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pinksand
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Location: Columbia, MD

Planting shrubs with boulders under soil

I purchased a dwarf fothergilla and had the perfect space in mind for planting. However, every time I got deep into digging the hole I'd hit rock. I dug 4 holes within a 6 ft radius before coming to the conclusion that I must have hit a boulder under there :( I'm in search of a backup location, but an ideal spot seems to be in a space that won't be available until I cut back my yews early next spring. I have two questions, would the fothergilla be safe in the hole with the boulder for now until spring? It fits in the hole, just won't have room to spread deep roots with the boulder below. Also, will anything be suitable for a planting in a location with a boulder about 2 feet below the soil or will anything I put there be stunted in growth over time?

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rainbowgardener
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The fothergilla (nice choice! :) ) should be fine there until spring, since it will be going dormant anyway.

Any small plants would be fine there. If you mean shrubs, boxwood, viburnum, hydrangea, azalea, and lilac are all shallow rooted shrubs. Which of those would work better there depends on the other conditions - amount of sun, moisture, soil pH, size of the space.

Even for shallow rooted shrubs, 2' is not a lot, so I would go with smaller/ more dwarf sizes.

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pinksand
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Joined: Thu Aug 23, 2012 2:13 am
Location: Columbia, MD

I'm really excited about the fothergilla! I just fell in love with this shrub and have had my eye on it all season!

Sorry for not specifying, I was looking for shrub suggestions since the space needs something more structural. It's a pretty sunny spot that might be well suited for a viburnum. I saw a nice variety of viburnum at the nursery where I purchased the fothergilla that should only get about 5 feet, which should be perfect for the space. Do you think that's dwarf enough for it to grow adequate roots in the soil? Thanks for the suggestion!



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