Hydrangea still fighting cold weather

@BeeHappy , Those are lovely mate but I don't want something which will go rapid in growth...with the Festuca it's advised to split them in half after 3-5yrs to help generate their growth...I've had to give plants away to a neighbour

 

@KFF, I brought 2 for £25 each, saw these chaps at a unit just starting out in the moulding business but adding bases to them, up garden centres they want £80 onwards for smaller.

The eyes on them look so real in the spring acid cleaner gets put on all the statues besides slabs

 

Dieramas are beautiful , they could fit into a corner. They're clump forming but not really rampant . The only thing would be you have to keep them moist, if the corms dry out they die.

 

@KFF, Thanks for that advice..when the weather is sunny here summer or winter both front and back gardens are sun traps from early morning till tea time and after

 

Morning Gail.....no more rocks there for me! What you have is great but enough

More movement for sure....yes it looks good there but, as said, too "solid"

Not a grass, but libertia would look great there....goldfinger for example. Unique yellow/orange evergreen with nice white flowers in late spring. Like nothing else and eye catching.
Carex testacea is another evergreen grass ...ok, not strictly a grass but grasslike.....with lovely olive colouring. I like 2 others, Buchannii and Comans Bronze. Buchannii is a a narrow, upright foxy red evergreen and Comans Bronze is similar colouring but mound like.....great for "movement"....it sways beautifully
Again, not strictly a grass but grass like is ophiopogon nigrescens. This is black and evergreen. Great contrast to yellow or blue foliage and the gravel there would set it off to perfection. Get some snowdrops in around it for great contrast early in the new year
Stipa Tennuissima is a must.....usually evergreen but with beautifully tactile flowers most of the summer. Put a group of 3 there if you can. You, or anyone, will not be able to resist touching them . Billowing cloud like flowers ......enchanting little grasses
Elymus Magellanicus is the bluest of the grasses. Usually evergreen too. A red heuchera, a dwarf yellow shrub or a blue perennial like linum perenne sapphyr next to it is great.
For some height there check out helictotrichon......grows 90 to 120 cm, blue foliage and beige flowers. Similar to your festuca but much taller; classier too!
Tulbaghia Silver Lace looks grasslike too but is (down here anyway)!evergreen. A slender ash blue/silver beauty with pink flowers in summer....... I have it here near heuchera taffeta.

If you have a damper, shadier corner Gail check out hakonechloa macra....this is superb! Wonderful grass. Very classy, very beautiful and very undulating with lovely rise and fall. There is another called All Gold that has yellow flowing foliage all summer long. Last summer I posted a photo of this in front of actea Brunette.......shiney purple black sculpted foliage....for contrast. Again, for this damper corner look for astilbe Shogun. This has purple black foliage and pink flowers and looks sensational next to the hackonechloa

How about a colourful perennial like linaria Dial Park? Neat, upright, moving, tactile and low maintenance? Check out the flowers and assorts well with grasses. Subtle but classy.
I would also consider a white anemone there.....not the usual ones but one called Wild Swan. Flowers all summer from May to now. Beautiful white flowers with blue on their backs; in the slightest breeze you can see the contrast. Lovely thing
Consider a gaura too.....one called Corries Gold. This is a slender, neat, semi evergreen, needs no maintenance, has white flowers like butterflies (hence its common name "whirling butterflies") plus delightful variegated foliage. It flowers for months.

Phormiums are worth looking at but not the big guys....look at Bronze Baby or a brilliant red one called Dazzler. I posted pictures of this last summer.

Finally....although I could go on with suggestions Gail....look at Diosma Sunset Gold. This is like a heather, so would echo the theme of heathers you already have, but is bigger..... prob 40 cm high and 90 cm wide but easily pruned to keep compact. The real beauty of this is its movement. Soft, aromatic, feathery, tactile golden foliage that moves like the surf on the sea. Again, no maintenance. Even has delightful white/pink flowers in summer. People will comment on this one too. You can grow this in a pot as well.

Licking your lips Gail? I grow them all then some . Avoid too large plants ....they would spoil the space there. I would suggest you plan out what plants you want, how they blend in with others there...not just colour but form and shape too.....and how it all looks in winter too

 

@Gail_68 How nice, you have very happy and fortunate neighbours to inherit one of your gawjus plants

 

@Verdun i'd like to ask you opinion on the grasses please

Where you said plant between the rocks, I've been looking at how the heathers are getting bigger than on this pic, then through the year I have to cut my weeping willow in to shape regular and thought I might step on the grasses and squash it which I don't want happening.

Do you think they'd look alright if one was placed by the rock either side and two by the middle one at the front, as they'd then be blowing against the rock ..as I only have four of them

A quick pic again so you can judge.

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Yes I think so Gail......place them first and see how they look, how you feel and if the balance is right.
( its going to look pretty good there isnt it? ....like the rocks too )

 

Well I hope the weekend stops dry..keeps threatening rain for here but i'll place them like you said

I was going to have small lightweight rocks and my hubby said no way...where kids are concerned, so we went to the Holly Bush in Cannock and around the back they've got loads and the weight of them, well they're enough to break your back...when they weighed them I thought they'd be heading towards £100 but they only cost £26 so I couldn't moan

 

have not read the above. but to say, have not yet in all these years lost any of my 13 hydrangeas to winter's cold. pick the right one for your zone and your good to go.

 

@ARMANDII I wouldn't even like to think of the outcome

 

I pruned our single hydrangea today, some nice shoots showing on all last year's growth about six inches up from the roots, no apparent damage from the freezing conditions recently. Hopefully it'll be bigger than last year.

It's this one we bought in Wyvale for half price last year. Not having had one before, I was pleasantly surprised how long the blooms lasted.

 

I've got one identical in the front garden @Doghouse Riley and it flowers lovely like yours and looks roughly the same size but ours was cut back in the autumn

 

Lovely plant DHR. Love white hydrangeas and that looks a good variety