Forum home› The potting shed
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

All year round circular boarder

sarahdaviesrichessarahdaviesriches Posts: 6
in The potting shed
I have a circular boarder outside the front of my house, south facing, with a cherry tree in the middle.
The space is about 1 meter in diameter.
I would like to have all year round colour but after looking at many websites I have not been able to work out what and how.
Do I need to plant new every season or can I plant once and the relevant plants will flower each season?
Please help x 

Posts

  • the enduring gardenerthe enduring gardener Posts: 122
    I'd start by looking for some spring and autumn bulbs. And then in the summer months perhaps you could try some bedding plants.
  • KeenOnGreenKeenOnGreen Posts: 1,831
    Cherry trees have very large roots and a metre is not very wide at all. Do you have a photo, so we can the scale of the tree in the bed?
  • Butterfly66Butterfly66 Posts: 970
    It’s not a lot of space to get year round colour from flowers unless you use annual bedding which you change each season. I would suggest you decide what season you want your main flower display in and then concentrate on that.

    The cherry blossom sorts out spring.
    Most cherries have a reasonable Autumn leaf colour.
    If you then choose a few small evergreens that would give you structure and leaf colour all year, 
    You could then decide whether to go for summer or winter flowering shrubs - something that has berries would extend the colour.

    If you don’t want plants that will spill out if the bed then you’re probably looking at ones with a maximum spread of 30-40 cm, allowing space for your cherry tree trunk (if mature it may of course be already bigger than that).

    You also want plants that can cope with dry soil as they will be competing with the cherry.

    All of these parameters - evergreen, summer/winter interest, size - should help narrow down your search.

    The only things I can think of are maybe heathers, the smaller heucheras, saxifrage urbanum, maybe some of the carex eg Everest or Evergold, Liriope muscari

    I would suggest a smaller Lavendar such as Hidcote but they would spill out of the bed when in full growth although if you clipped them hard each year you could maybe keep them compact for rest if the year.
     If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.”—Marcus Tullius Cicero
    East facing, top of a hill clay-loam, cultivated for centuries (7 years by me). Birmingham
  • owd potterowd potter Posts: 979
    Nice assessment, good suggestions.
    I can see a Lavender doughnut around the tree in that situation.
    Just another day at the plant...
  • sarahdaviesrichessarahdaviesriches Posts: 6
    Thank you so much for your advice, I love the idea of heather as well.
    The cherry tree is small and was in a pot then we moved house and the pot broke during the move so my husband planted it, however, the soil is very rocky and he couldn't get very deep down so I need to build up the soil around it. It flowered really well in March so I am glad it survived.
    I would love to take up the bushes around the front of the house and match to the round boarder as well.
    I have attached pictures. 
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    I would put in summer bedding, you're not going to fit much else in there.....
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Are you going to take out the conifers from around the cherry?
    It might also be a good idea to build up the edging so you can top up the soil to the level that the cherry is planted.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • sarahdaviesrichessarahdaviesriches Posts: 6
    Yes Jenny,
    I am taking out the conifers out and wanted some colour x
    I will build up with a little fencing to give the cherry tree some soil x
  • PoppypussPoppypuss Posts: 143
    If you don’t like the idea of bedding plants and want a more permanent ground cover what about trying tiarella? Some are semi evergreen, the foliage is great and very pretty flowers. Root system very shallow so do very well under trees. 
  • sarahdaviesrichessarahdaviesriches Posts: 6
    Thank you all for great suggestions x
    I am going to build up the circular boarder with little picket fencing and then use different height heathers as they suit the acid soil round here.
    Going to stick with pinks and purples for the cherry blossom.
    Then on the window boarder I am going to do a lavender and azalea mix for colour x
Sign In or Register to comment.