Planting against a drystone wall. It’s er….dry!

I’m doing a whole garden from nothing, so bound to be lots of ‘what to do here’ type threads from me.

My back patio faces west, looking onto a drystone wall and view beyond. I have put a lawn it between the patio and about 1.5 meters from the wall. (I say lawn, but it’s weeds and grass seed right now!).

There are trees along the wall, and I have a gap between the trees (but they are only light shade) of about 10m and I’d like to plant against the wall. It’s really a focal point.

The bed would be east facing, but it’s fairly open to the south. I’ve been weeding there today and it’s very sunny. it’s going to be well sheltered. The soil is dry and stony(at the moment).

I was thinking of grasses and HPs in hot colours, but I thought I’d ask for ideas. I don’t want anything growing above the wall, as that’s the view, so 1m max.

thanks for any thoughts.

 

Many grasses and perennials will suit those conditions @a1154. Most of the ones I grow exceed your height limitation but I recommend looking at the Knoll Gardens website for inspiration and choices, they stock a wide range of both.

 

I have wanted to go to Knoll, it looks fab, much too far for a day out though. Will look online.

 

It’s too far for me to get to also but I've bought many plants from them over the years and have been impressed with the quality of the plants and service.

 

I grow Uncinia 'Everflame' which manages quite well here where I am, although it can be a bit iffy when it's a cold winter, and gets a bit manky and needs dead foliage removed. It seeds around though. Would probably be fine in that location. Gets to about 18 to 24 inches with the seedheads, and the main clump is around a foot, or just over, in height, and about the same in width.
Plenty of perennials will be fine - many Achilleas have strong colours. Asters too.

 

Looking at my garden today, some grasses which might suit @a1154 are Stipa Calamagrostis which has a nice fountain like habit, Sesleria autumnalis which is evergreen, Stipa tenuissima, also evergreen, and Hakonechloa macra, either the green or variegated varieties. A perennial which grows to about that height is Salvia Caradonna, there’s also a pink variety which is a hotter colour!