What to grow in me boarders, looking for advice

Jomac1972

Hi I moved into my house 2yrs ago and battling badly with me lawn, it was just moss and weeds to start with plus a massive conifer at the front. Weeds have nearly gone, it now has lots of seed down which we have been putting down for the last month with lots of watering.



Now I have a massive issue with other people and dogs! Sick to death with shooing people of my garden, we are not allowed to put up fences, so I am looking at bordering my front and left hand side with lovely flowering bushes. I have seen some stunning rose borders on the Davis Austin web site, the ones in particular have a size 4 ft by 4 ft. Would you grow anything between the rose bushes? 

hopefully my pictures will work below of my lawn ( it’s in a sorry state at the minute) and the rose bushes I am thinking of.

thank you in advance

JennyJ

Can you tell us how much sun it gets (morning, afternoon, both, neither?) and what sort of soil you have? As long as it's not really poor sandy soil and there is sun at least half of the day, I think roses will work, but I'm sure someone more expert will be along soon.

Whatever, for planting any shrubs you should dig a reasonably wide border (to accommodate the expected final width of the plants) and unless you have really good fertile soil, dig in something like compost or rotted manure (roses in particular like good rich soil). Plant the shrubs far enough from the pavement so that they won't overhang it when fully grown. Smaller perennials like hardy geraniums would look nice in between. I'd suggest choosing your roses/shrubs first, then choose other things to complement them.

Jomac1972

Hi Jennyj 

Thank you you for your reply. My front garden gets full sun from most of the day.
i am not yet sure what the soil is like, I have plenty of horse manure (have horses) and will be planning on a wide border. It’s a bit of a blank canvas at the minute.

JennyJ

Sounds ideal! Well-rotted manure will improve any soil type.

Fairygirl

Berberis, Mahonia, Pyracantha - they'll keep the b*ggers off. 
I know the problem only too well, and I sympathise. 

I was fortunate that I could put a fence up when I moved here, and I added a blackthorn hedge for good measure after seeing two teenagers run across next door's grass, then mine, and jump the fence. 

Lyn

Berberis is good, you wouldn’t want to get to close to our oil tank. Police advise. 

Jomac1972

Thank you I will look into your suggestions x 

JennyJ

Or choose roses that are particularly thorny

Jomac1972

I have just ordered the bush roses and looking into some hardy geraniums to gap fill the rose bushes. 
My next door neighbour also thinks my lawn is part of her drive 😡 

thank you you everyone for your replies. I’m new to this site and found it very helpful.

Fairygirl

Ah - the lovely inconsiderate neighbours @Jomac1972. Don't you just love them eh? 

A big row of rocks is about the only solution to that.

Bijdezee

I would put something prickly around the border.