Ideas for under a big willow tree

SuprSi

We moved into our house just over 2 years ago and one of the nicest things about the garden is the very large and mature willow tree.

The problem is that I can't do anything with the area underneath it. The soil gets covered in moss when it's wet, and cracks when it's dry, so I can't grow a lawn.

I can't put anything solid like patio stones under it as the soil will move and cause cracks (apparently) so I'm kind of stuck.

I had some landscape gardeners quote to cover the worst area in stones, with a brick border, which sounds OK, but when the tree sheds its leaves in autumn it'll probably be crap.

Any suggestions?

aw

A picture would be great, it sounds lovely.

What would you like to do with the area, would it be a usable space say for sitting under or just a plan to make it look nice?

My initial though if the plan is to tidy it up would be to put a big wide ring of mulch under it, and plant something suitable across the area, maybe something like heathers.
Here's a quick pic from Google showing what I mean on a small scale. Border optional.

macraignil

There are a range of plants that do well in shade and here is a link to a page from the RHS with some suggestions. Mulching the ground when it is wet will help it retain moisture and make it nicer to walk on and help reduce the number of weed plants that might try to grow there. Pumonaria and brunnera and ajuga are doing particularly well in some shady parts of my own garden and I'd plant a variety of these and mulch in between them if I was trying to improve the area described.

looksee

There are plants that will grow in the permanent shade of a weeping willow - ajuga (bugle), alchemilla mollis (ladies mantle) are a couple that come to mind. You may have to do a bit of judicious trimming to allow a bit of light under it.

I would personally think that you can't really treat a large weeping willow in a strictly formal way with boundaries and paving. Allow it to do its thing gracefully touching the ground and creating a random border between grass and bare soil. A covering of bark mulch may help create a more urbanised look under the tree, possibly a couple of large rocks that will collect moss might look good.

Teyla Emmagan

Put in plants that thrive in shade/wooded areas. It could be absolutely gorgeous in there. If you want low maintenance I would go for bluebells and wild garlic together. The bulbs will spread over time.

If you have moss you need to aerate the soil (prick it all over with a big fork).

SuprSi

Photo as requested The total 'bad' area under the tree has a circumference of around 35 metres. I'm definitely keen on low maintenance - plants would work, but don't bluebells only flower for a short while in the spring?

@Aw, your photo looks good, mulch and some shrubs could work well. That would definitely be low maintenance too.

I'm not sure whether we could make use of the area under it - it's near the septic tank which has a pump right beside that thing of flowers under it, which makes a constant low noise.

Thanks for all the suggestions btw

https://i.postimg.cc/MH0TX0m0/DSC-1374.jpg

SuprSi

Apologies, the picture didn't upload last night

JPup

Looks lovely as it is to be honest. I definitely would be trying to encircle the base in stones.

Put in a few shade loving plants at the base as others have suggested. Lots of native Irish plants thrive in shade. If you think that most of the island would have been covered in forest until humans cut all the trees down in the last few thousand years. So a huge amount of plants had to evolve to grow under the shade of the trees.

I have primroses, foxgloves and ferns thriving in my shady area but if you google it I'm sure you'll get loads more suggestions.

Calculator123

That is a wonderful tree. I'd echo what others have said suggest you enjoy as is. Most people would kill for something like that. If you want plants, the woodland varieties already mentioned could work but will take time and may not ultimately give the effect you're imagining from woodland walks.

What about wrap-around seating such as in attached photo?

SuprSi

Thanks everyone for the suggestions, I'm still waiting for the landscape gardener to came back with some ideas so will see if any compare well to what's been posted here.