I would advise looking at labels, go for some structure in the garden, evergreen shrubs,these would be the backbone of the garden, dot them around, check how high they will grow, whether or not you have to prune them, keep the labels too!! go to charity shops and get some old gardening books, cheap and lots of ideas too.
If that corner is the 2m one in the drawing then that is where I suggested planting the Choisya because it can grow quite big and bushy. It would hide the stump.
Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
Thought you'd be interested to know what we planted in the end, having spent 10 hours today sorting stuff out, in addition to the tens of hours over the last couple of weeks I've spent digging, weeding, pulling out roots, removing rocks etc etc!
Here is a before (when we moved in, in late May) and after (today) shot to start!
So the main things we planted were:
- Myrtus "Glanleam Gold"
- Nepeta "Summer Magic"
- Ligustrum Ovalifolium
- Nandina Domestica
- Pieris Japonica "Little Heath"
- Berberis "Nana"
- Viburnum Plicatum "Mariesii"
Padded out the bare patches with some Huecheras/Hebes/Grasses and little violas.
I think we may have over planted a little but it looks SO much better than before! I can't wait to see how things get on and see how it transforms over time.
We also had a horrible elevated overgrown messy corner with a tree stump and some nasty old rocks, which we've tried to turn into a little "conifer corner", which still looks a bit messy but looking loads better than it did before!
I finished off by putting a layer of bark chips down which hopefully will be good for weed prevention, and it also looks so much nicer than the bare soil!
Let me know what you think or if I've planted anything awful, haha
Thanks Jo! Been a lot of hard work but we are feeling very accomplished! Especially seeing as before June we'd never picked up a garden tool between us in our lives! We'd spent 5 years prior living in a third floor flat!
Much deserved glasses of wine tonight all round methinks!
I'm planting up a similar size area but all earth no grass. I'm planting pyracantha under the windows because it has lovely flowers early on in the year then colourful berries in aurtumn with sharp thorns to deter burglars. You can also trim it or prune it to any shape or size.
Then I'm planting several daphne odora marginata together for the wonderful winter flowers and scent, they grow to 5 foot, followed by a group of euphorbia because I love the colours, flowers and shapes and dwarf variegated hebes for the front of border as they stop at 2-3 foot.
I'll also put in a cotoneaster horizontalis giving it room to spread out becasue it is so beautiful if it is left to it's own devices and it will grow up a wall or across the ground.
All of the above are evergreen and I want to put in some evergreen clematis and fill all the gaps with spring bulbs and summer annuals until it all spreads out.
I also love dwarf azaleas and rhodedendrons which are great in clay and look lovely in spring. Lenten roses are very nice too for winter colour.
I decided on a completely evergreen front garden as my neighbourhood looks really bleak in winter with no colour. I'm going to put in evergreen hanging baskets as well.
Posts
Very helpful
If you like burgundy shrubs, B86, look up cotinus grace - it's one I particularly like.
I would advise looking at labels, go for some structure in the garden, evergreen shrubs,these would be the backbone of the garden, dot them around, check how high they will grow, whether or not you have to prune them, keep the labels too!! go to charity shops and get some old gardening books, cheap and lots of ideas too.
good luck!
If that corner is the 2m one in the drawing then that is where I suggested planting the Choisya because it can grow quite big and bushy. It would hide the stump.
Hi Guys
Thought you'd be interested to know what we planted in the end, having spent 10 hours today sorting stuff out, in addition to the tens of hours over the last couple of weeks I've spent digging, weeding, pulling out roots, removing rocks etc etc!
Here is a before (when we moved in, in late May) and after (today) shot to start!
So the main things we planted were:
- Myrtus "Glanleam Gold"
- Nepeta "Summer Magic"
- Ligustrum Ovalifolium
- Nandina Domestica
- Pieris Japonica "Little Heath"
- Berberis "Nana"
- Viburnum Plicatum "Mariesii"
Padded out the bare patches with some Huecheras/Hebes/Grasses and little violas.
I think we may have over planted a little but it looks SO much better than before! I can't wait to see how things get on and see how it transforms over time.
We also had a horrible elevated overgrown messy corner with a tree stump and some nasty old rocks, which we've tried to turn into a little "conifer corner", which still looks a bit messy but looking loads better than it did before!
I finished off by putting a layer of bark chips down which hopefully will be good for weed prevention, and it also looks so much nicer than the bare soil!
Let me know what you think or if I've planted anything awful, haha
Thanks Jo! Been a lot of hard work but we are feeling very accomplished! Especially seeing as before June we'd never picked up a garden tool between us in our lives! We'd spent 5 years prior living in a third floor flat!
Much deserved glasses of wine tonight all round methinks!
I'm planting up a similar size area but all earth no grass. I'm planting pyracantha under the windows because it has lovely flowers early on in the year then colourful berries in aurtumn with sharp thorns to deter burglars. You can also trim it or prune it to any shape or size.
Then I'm planting several daphne odora marginata together for the wonderful winter flowers and scent, they grow to 5 foot, followed by a group of euphorbia because I love the colours, flowers and shapes and dwarf variegated hebes for the front of border as they stop at 2-3 foot.
I'll also put in a cotoneaster horizontalis giving it room to spread out becasue it is so beautiful if it is left to it's own devices and it will grow up a wall or across the ground.
All of the above are evergreen and I want to put in some evergreen clematis and fill all the gaps with spring bulbs and summer annuals until it all spreads out.
I also love dwarf azaleas and rhodedendrons which are great in clay and look lovely in spring. Lenten roses are very nice too for winter colour.
I decided on a completely evergreen front garden as my neighbourhood looks really bleak in winter with no colour. I'm going to put in evergreen hanging baskets as well.
I like to plant in drifts of several plants of the same sort because it looks better than just one plant on it's own.