New Border - Wildlife friendly.

Hi Guys,

I have a 1 meter wide border to fill at the front of my house about 10m in length total. Currently all I have in it is a Native holly hegde (will be kept at 3ft) and a couple of crab apples, I shall be adding a Morello cherry in November. The boarder is on the north of my house running along the road, it does get lots of sun early in the day as the road run east to west.

I'd like some suggestions as to what to plant. I'm thinking some sort of very low evergreen fast spreading carpeting. With native bulbs and perennials planted amongst, with the odd shrub.. I'd like to keep as much of the planting as native as possible and would like it to be wildlife friendly, especially to bees.

I'd like colour for as long as possible, from spring through to late autumn (also to provide food for bees). Would the groung cover prevent the bulbs and perennials from growing?

Cheers.

 

Hi Bigbaddad.
Can you post a pic of that border.
I'm trying to visualize a border 1m wide with a holly hedge ,crab apples ,Morello Cherry and all the other things you want.
Have I got the measurements wrong.

 

The border run along the front of my house, actually it's 2 boarders split by a path and one surves round to the side. From front to back the depth is just over a meter and the length is more like 12m (front and side) it's depth as it rounds the corner extends to about 1.8m. As it's at the front of my property I've erected a simple 3ft post and rail fence along the length. The holly is planted along the fence and will replace it in time. The trees are planted next to the holly. Although most of the border is on the house side there is bare earth on the other. Hope this helps.

We like in a rural area in Norfolk and want to encourage wildlife whilst maintaining a neat, but not over manicured garden. I'd like to keep as much planting as I can native and provide a long period of food for bees. I was thinking of something like creeping Jenny as ground cover as its only about 4" high and then planting lots of bulbs and perennials. I might add in the odd shrub to add a little more structure.

It's contradictary to think the the ground cover will keep weeds at bay but still let the bulbs and perennials grow through.

As for photos, I'll try but I always seem to have issues uploading.

 

French Mulberry (callicarpa americana) looks really good and would fulfil your requirement of colour. According to the pack my seeds came in they have lavender pink flowers from June-August and lavender berries from September all the way to March. I'm also told they attract birds that eat the berries and presumably bees like the flowers, there's another bonus.

 

Salvia grahamii for the bees, dwarf rhododendrons, hebe kenty pink with cotoneater green carper for the ground cover, you wont be able to see the flowrs for the bees. Good luck.