Help needed on Evergreens suitable for pots in part shade?

Discussion in 'NEW Gardeners !' started by Debbiegold, Jul 29, 2018.

  1. Debbiegold

    Debbiegold Apprentice Gardener

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    Hi new to gardening so not got a clue.
    We live by the sea & in the process of doing out our front tiny garden.
    It's a rented house so don't want to spend too much on it but at the same time I would like some curb appeal.
    Ideally something evergreen so it's there all year round (I could add bedding plants in the summer easily to add colour if needed?
    Basically I wanted ideas for....
    *what keeps well in pots?
    *evergreen?
    *easy maintenance?
    *keeps well in part shade (only has sun up till 11am)
    *quite windy as near sea so about 100meters or so?

    Looking at pictures I seem to be drawn to grasses, ferns, box ball or even miniature conifers with ivy?
    I want a long planter for the front of the bay on the floor, then a few at the sides in different shapes styles.
    I like shabby chic style like baskets or old watering cans.

    Here are a few ideas I like....
    Any help appreciated Screenshot_20180712-214135.png Screenshot_20180502-133235.png Screenshot_20180502-133514.png Screenshot_20180712-213947.png Screenshot_20180712-213619.png Screenshot_20180729-134903.png
     
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    • Verdun

      Verdun Passionate gardener

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      Welcome debbiegold :)

      Evergreen? Sarcoccca, sweet box, is easy, highly scented in late winter. Daphne
      Eternal Fragrance and Perfume Princess are evergreen too with beautifully scented flowers in spring.

      Hydrangeas are good in pots esp now there are some superb dwarf varieties....white, pink or blue flowers on compact bushes

      If you use ericaceous compost you can plant azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias and pieris. Exuberant spring colour and neat shrubs.

      Choisyas will grow in containers.....Sundance has yellow foliage but all have scented flowers in spring and early summer and aromatic foliage.

      Hellebores are beautiful perennials with flowers from late winter to late spring.

      I would plant a japanese acer too...not evergreen but superb purple foliage throughout the summer ...ideal for shade and protection from strong winds if you can provide this. Plant next or near to hackonechloa....mentioned below for lovely yellow/purple contrast all summer long. The japanese willows make colourful shrubs from spring to autumn...leaves are pink, cream and pale green: the new growth is salmon pink and eyecatching

      Ferns for sure but check out the japanese painted ferns like Ursulas Red......beautiful foliage in a grey/glaucous blue and red stems. A quality plant.

      I garden near the sea and silver grey plants do well here like santolinas, artemisia powys castle, senecio sunshine and helichrysums stand the wind well but as much sun as you can give them. Similarly with osteospermum and pittosporums like Tom Thumb, a purple evergreen dwarf shrub.

      Phormiums like Sundowner, Dazzler, Cream Delight are evergreen, easy and very colourful and give a spikey effect

      Grasses like festucas, stipa tennuissima and carex like Testacea and Comans Bronze add evergreen movement and colour. For shade hackonechloa is the very best grass....not evergreen but forms mounds that then cascade and the move like the surf in the wind.

      Euonymous Emerald n Gold is a lovely, neat evergreen shrub.....I shape them here into cones or balls.

      Conifers like yews are good in pots.....Standishii is slow growing for example...upright and bright yellow in summer and unique olive in winter. Stands wind, drought, pest and disease

      Nepeta is semi evergreen with aromatic foliage and spikes of blue flowers throughout summer. Euryops pectinatus is an evergreen perennial with greyish foliage and hardly ever out of flower....goes well nepeta. Ajugas are evergreen, usually with purple cascading/spreading foliage and blue flower spikes. Very easy. Liriopes are evergreen grass like plants with purple spikes in autumn.

      Dont forget the heucheras.....evergreen mounds in glorious colours from yellow, to orange, to pink, to red to black. They all produce light spikes of flowers of white, cream and pink. Indispensable for shady pots I think.

      If you can cover them in winter, echeverias make lovely pot plants.....very dry free draining soils for them. (Maybe fits your remit for shabby chic as the foliage is both cute and fascinating)

      Could go on and on and on but others will offer suggestions too

      Good luck with your planting:)
       
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        Last edited: Jul 29, 2018
      • Debbiegold

        Debbiegold Apprentice Gardener

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        Thank you will Google all of these & see what takes my fancy.
        That's a great help & a lot of choice
         
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        • Ned

          Ned Evaporated

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          :sign0016:to the forum @Debbiegold. I won`t add any more ideas to the menu above at the moment - don`t want you getting indigestion ;)
           
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          • Verdun

            Verdun Passionate gardener

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            Wot! You sayin my suggestions are unpalatable Tetters :snorky::lunapic 130165696578242 5:
             
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              Last edited: Jul 29, 2018
            • Ned

              Ned Evaporated

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              No.... just plentiful!
               
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              • Gail_68

                Gail_68 Guest

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                Hello @Debbiegold welcome to GC and nice to have you with us.

                If your in to grasses as Verdun as me hooked now :snorky:….Elijah Blues are nice...but Verdun said just the Blues alone show more Blue and I just adore Ponytails and brought recent grasses called "Imperata cylindrica" and they've took off nicely :)

                Elijah Blue Grasses

                SDC13171.JPG

                PonyTail

                20180723_131542.jpg

                Imperata cylindrica

                20180727_153619.jpg




                 
              • Verdun

                Verdun Passionate gardener

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                Looking good there Gail :)
                Imperata will die down in autumn mind you so mark it with a short cane :)
                 
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                • Gail_68

                  Gail_68 Guest

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                  Thanks Verdun I will do as I have quite a few canes :snorky:...do all the leaves disappear then :what:
                   
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