Shrub selection; advice needed please.

Hi,

My son (who lives in Cheshire) has a bare triangular space (approx 5ft x 15 ft) at the bottom of his garden and he wants to fill the space with 3 or 4 varied shrubs that will be relatively fast growing but won’t grow overly big.

The requirements are shrubs:

… that are dense/compact but will grow no more than 5 or 6 feet high with a similar spread;

…that are evergreen. Flowering would be nice but not essential

…that are child friendly i.e. no thorns etc.

…that are relatively easy to maintain.

…that are able to withstand and thrive in very damp soil;…the ground is low lying and although it isn’t waterlogged it’s always very wet, even in summer.

The area in question receives full sun for most of the afternoon until early evening;…assuming we get some sun this year that is!

Could anyone please suggest a selection of suitable shrubs that would likely be available from most decent garden centres?

All advice gratefully received. Thank you in advance.

 

I like to select shrubs based on fragrance, at least 3 season visual.

 

Hi Laurence, and . I have an area somewhat similar, except it only gets sun for about half of the day. I have planted it with pieris, aucuba and photinia, all of which are evergreen and which provide some interesting colour, with no thorns (although the aucuba produces bright red berries which would look tempting to a young child. I am also developing an area to screen the greenhouse from the patio which I also want to be evergreen, so I have planted a viburnum tinus, and will add a pieris and perhaps an escallonia. If you Google these plant names the Royal Horticultural Society website will give you information about growing conditions, height and spread. There are also many, many much more experienced gardeners who will give you even better suggestions. It's a nice amount of space to work with in your son's garden, and you are bound to have more range of plants than up here in generally wet and windy Scotland!

 

Hi Laurence
I would go for dogwoods.....now, they are not strictly speaking evergreen but do keep colourful winter stems. Cornus Elegantissima has attractive white and green foliage in spring and summer and bright red stems until they are cut back, usually in spring. Aurea is similar but with yellow leaves in summer. I would also plant alba sibirica with them.
This group will look great in winter, esp if it snows, and colourful in the growing season. To keep compact just prune to ground level or to a couple of feet. They enjoy the wet conditions and are problem free