evergreen shrubs suggestions

in the front garden we have a long ugly looking brown brick wall. Im looking to grow something up against the wall that's both slow growing and evergreen. nothing to "invase"(i think you call it) though ,as im growing flowers from a patch of ground between the path to the door and the wall that spans from the house (if you know what im meaning). it doesn't have to flower(although would be nice ofcourse) ,and it can't be a climber . (tried ivy and WOW i hate it now :D lol) also i really would prefer to be able to grow it from seed if possible as i would need a lot of plants and a lot of money ,one thing i don't have .

thankyou

 

Hello Ryan
For Height, Ceanothus - also flowers well - for scent Saracocca, quite small but beautifully scented in the winter time. There are others but these are favourites of mine

 

Quite the brief.

If you are not in too bad a frost pocket, without a climber, a Griselinea hedge might be the best route. Won't grow from seed but they will grow from cuttings, although you will be waiting for a couple of years for anything substantial. They can also be bought in the winter from nurseries bare-root for a third of potted prices.
It can be clipped very tight and stays evergreen, but is susceptible to heavy frosts!!

 

oleaster (Elaeagnus x ebbingei ) ... is evergreen (silver foilage) ... hardy ... cheap ... can be grown as a hedge ... and has flowers in late summer/early autumn that are very sweetly scented

can be grown from seed .... one of my favourite late summer scented evergreen shrubs

 

Ryan, I would suggest privet, it`s semi evergreen, has white, highly scented flowers, is easy to maintain, and, most importantly, it is very easy to grow from cuttings.

 

I keep coming back with the same one every time someone mentions a recommendation for an evergreen shrub; I love the Portuguese Laurel (as opposed to the more common Cherry Laurel), it has dark red stems, dark green glossy leaves and nice scented flowers, it can be left to grow in to a large dense shrub or it can be pruned to your heart's content, it's not an expensive plant either :thumb:

 

Another Elaeagnus fan here. Love the x eggingei or the Elaeagnus pungens maculata has lovely variegated leaves with a lovely bronze colour on the new ones.

Escallonia are lovely too, or how about Viburnum tinus.

All of these can be used in hedging so can be pruned to size quite easily.

Or how about the cherry laurel 'Otto Luyken', which is much smaller and slower growing than the traditional cherry laurel.

Not sure whether these can be grown from seed but they can be propagated from cuttings if you can nab some off someone.