Creating a new border.

First of all a massive thank you to the advice I got for the dwarf hedge. The japenese holly has been ordered and should arrive next week!

I'm looking to fill some borders now. One is quite shady and the other more sunny. I like big bushy shrubs with subtle colour. I've seen a couple if large shrubs with tubular red/ purpleish flowers. I found them online but didn't bookmark! Does anyone have any idea what it could be?

I'd also appreciate some recommendations for some green shrubs with no flowers that maybe have interesting shaped leaves.

Once again many thanks!!

 

Do you want herbaceous perennial, they die back into the ground and re-emerge in spring, shrub perennial, some lose their leaves in winter, or a mix so you have all round interest.
Here`s few useful site. http://www.perennials.com/content/

 

Thank you, the link was very helpful. I'm looking for a mix I think. I've still got an awful lot to read about and learn!!!

 

Beware that Shrubs take a while to grow. They aren't going to be "big bushy shrubs" for probably 5 years from planting ... OTOH they retain their height year-to-year, so are putting on a show from the moment they come into leaf in the Spring (and of course you might choose something evergreen that will be fully clothed in Winter too )

Herbaceous plants will put on 80% of their normal height in Year One from planting, and 100% from year 2. They will also grow into a larger clump in successive years. But they will die down in the winter and leave you with nothing ... and in the Spring they have to grow back, from ground level, before you have any "show". You can plant bulbs, and things that flower early, to provide some "interest" early in the season.

My borders are mixed - shrubs at the back and herbaceous at the front.

You're on your own on that one! You need a Extra Sensory Perception forum!!

I use Pinterest.com - allows me to right-click an image, on a web page, and add it to a "category". Pinterest stores the image (in case the website changes / deletes it) and a link to the page that you saw it on. That would solve the problem for next time Free to join.

Here's mine - its only got gardening pictures in it I'm afraid!
http://www.pinterest.com/kgardenpins/

I think it would be worth you looking at the Exotic style. Quite a lot of those need over wintering, as they are tender, but there are things that grow like stink (Bananas for example) that you could buy each year - they are usually about £3 each this time of the year. There are also things that are hardy - like Fatsia japonica. Bamboos have nice leaf / culm combinations (lots of interesting patterns on the culms, that you may not have been aware of before), and some grasses are interesting too - e.g. Arundo donax, or Miscanthus x giganteus

You could grow Cardoons from seed - they are interesting leafy plants and there are some trees that you can "stool" (cut right down each year) to promote big leaves. Paulownia tomentosa, Catalpa bignoides, Ailanthus altissima

Here's a picture from my Exotic garden, this was September of the 2nd year after planting

http://kgarden.wordpress.com/projects/exotic-garden/