Advice on planting in a difficult location

HI all,

I'm new and a very novice gardener but am after some advice please...

I have moved into a 15 year old house and have spent a few months sprucing up my grass in my front garden and it's starting to look nice rather than dry and messy... Today I have trimmed the lawn edges using a half moon tool and they look so smart, I have also cut back in a flower bed which had blended into the lawn... Now I need to work out what I can plant in this border to look nice.

The problem I have is my inexperience, the border is against a wall, north east facing (so limited sun), very chalky soil which has been full of builders rubble, lots but not all of which I have dug out! It is also quite exposed as we live on a hill and often get battered by strong winds too! Just to be fussy I would love to have an evergreen idea with little annual maintenance!

Any suggestions?

I appreciate your wealth of experience and any time you may take to read this / reply

 

Welcome to GC lowen79. It's difficult to know what to suggest without seeing the garden. If you can post pictures please it would help members to suggest what sort of plants would be suitable.

 

look at some ferns such as Dryopteris affinis the king, and also look at Dryopteris filix mas




some huechera will do well there aswell, and there are many colours to choose from and will be in leaf for the whole year
http://www.terranovanurseries.com/gardeners/heuchera-c-82_23.html

on the edges, plant hakonechloa macra aureola grass ... this is not evergreen but is worth planting ...
http://www.sugarcreekgardens.com/Grasses Images&Files/2009PerPlantofYearFlyerHakone.pdf

you could also plant some coleus which is an annual, but is very cheap, and which will brighten the whole area up ....


stick to a colour scheme that contrasts well, such as red and yellow .... the ferns add a bit of green

also have a look at brunnera jack frost .... this is a perennial but will add good contrast when in leaf


for the soil, add loads of compost and manure ....

the huechera and ferns will give you the evergreen effect ... the hakonechloa grass goes brown in winter but still looks good .... the fronds/stalks are trimmed in the beginning of March and new stalks grow ... the jack frost dies down in winter but looks good in spring/summer .... it also makes some blue flowers

you could also plant some evergreen creepers on the wall

it's hard to visualize your space without seeing a pic

 

Something like Skimmia Japonica Rubella or Sarcococca Confusa (which smells divine in Feb) or Mahonia.

Have a look at the Crocus plant finder - it allows you to filter the plants using various different criteria

 

Have you an idea of what sort of height you want for your border plants? I'd definitely agree with merleworld in recommending a skimmia if you have the space. They're very hardy and very forgiving if the soil has rubble in it, they'll just spread their roots around it and won't care a bit. There are fragrant skimmias too so I'd look for one of those.

 

Viburnum tinus for some winter flowers?

Azaleas perhaps too?