) and hardy chry- santhemums (foreground) are additional choices for boulevard gardens and sunny dry sites.

bottom:

Te Rain Garden at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum handles water runoﬀ from several large parking lots.