What do I plant in this big gap

These are my hebe rakaiensis just to give an idea of how they look, there are actually three together here.

Please excuse my sophisticated rain gauge

 

Thanks @Butterfly6 that's really useful! I really do want to get some formal shape into the middle of that bed, my heart is set on it but I completely understand the practicalities you and @fairygirl are saying with regard to keeping it all in shape.

The Hebe you have there actually look really nice, not as blobby as other images I've seen, how often are you having to shape them?

 

I haven’t done any shaping at all so far and they've been in around 6 years

 

Oh wow, ok. And what sort of size are they now? They look quite big.

 

They’re probably about 80cm across and 50-60 high. I think the maximum is supposed to be around 1m and as said I haven’t clipped them so you could probably keep them smaller

 

If you clip them wont you lose flowers?

 

My dad has a hebe in his garden that he said never flowers, though I'm not sure of the variety. It's in full sun so should be in a good spot.

From my point of view, I'm less concerned about the flowers, I'm really looking for the green!

 

If I did, I would clip them after flowering but mine are erratic flowering despite getting plenty of sun.

 

I think Hebes often are a bit erratic when flowering, I have one that flowers for about 9 months of the year.

 

Hebe rakaiensis is a very good recommendation @latimer, I had forgotten about it. It is very popular with garden designers to get the look you’re after. It is used for its natural round shape and attractive green foliage rather than flowers. Access will be easier if you leave space around your plants and use bark on the soil which provides a better path than bare soil. That’s what I’ve done in my main perennial and grass bed.

 

Ok, so taking all of this on board, here are my current thoughts for any of yours!

 

If you want a Yew, I'd go for the golden version of Irish yew, its slow growing and stays narrow, but you can still clip it if you want to.

Common yew is actually much faster growing than they often lead you to believe and it wants to be a tree.

 

@pete but can that be shaped into a ball? I was actually thinking of using Irish yew in my front garden but that’s another thread entirely!! lol

 

Not a ball really, I dont think, its very upright in habit so more of a column.
Mostly looking at the left hand of your picture.

 

Ah ok, yeah, that makes sense. I do like the upright yews