Hardy ideas needed for a north facing flower bed

I have a small flower bed at the front of my house which I'm on the verge of gravelling over because my lousy neighbours keep driving over it. Last year I spent a fortune on lovely plants and pots to brighten up the front of my house, but within weeks my neighbour had reversed over most of them.

I'm sad to say that the flower bed looks dreadful now, and I'm at my wit's end, but before I give up on growing anything there, I wondered if you had any suggestions for hardwearing plants that would provide some colour, ground cover and be able to withstand getting run over occasionally!

I'm new to all of this, so can't tell you what kind of soil I have (it seems pretty fertile), but I can tell you the flowerbed is north facing.

Thanks,

NooNoo

 

Good grief! Have you considered curing the problem by reversing over your neighbour? :hehe: Or maybe you could plant one of those tyre 'stingers' which the police use on errant drivers.

Before you invest in more plants, perhaps it is time for a quiet word. Frankly, not much is going to grow well in a north-facing border which is regularly squashed by a car. :flag: Although you could see SussexGardener's thread on the subject of Russian vines, entitled 'I've gone and done it'.

 

I was going to offer NooNoo the Russian Vine plant at a knock down price actually:hehe:

But in seriousness, there are plenty of plants that will survive in a north facing location, especially if, as you say, the soil is decent. The problem is your neighbour and his/her cack handed reversing. Until you sort out that problem no plants are quick enough growing to be big enough to present an obstacle or barrier to a car!

Although the Russian Vine might work if they go away for a couple of weeks and come back to find it covered in the climber:hehe:

 

PS One plant which might just survive is the periwinkle, Vinca Major. Normally I wouldn't recommend it because it can be very difficult to get rid of once you've got it. However, in a confined space where nothing much else grows it might at least give you some ground cover. The variegated version is a little more interesting than the plain green plant: you can buy it at most garden centres and from many places online including Buckingham Nurseries http://www.hedging.co.uk. Periwinkle has evergreen, shiny leaves and pretty, although rather sparsely produced, blue flowers. It will quickly cover a flowerbed with a mat of leaves and will probably put up with being driven over from time to time, should you decide to let your neighbour live.

 

Yes, but even Vinca Major needs to get established - and a car driving over it in the first few weeks would kill it, simply by crushing it.

 

The thing to do is to plant it on the safe side of the border (ie, the side furthest from the maniac driver) and then encourage it do a sort of comb-over towards the danger zone.

 

Why not put one of those enormous chunks of stone in the flower bed, at the corner which the car comes from. That's what people do to protect their drive way corners and verges on roads?

I would suggest hardy fuschias, they love shade and will bloom all summer year after year!!

 

Good idea, Victoria Plum. Get the flower bed to fight back.

 

Very good idea.

 

I was going to say exactly the same !! They can look very nice too. How do rockery plants do on north facing aspects?