I quite like the idea of mixing leafy stuff like laurel with a few flowering shrubs, I also like it when you see a mix of different greens together and also the kind of dark red/burgundy shrubs.
Will have to get looking through pictures to identify what I'm talking about!
We're going to take a trip to the garden centre on the weekend
Also, you can't see it but in the bottom left corner is a rather unsightly tree stump which is about 2ft high. What would be good for something I can plant as close to that as I can that will mask it as it 'expands' ?
Trad rose beds (HT etc) not my thing either Verdun, but we have to give people the option... I have shrub roses - not all thorny, all beautiful, and no greater upkeep than other shrubs.
Bristol86, you'll have to keep laurel well clipped to keep it within your 0.9m borders. You could fit a bigger shrub (or even a small tree?) in the larger corner - oh no, that's where the stump is, I imagine.
Is the stump too big for you to dig up? Or could it be sawn off at ground level? And is it dead? If not, it may re-grow from its stump (depending on the sort of tree it was). You can kill stumps - your garden centre will advise.
But yes, provided you can dig a reasonable hole in that area (ie it's not absolutely chock full of roots) you could put in a shrub which would disguise what you can't remove, until it rots away. Something evergreen perhaps. You mentioned dark red/burgundy shrubs; you might be thinking about Photinia. The one commonly grown is called 'Red Robin'. There's also a smaller one called 'Little Robin' I think, and some variegated ones (which you'll either love or hate!)
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
Thanks for that, great advice! The stump is quite large so imagine digging up would be a hell of a job. I haven't cleared that corner yet so I'll have to see what the ground is like around the stump and see if there's room to plant anything!
In terms of keeping stuff in the borders I actually quite like the idea of stuff over hanging the lawn a touch, just enough so that you can't really see the start of the lawn edge - I may make the borders a little deeper though
I'm hoping I can at least saw it off at ground level Verdun!
I'm going to leave the beds the size they are at the moment but I may expand them over time depending on the growth of what I end up planting and how everything looks once I've got stuff planted and a bit of time has passed!
I meant to ask, given the relatively shallow depth of the borders along the straight edges - should I be sticking to strictly one plant per section in a straight line rather than staggering things 'front and back' ?
I'm guessing it's better to under plant and then add to it than to try and cram too much in and find in a few months it's way too crowded?
I want to fill the space as much as possible so I want as little 'bare bed' visible as possible but don't want to over crowd it and put more in than I should.
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I quite like the idea of mixing leafy stuff like laurel with a few flowering shrubs, I also like it when you see a mix of different greens together and also the kind of dark red/burgundy shrubs.
Will have to get looking through pictures to identify what I'm talking about!
We're going to take a trip to the garden centre on the weekend
Also, you can't see it but in the bottom left corner is a rather unsightly tree stump which is about 2ft high. What would be good for something I can plant as close to that as I can that will mask it as it 'expands' ?
Trad rose beds (HT etc) not my thing either Verdun, but we have to give people the option... I have shrub roses - not all thorny, all beautiful, and no greater upkeep than other shrubs.
Bristol86, you'll have to keep laurel well clipped to keep it within your 0.9m borders. You could fit a bigger shrub (or even a small tree?) in the larger corner - oh no, that's where the stump is, I imagine.
Is the stump too big for you to dig up? Or could it be sawn off at ground level? And is it dead? If not, it may re-grow from its stump (depending on the sort of tree it was). You can kill stumps - your garden centre will advise.
But yes, provided you can dig a reasonable hole in that area (ie it's not absolutely chock full of roots) you could put in a shrub which would disguise what you can't remove, until it rots away. Something evergreen perhaps. You mentioned dark red/burgundy shrubs; you might be thinking about Photinia. The one commonly grown is called 'Red Robin'. There's also a smaller one called 'Little Robin' I think, and some variegated ones (which you'll either love or hate!)
In terms of keeping stuff in the borders I actually quite like the idea of stuff over hanging the lawn a touch, just enough so that you can't really see the start of the lawn edge - I may make the borders a little deeper though
I'm going to leave the beds the size they are at the moment but I may expand them over time depending on the growth of what I end up planting and how everything looks once I've got stuff planted and a bit of time has passed!
I'm guessing it's better to under plant and then add to it than to try and cram too much in and find in a few months it's way too crowded?
I want to fill the space as much as possible so I want as little 'bare bed' visible as possible but don't want to over crowd it and put more in than I should.