Blank Canvas Flower Bed - Don't know where to start
jpjnr
Posts: 5
Having had over 20 awful trees from my front garden, I am left a little clueless about what to do. As you can see from the picture, I have a sloped patch, with a road behind it, so need to maintain the slope so as not to undermine it. I have had some sleepers added - more to split it up.
The width is around 10 m wide, with a slope of around 1.4 m top to bottom and it's 2.2m front to back. It's a south west facing bed, so gets a good number of sunny hours.
It's on the drive, so is the first thing we see when we get home. Ideally I would like colour most of the year around, but with the space, I really don't know where to start, other than looking at rambling roses and clematis for the top section near the fence.
Any ideas would be great.
Last edited: 27 June 2017 11:12:58
Posts
And I also seem to be not able to post a picture? Any help on that front?
You say you had "over 20 awful trees from my front garden", could you say more? Why were they awful? What were they?
They were Leylandii. They had grown out of control and were cutting out too much light.
Basically you need to find out what you like. Go to a couple of local garden centres (if you take along your picture and go on a less busy day they should be able to give you lots of suggestions) and/or look in your neighbours gardens and/or look in your friends gardens and then do a little research either on the net or in books.
If you have had trees in that space the ground will be a bit impoverished so dig in plenty of manure and compost.
I would go for shrubs on the bit nearest the fence line and then perennials in the bit closest to the drive. And of course some climbers along the fence. Perhaps 1 or two small trees as well .....
You could start off just by buying some shrub and/or perennial collections from on line suppliers until in a few years you can then hone your likes/dislikes.
Aspect NSEW? type of soil AND yes, what do you like?
Hogweed's advice re garden centre is a good one,hopefully you have one nearby that has a really good advice section (they can be a bit hit and miss).As it's a sunny site that gives you plenty of options - do you want easy care plants or are you happy with ones that need a bit of looking after?
Happy to do maintenance around it. I was thinking of height at the back and perhaps ground cover at the front, with some lupins, lavender and possibly a small herb section front left.
I guess I was looking for some specific suggestions I might not have thought about. I have poppies, lupins, red hot pokers, etc in the back garden, alongside a budlia.
Looking for inspiration from the experts!!
Salvias ? Not the bedding ones, but shrubby ones such as Royal Bumble, or types like Carradonna. They do well in my sunny front garden.
Don't forget the spring-flowering bulbs! They'll be on sale in a couple of months. I usually plant a little Daffodil called "tete-a-tete, it's widely available, and doesn't get flattened by the wind like the taller ones.