Plant advice

michellek2110

I have two raised beds on either side of the path to the front door and I am looking to have a stylish evergreen, no/low maintenance bed on each side, I have had hebe before but didn't like the woody look of the stems as it grew. Ideally, I would like the same plants on either side.  I like the look of grasses/ferns/sarcococca with some added interest possibly brought in by bulbs throughout the different seasons. Do you have any suggestions for any interesting evergreen plants that don't grow too tall (around 70cm) I could choose and how many you think I would need per bed, along with complementing bulbs for spring/summer/autumn/winter interest. One bed is 40cm x 190cm and the other 40cm x 150cm, the front of the house gets the sun in the afternoon/evening. 

TheGreenMan

That sounds perfect for ferns (all beautiful in my opinion), epimediums (sunny and share), heuchera (choice is massive), tiarella etc.  I previously had a yard and had all of those in pots and they need very little attention other than making sure they are watered. Some ferns will need a helping hand in spring to trim off the old leaves to make way for the new knuckles sprouting. You could pepper some grasses throughout for movement/texture etc. 



Not sure about bulbs.

FlyDragon

Penstemons are sort of evergreen, depending on the severity of winters where you are, and there are lots of lovely colours to choose from. 

didyw

I'll second heucheras.  I have heucheras with grasses and one with a young offshoot from a red cordyline which looks really nice.  All my heucheras are flowering at the moment and they look stunning!