Regenerating Borders

Hello All


My 2 borders that are at front of house need renewing. There
have been the same roses in them since I moved into house so they must be at
least 30 years old. We have had many years of pleasure from the colours but
sadly they are too old and basically need changing as the roots are all but
gone as plants almost pull out of ground.


I would prefer more roses but from what I read you do not
grow new roses where the old ones grew, besides that my wife would like a change.
Now the borders face East to South East so get a lot of early sun.


The borders are around 15 feet long by about 2 feet wide but
I can widen them some more if needed. I was thinking of planting drought tolerant
low Maintenance plants which do not grow much above 12-18”.


This is where I need some advice and suggestions from
gardeners who have gone down this road. For a start I thought in each border perhaps
start with 2 evergreens?? Any suggestions for low /slow growing varieties?


I have not got very far for other plants to fill border as I
have searched for suggestions on Google and you find one plant which they say
is drought resistant but another site tell you it need lot of watering.


I know there are a lot of low growing plants out there but
need your experience as I am sure a lot of you have, perhaps some bulbs for
different seasons??


Thank you

 

Thanks for your input ArmandII.
You are of course correct,first thing is to get the soil in condition.Really when you sit down & think about it ,it would be nice to put a load of plants in ground and they all come up and display as they should.But gardening is in some cases experimental and you may have to replace some plants until you find the ones that work for your soil & conditions ,that what makes it so interesting.

 

I'm a fan of euonymus. There are quite a few varieties available with very attractive variagated foliage. Interesting plant which grows to a height of about 1 meter. If Its positioned up against a wall or fence, It will 'creep' up the sides almost like a climber, yet if its grown in open ground, It will grow as a neat shrub.

I'm fairly sure euonymus is tolerant of almost any soil type and sun exposure. Once established, should look after itself, with only needing a pruning once every year or two.

 

If well established plants are suffering at the roots, I wonder if the soil has become excessively compacted over the years. If the ground has settled to the point where there is no air flow possible anymore, then that in its self would harm the plants, but additionally the anaerobic conditions would turn the soil acid, plus the soil might be depleted of nutrients.

This happened to my hedgerow and nearly wiped it out. We loosened the soil a bit, added some chicken poo pellets, gave everything a good haircut to take the burden off the sick roots, and now it is coming back nicely.