Evening fog by autan
In a post earlier this week TheGardenLady gave an answer to a question from a Katherine about a problem she is having with her giant Deodar cedar tree. TheGardenLady has more to say on this topic.
There are three major things plants need to grow and thrive. The first is adequate light for the plant species. Most flowering plants like sun. Very few plants will put out flowers if there is not sunlight or light. The second requirement is water or moisture. Every plant has a certain moisture requirement. And last, plants need nutrients. They take nutrients from the soil or sometimes from water, especially if nutrients are added to the water.
When you have a large tree, it wants a lot of the light, water and nutrients for itself. And when you have a large evergreen tree, it usually takes up the light and under the tree, it is often too dark for other plants to survive. The second need the tree has is for water. A massive tree will have massive roots that are searching for water that falls to the ground and its leaves, or needles, also absorb some of the water as it falls. So any plant that could grow under the tree has to be pretty drought tolerant- unfortunately most shade loving plants love water, too. And finally nutrients, a huge tree is using its roots to get nutrients for the tree, so a plant that is trying to grow under a large tree is going to have difficulty trying to get nutrients for its needs. This is besides the fact that evergreens drop those needles that make the soil acid. And not all plants can grow in all Hardiness Temperature Zones. So you see why you are having such a difficult problem.
