Cold weather Rainforest

[Quozie]

We have a spot down the side of our house that is very damp, rainforest damp. It already has a couple of gums that, as we all know drop leaves ccontinually. I'm really keen to enhance the area with Australian cold weather plants to bring in a more natural rainforest feel and look. I'm not looking at a tropical look, more of a cold weather as I believe we now live in a zone 7 (can't seem to get an exact) but, winter has been freezing and it dies snow!

any suggestion of what plants would be appreciated, photos even better. With the gums, I have top canopy covered, looking at mid and bottom cover, preferably flowering as I would like to house native bees (non honey producing)

comments, photos and suggestions all round appreciated.

[Brad]

http://anpsa.org.au/faq-21.html

Bit of a FAQ for you in growing native plants under trees.

 http://coolnatives.com.au/catalogue.html

Gives you some photos and plant requirements.

I would start with Native Peppermint as it will wilt if it isn't as dampas you think it is but will recover quickly.

Baronia nice red flowers with variations available would do best with some sun.

Banksia should be able to find some under 2m high.

Callistemon or the populary called Bottlebrush.

Sould be some native grasses that are also suitable.

An egineer would tell you to cut down the trees, drain the swamp and concrete the lot...

[Quozie]

Thank you Brad,

Will do some research on your suggestions and checkout the links.

[Jason]

Welcome to Workshop @Quozie. Great to have you join us. Thanks for signing up and for making your first post. Fantastic to see you have already received some great advice from @Brad. I hope you continue to find plenty of helpful information, inspiration and tips from other community members.

Jason

[Andy_Mann]

@Quozie, my main concern is with your gum trees, how old/mature are they? From my experience (learnt the hard way), wet soil & gum trees don't mix.

I planted gums in our newish fine turf lawn (latish '70s), & they blew out of the ground in a moderately windy day. To my horror, their exposed root systems were diminutive. In their natural environment, they sink deep roots, in an effort to seek water. I'd completely upset their apple cart, by inadvertently over watering them, while babying our ridiculously delicate/water thirsty lush lawn.

If you (or your local nursery) identify your gums as ones that grow very large in harsh conditions, it may be in the interests of your safety, to have them removed.

[Quozie]

@Andy_Mann, they are well established, the ones in the front (dry) have shallow roots, I've just had to top dress the area to get the lawn up. The side (wet) ones appear to be much deeper, not as many runners. Branches are again touching the house, so they will be lopped very soon. As for taking them down, I haven't looked into it, but was under the impression it was frowned upon with most local councils.

They appear hardy, it snows annually here and they are pretty solid at present. I know from camping (a lot) that they are potential death traps. I'll be monitoring the limb protrusion carefully.

thanks for the advice, muchly appreciated.

[Kermit]

@Quozie

Have you investigated why the area is so damp? Does it have adequate drainage? Perhaps you could try to improve it before tackling the plants?

I've seen some good posts here on Workshop about drainage issues...

[Quozie]

Hey Kermit,

yeah, the contributing factors are,

• Lay of the land, so, yes, water runs across there. (Near house is bone dry)
• sunlight, only about 2 hours per day
• only observed in winter (new purchase) 
• very shady from neighbours house, fence and my existing trees

It's not a boggy wet, just a mulch (rainforest) wet. It doesn't pool at all. So drainage isn't an issue.

At this stage I'm not concerned by the moisture type, hence my request about cold weather plants to keep an Aussie Alpine feel.

Thanks again for your suggestion and concern!

[Jackson]

Hey @Quozie, it'd be awesome to see some photos of the area if you've got them.

[Quozie]

@Jackson, I'll try and get some next week, laid up at present.