Plant ideas needed please

[alexgirl73]

I spent yesterday weeding and clearing out all the dead plants from my front flower bed. Also where my veggies were last year has been dug over, and I transplanted my euonymous there last autumn. So now this is all looking very bare, and I need some ideas please to fill it. Ideally I would like evergreen shrubs, low shedders if possible (too hard on my back otherwise). I'd like a mix of sizes and shapes, but nothing that goes mad :lol:

Here is the space;

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m12/alexgirl73/Garden019.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m12/alexgirl73/Garden020.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m12/alexgirl73/Garden021.jpg

And please ignore the grotty white platic fence :lol:, that is there as a temporary measure!!

[Kazz]

Are you meaning suggest red robin....can't recall proper name...P something...I think, they are evergreenand you can keep them to whatever height oyu like by cutting back...mine stay about 3&1/2 - 4ft when they could easily do about 8ft. I just lop off to the height I want.
Also sundance the yellow Choyisa is a fantastic choice stays in colour all year white flowers in summer when mature...and they brighten an area being yellow and evergreen or everyellow. ;)
A holly would be good too.... evergreen too and can get some stunning dark green or green and yellow....get the berries too....they would all be good "spines" or backbones of your planting......which you need then put some perrenials in that come up every year..............what do you like?

[Kazz]

Hebes are nice they are a low level shrub....and mostly evergreen. An assortment of ones to choose from, Old Gold is nice...one in Mags pictures of Spring....

[alexgirl73]

I have a couple of hebes already Karen, and I do like them, but don't want just those lol. If you can remember the name for red robin that sounds quite nice lol, and I like the idea of a holly :)

[dandysmom]

I wonder if Kazz means Pyracantha? It has lovely red or orange berries and can be kept to size with pruning. Nandina also has interesting berries and colorful Autumn foliage. Or Winter jasmine, very early flowering yellow flowers like the too common forsythia (not evergreen). Dwarf juniper? Some bulbs: tulips, hyacinth, crocus?

[Mags]

I have a couple of hebes already Karen, and I do like them, but don't want just those lol. If you can remember the name for red robin that sounds quite nice lol, and I like the idea of a holly :)
I think this may be the "Red Robin" that Kazz describes ...........

http://www.buckingham-nurseries.co.uk/acatalog/product_10258.html

[dandysmom]

I'm a little dubious about the holly; lovely but they can get very tall, mine is over 12 feet now. Camellias are gorgeous evergreens, not sure about your climate zone, though.

[alexgirl73]

I think this may be the "Red Robin" that Kazz describes ...........

http://www.buckingham-nurseries.co.uk/acatalog/product_10258.html

Oh I like that, would bring such colour :D Thanks Mags

and just looked for the winter jasmine Eileen, that looks pretty, and ideal for some colour when all else has gone lol. Great ieas :D

[dandysmom]

I just saw Moli's camellia pic; I guess if she can grow them in Scotland they'd be OK for you too.

[Kazz]

That the red robin....excellent colour for the garden, an essential.

The good thing about holly is the colour, evergreen, you can clip them hard and the berries..... Okay not hebes....how about a pieris???? tell you what is nice too is Broom....

[Moli]

Broom is beautiful, smell lovely when in flower....I have a yellow ....

[dandysmom]

Kazz, I wonder if we're talking about different hollies? American holly is a tree .. grows very tall, Carolyn's was about 20' tall. I know there is an English holly, is it shorter and amenable to pruning?

[angieh]

You can also get variegated holly ........... what about a couple of wigwams for clematis or sweet peas???

If your raised walled bed is dry in the summer, what about lavenders? Other perennials I like are Echinacea and Astrantia and fill in gaps with annual bedding.

[Kazz]

How about peonies????come up every year....superb....also bleeding heart.


What do you like Alex??? or what do you see being in your garden do you have an overall....idea picture?

[dandysmom]

Oh, love both the peonies and bleeding heart! Perhaps a few iris and miniature roses?

[angieh]

I just put "perennials" into a Google image search and came up with loads of lovely colourful looking plants of various types. Why not do that Alex and see what attracts you?

Do you have a colour scheme in mind?

[alexgirl73]

I'm liking all of these ideas so far lol!!

My idea of my garden is simple Karen, colour and chaos :lol: I don't like things to be uniform, I prefer to let things spread and intermingle (but not go too wild). In the bed I have at the other side of the playhouse I have, lavender, pieris, roses, rosemary, jacobs ladder type plant (from Kazz), heathers.

I did consider a couple of wigwams angie, but I'm not sure if that's where I want them :/

[alexgirl73]

Just looked at some peonies. Beautiful :D

[dandysmom]

Did you also look at tree peonies as well than the herbaceous ones? They are stunning, and come in yellow too!