Help with front garden Please!!

Hi all,

We have just moved into a new house and would like a few suggestions on whats best to put in the small border in front of the house. We are looking for something evergreen and what would go well and best together. The area is north facing if that helps.

Any suggestions would be greatly apprenciated, below is some pictures so you can see thank you.

 

Hello and welcome.

If you have your back to the wall in the centre of the pic, then you're facing north? That means the sticky out bit to the right of the pic is facing north-east, which means the whole border will get sunshine for a few short hours from sunrise until about 10AM in mid to late summer, and the rest of the time it will be in shade.

Sorry I can't suggest anything, I just wanted to try to get the sunshine hours right so that other more knowledgeable folk could give you better ideas

 

Hi thank you for replying, I would say actually after checking again with my back to the white wall and facing forward that is in the middle of North - NE. Probably closer to NE if that helps.

We were hoping to go the the garden centre today and look for some evergreen shrubs to be there, would azaleas work there? Thank you and hope to hear back from someone quick!! Thanks

 

This may help bit.
http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/shrubs/plcid.1/vid.167/vid.228/numitems.0/sort.0/

 

Welcome to the GC forums READ

Do have a good read up on any shrubs that you wish to plant there before you buy. I bought a couple of teeny plants yesterday in a sale, only to discover they are going to be monsters

No experience of azaleas but, I'm wondering how high you would like the shrubbery to grow? Perhaps add a climber?

 

Hydrangea and Paracantha will do well in this situation.

 

Azaleas or dwarf Rhododendrons (same family) would grow well there - not sure of your soil type though as they like it on the acidic side.

If it's not acidic then you should dig in plenty of ericaceous compost to the planting area and I'd also suggest adding some Miracle Gro slow release granules for Azaleas in spring, which will last throughout the spring/summer so will only need to be done annually. You can pick it up from B&Q or any garden centre.

What sort of colours are you thinking? Do you want a row of similar coloured plants or do you want different colours? If you let us know then we may be able to make some suggestions.

HTH

 

Christmas box and box itself would do well and is evergreen. Christmas box can be trimmed just like box/buxus and produces little white flowers. Camellias would also be great if you have acidic soil but they do grow quite large, so would need some pruning. They are easy to propagate if you want to try that.

 

Viburnum tinus is a good one - evergreen and has little white flowers from late winter into spring. Kerria japonica pleniflora has very pretty yellow flowers from the spring through to early summer, though beware as it can sometimes take over a bit.

 

Kerria is a good choice. It tends to grow tall and columnar and produces yellow flowers. Plant 3 for good affect.

 

Just noticed,a s I was typing a reply, that the post is a month old, and the O.P hasn't been back - although hopefully they will now you've replied Loofah