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advice required
A friend is making me two large planters for my front garden.They will be 3ft by 2 ft by 2 ft, so quite large.
my front garden consists mainly of a two small lawns, white gravel around ,manicured conifers with various shades of green. several shrubs.
They will be positioned in full sun.
I want to plant the planters with low growing, maybe trailing(not ivy) perennials. Low maintenance. Variegated is good.
some flowers are ok.
some good ideas would be greatly appreciated, thank you
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I know you want low-growing but you could add a bit of height with Lavender. They are quite 'see through' due to small leaves and long thin stems so they don't look big and solid. They like the sun and bees love them.
You could plant some succulent or rock garden plants, there are quite a few that last through winter unless very exposed or wet. I've got houseleeks, tiny Sedums and London Pride. some varieties will grow and cascade over the side.
for winter/spring what about some tiny bulbs - my faves are Tete A Tete daffodils which grow to about 6 inches.
I like Heuchera, which have low-ish leaves with tall elegant flower stems, another plant that adds height without blocking out a lot of space. I think they are evergreen and you can get some lovely leaf colours.
Why do you want it low growing? Is it because you especially like low-growing plants or because you think it will reduce the amount of maintenance necessary to keep it looking good?
The suggestions above are good. Creeping Phlox is quite nice and pretty low maintenance. I love Ajuga (variegated) for its blue flowers. Both less than 10cm in height,
Thanks for the ideas when I start to plant up I will make a list and seek some of the suggestions.
The reason i want low growing (up to 20 Cm) is the planters will be up against a wall and to go with much higher will leave whatever I plant open to the elements...The wall offers some protection..I don,t want to block veiw into the garden by planting too high either.The wall is at the end of my front garden.
I do already have four different colours of Heuchera in my back garden , I had thought of these, they do very well
Thank you