Advice and inspiration please

Hi!

I have recently had an extremely large conifer removed from my front garden and it has left a massive area that needs some attention. I feel bad for removing a tree but unfortunately it was dying and smothered in ivy. It was also starting to lift the pavers on the drive so I'm afraid it had to go.

The area needs to be cleared of ivy but there are some large boulders that have been uncovered so I'm thinking something like a rock garden. I was thinking of putting in a smaller tree or shrub to restore some of the privacy we have lost but have no idea what would be good to put there. Ideally something that doesn't have large roots as it is next to a drive.

We have currently left the large stumps from the conifer as we weren't sure if we wanted to include them.in the rock feature and plant round them or remove them and start again.

I welcome any suggestions as I really don't know where to start. I have attached a photo of the area.

Thanks in advance

Rach

 

Thank you for the advice. I do plan to get rid of the ivy as soon as the weather improves. It's such a large area, much larger than I was expecting. I definitely want whatever goes there to be beneficial to wildlife too. Thanks again.
Rach

 

Hi @rachk116, it seems you have a decent area to play around with! It should be fun!

First things first, you need to work out what you want the rock garden for. It seems you want 'pretty but private'.
I'd definitely recommend a shrub and different size of rocks to add variety to the design!

Good luck! I hope it goes well!

Post on here when it's done

 

Thank you @traceyphillips

Started clearing the ivy today and it turns out we already have about 15-20 large rocks in place already. What a bonus!! Ivy really is a pain to get rid of. Think we'll just have to persevere with the removal over time. Really looking forward to getting started on planning the planting .

 

Hi!! Just thought I'd post a long overdue photo updating you on my rock garden progress. We've not really treated it as a rock garden as such but I'm really happy with how it looks now (photo taken in June).

 

You blooming well should be Rach, it looks delightful!

Nick

 

Looks really fab @rachk116 , you could use the two stumps as pot stands.

 

It is lovely and I agree using the stumps for either pots or garden art. Well done.

 

I'd actually considered carving out the middles and drilling some drainage holes to create a planter but I think that's a bit beyond my skills. I might get a shallow planter to put on them though .