What to plant behind creeping phlox

polb

Hi, I currently have a large area of my garden covered by creeping phlox, which are great as they are doing well to keep weeds away and I think they look great when in flower and still good when not! I'm now looking for ideas of what to plant behind the phlox. Whatever I choose there needs to be some element of evergreen ground cover as well as something which is perhaps a little higher than the creeping phlox. I was also hoping for something which would flower at a different time to the phlox (flowers April -June). Any thoughts? I had thought I might need a combination of 2 or 3 kinds of plants?

Area is big (I have about 30 phlox!) and south facing. Would need to be hardy.

What about hellebores?

Suggestions/ideas welcome :)thank you!

yorkshirerose

A photo of the area in question would be helpful, please.

Fairygirl

Ajuga will grow there. It's very useful for shade, but will also colonise sunny areas, as long as it gets well watered and properly established. Dianthus, as long as the soil is suitable. There are lots of varieties to choose from, and they're easy to propagate.
Heathers/Ericas - you'll need to check your soil, and the different varieties, and some will tolerate more alkaline conditions than others 
Thrift is also useful - the flower spikes would certainy be taller than the Phlox, even if the rosette of foliage isn't.

polb

Thanks Fairygirl :)I like the look of thrift. I think that could really work in the area. I had been looking into heathers for another bit of the garden close by. I'll try to get out and take a photo and see if I can upload it here sometime.

Thank you!

Fairygirl

Take a look at alpines in general. If your phlox is thriving, there will be plenty of other plants. I like Arabis too, but it flowers about the same time as phlox, if I remember correctly. 

polb

Ooh Arabis, that looks good! Thank you