Ideas/inspiration for small, shallow front garden
zugenie
Posts: 834
Hello! I have front garden either side of the path for our front door, it's south facing, and fairly exposed, it also slopes front to back.
Left side:
210cm wide x 90cm deep, there's a drain almost in the centre leaving 80cm to the left and 95cm to the right, it's clay soil that's had compost mixed in so is a lovely quality.
Right side:
130cm wide by 90cm deep, there's also a drain here leaving 70cm to the left and 30cm to the right, this side is top soil (there was only rubble there when we moved in, no soil)
Currently I have a pot on each drain with a standard lilac and white lavender in, those are staying, both sides have berberis planted along the path that I'm not against removing, there does need to be something there though to protect the other plants from dog wee (owners will let their dogs walk onto peoples gardens to pee) currently it looks patchy and blends into the soil so I'm not attached to it.
I have a beautiful rose, blue moon, on the left side, right next to the front door path which is also staying, I have ordered another rose, ferdinand pichard, to go the other side of the drain. The right side has nothing I'm attached too, currently just a scabious and a snap dragon, and only berberis on the narrow side of the pot.
As it stands I'm not happy with it, I want something quite neat, and that doesn't just look like a load of shrubs/plants plonked in with no thought, which is what the houses come with round here (new builds). I'm considering replacing the berberis with something like a japanese holly trimmed into a low (30cm-ish) hedge. I have a large piece of garden down the side of our house running up to the public footpath as the front does, which in my humble opinion looks great, the front garden is letting the side down
Sorry for that wall of text!! My biggest dilemma is what to plant between the rose and the drain on the left side, and what to plant at all on the right side, suggestions on what I could replace the berberis thunbergii atropurpurea harlequin with would also be greatly appreciated, preferably something that I could grow on both sides.
This is a little plan if it helps people visualise, the stumps are where the drains are.
Left side:
210cm wide x 90cm deep, there's a drain almost in the centre leaving 80cm to the left and 95cm to the right, it's clay soil that's had compost mixed in so is a lovely quality.
Right side:
130cm wide by 90cm deep, there's also a drain here leaving 70cm to the left and 30cm to the right, this side is top soil (there was only rubble there when we moved in, no soil)
Currently I have a pot on each drain with a standard lilac and white lavender in, those are staying, both sides have berberis planted along the path that I'm not against removing, there does need to be something there though to protect the other plants from dog wee (owners will let their dogs walk onto peoples gardens to pee) currently it looks patchy and blends into the soil so I'm not attached to it.
I have a beautiful rose, blue moon, on the left side, right next to the front door path which is also staying, I have ordered another rose, ferdinand pichard, to go the other side of the drain. The right side has nothing I'm attached too, currently just a scabious and a snap dragon, and only berberis on the narrow side of the pot.
As it stands I'm not happy with it, I want something quite neat, and that doesn't just look like a load of shrubs/plants plonked in with no thought, which is what the houses come with round here (new builds). I'm considering replacing the berberis with something like a japanese holly trimmed into a low (30cm-ish) hedge. I have a large piece of garden down the side of our house running up to the public footpath as the front does, which in my humble opinion looks great, the front garden is letting the side down
Sorry for that wall of text!! My biggest dilemma is what to plant between the rose and the drain on the left side, and what to plant at all on the right side, suggestions on what I could replace the berberis thunbergii atropurpurea harlequin with would also be greatly appreciated, preferably something that I could grow on both sides.
This is a little plan if it helps people visualise, the stumps are where the drains are.
0
Posts
Will have a think, in the meantime this should bump your post up and others may advise.
This is my narrow "front garden" which as you can see is directly on the road. When we moved here it had a concrete strip up to the wall which my other half took out so I could plant out there. It is about 80cm deep and I have a climbing rose at each end, a pyracantha next to the postbox and bergenia on either side of the front door. In between there is a mix of heuchera and grasses and an underplanting of spring bulbs. It's never very colourful but there is always something to look at and it doesn't need much maintenance.
This is the awkward spot on the left side, I rediscovered a drain I'd completely forgotten about! Ideally I'd like a plant to go between the rose and the pot, obviously it'll have to sit behind the drain (but I'm not worried about it growing over the top)
And this is the right side, I'd like something to go where the snapdragon is currently, I am debating something like a white echinacea since this is the only spot in my garden I could grow that!! The yew will have the whole of the other side of the pot so this is the only spot I need to sort!