# Flowers for planting around base of tree



## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

Hmm, that's a tough one.
I have some members of the mint family growing in heavy shade (I believe it's Clary Sage, but will have to check to make sure). They bloom in the shade, and the bees visit them. I'll have to think about it awhile, and will post again if anything else comes to mind.


----------



## sentientsoil (Apr 20, 2008)

*alliums? *

I think I read somewhere that chives were good to plant at the base of fruit trees, as they help keep certain bugs from climbing up the trunk. maybe it was garlic... (consulting the wiki) yup, they help apple trees at least. and depending on the variety of alliums you use, they may have pretty decent flowers.

um.. that's all I got for now.


----------



## Bens-Bees (Sep 18, 2008)

One thing that might help is that they are still fairly young trees, so there is a good amount of sun reaching the base right now. It will be 3-4 years before the trees really grow in and give more shade.


----------



## bigevilgrape (Aug 21, 2008)

Be careful with mint it can be very aggresive and take over. (however, the wasps looooooooove the mint in our yard.)


----------



## BoBn (Jul 7, 2008)

Impatiens grows in the shade on rich soil if want shade perennials, then maybe vinca. If there is more sun than shade then violas or creeping phlox would be easy to grow. If you spray your fruit trees, think about pesticide drift when the bees are working the flowers.


----------



## Bens-Bees (Sep 18, 2008)

Do the bees like phlox? I've seen it around and it's very nice looking, but I didn't think the bees really liked it. If they do, that would be great. I never spray the trees, because I don't want to eat those pesticides anymore than the pests do. My neighbor showed me a way to protect the fruit without the pesticides; though it's a bit time consuming, I just tie a plastic sandwich bag around each fruit I want to protect while it's still too hard for the pests to bother with, then just let it ripen there in the bag on the tree.


----------



## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

My apple tree is ancient and a good 30-40 feet tall. I planted crocus around the base (although not right up close to the trunk). It works fine because the crocus come up and bloom when the tree has no leaves, hence no shade. By the time the fruit is ripe, the crocus look like the grass and don't seem to mind some foot traffic.

The only down side is pruning the tree... if I'm late, I end up walking on crocuses.


----------



## Zane (Mar 28, 2008)

I realize your looking for pretty stuff but I plant clover in my apple orchard. It provides Nitrogen for the tree's and food for the girls and clover doesnt look half bad out there. I also have tulips around some of my fruit tree's. I bought something like 2000 bulbs last year and just threw them all over the place. Dont know how much food the tulips provide though. Good luck I'm sure theres alot out there to try.


----------



## dragonfly (Jun 18, 2002)

SgtMaj said:


> Do the bees like phlox? I've seen it around and it's very nice looking, but I didn't think the bees really liked it.


I have wild phlox that grows here, but I've never seen bees in it. The butterflies do though.


----------



## Bens-Bees (Sep 18, 2008)

Well, there's lots of clover in the grass all around the trees, and I'd be worried about putting all that nitrogen right up against their trunks, might burn them or something. 

So instead I'm thinking about just doing a mix of spring crocus (common crocus) and fall crocus (crocus sativus, or saffron) to get two blooms out of it. One in late Febuary/early March, and one in late September/early October.

I recon that's about the best thing I can do with that space, though it would've been nice to put something else in that gives nectar during the summer dearth.


----------



## Big John (Feb 4, 2009)

http://www.territorialseed.com/product/678/116


----------

