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New garden borders

samwiltshire1136145samwiltshire1136145 Posts: 14
in Plants
Hi everyone 

looking for some advice please! We have a relatively small garden, with a border each side around 40cm deep, 6m long each side. The left side gets morning sun which slowly moves round to the other side providing afternoon sun ( the last metre nearest the house on the R side is constant shade from next doors extension) our garden was previously ripped up by past owners when they built the house we are attached too so it is mostly top soil on the top two feet, below that we are on sand. Looking for plant ideas please, ideally a mix of evergreen and perennials. I have a couple of Choisya de witteana, camellia japonica, two fatsias in pots already and wondered if they would be easy enough to maintain to fit in that size? 

Plants I quite like would be a sambucus black lace, salvia Cardonnas, pittosporum golf ball and tobira nanum, rosemary, viburnum tinus. 
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  • CeresCeres Posts: 2,698
    Welcome to the forum.
    Forty centimetres is not a great width for large shrubs unless you are going to clip them into a very short, narrow hedge. The two fatsias alone would fill the length of the border and lean over the front edge of the border by at least a couple of metres. You should be looking at smaller shrubs for this space, something like euonymous that can be clipped and kept under control. Pyracantha is a possibility if you have a fence or wall to support it but it does have vicious spines. The rosemary you mention is a better choice as it doesn't grow too tall and can be clipped but it is a mediterranean plant so needs decent sunshine and free draining soil. I lost some last winter due to the cold and wet.
    I'm sure we have all bought plants that are far too ambitious for the space available in the vain hope that we can tame them but (speaking personally) it's an impossible job.
  • samwiltshire1136145samwiltshire1136145 Posts: 14
    Totally agree about the size but I sadly couldn’t go much bigger otherwise the entire back garden would of just been a jungle 😂 are there any small shrubs other than eunymous that could work too so I have some winter interest? 

    I do also have a 90cm border round the front of the house I thought I could maybe put some bigger shrubs in 
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    An alternative to Euonymus is Nandina domestica, an evergreen shrub with foliage tipped in different colours like orange, red and lime green. There are dwarf varieties too. For the conditions you have described, your Salvia, Rosemary and Pittosporum will be fine, the other shrubs will need more space. I'd recommend that you also consider some ornamental grasses, if you like them. You'll get interest over winter with their flower spikes and they are easy to maintain.
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • samwiltshire1136145samwiltshire1136145 Posts: 14
    Thanks, just had a quick look on google and like the look of the nandina. So euonymus, rosemary, smaller hebes and Nandina could be some evergreen options with some grasses and salvias inbetween, now just to work out the best way of organising!
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    edited 10 January
    Some good evergreen grasses to include are Stipa tenuissima and any Carex variety (sedges rather than grasses but they look like grasses!). I have one called Red Rooster which blends well with perennials.  You could also try a larger deciduous grass like Calamagrostis Karl Foerster or Panicum Northwind which are both columnar and don't take up too much ground space.  They tolerate some shade and can easily be divided when they start to get bigger.
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    For that sized border Penstemon Garnet might be another option to consider.
    Happy gardening!
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • samwiltshire1136145samwiltshire1136145 Posts: 14
    Thanks for all the suggestions, my grandma always had lots of penstemon and hardy geraniums in her garden which I loved. I don’t think the germanium’s are quite what I’m looking for in these borders as they aren’t particularly tall and move ground covering. 

    Im thinking picking either a euonymus variety or a hebe (slightly favouring just for insects) a grass and a mix of
    penstemon and salvias and repeating them on each side of the border but mixing the order between the grasses and perennial so doesn’t look too uniform, does that like a good idea or not? So shrub/grass/perennial/shrub/perennial/grass/shrub etc 
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    Your plan sounds fine to me @samwiltshire1136145! Try to stagger or group the arrangements though so that they don’t look like garden centre stock, all lined up!
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • samwiltshire1136145samwiltshire1136145 Posts: 14
    I’m not sure I can do it any other way than a line as the border isn’t wide enough. Although I could mix it up a bit with a mix of hebes, euonymus, salvia I quite like the darker penstemon, maybe I need a white perennial in there too with the grass aswell … or am I getting carried away with the space I have 😂
  • samwiltshire1136145samwiltshire1136145 Posts: 14
    Or would shrub/perennial/shrub/grass/shrub/perennial look better?
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