Plant suggestions please!
Steve the Gardening Vet
Posts: 1,627
in Plants
I have a gap! I've moved the old bid feeder and this has opened up a space around two and a half feet wide. It gets some shade in the morning but a few hours of sunlight in the afternoon. I've decided that to get something to look at in the winter, a large pot can be popped in here.
What I need are suggestions for something that will ideally be evergreen, several seasons of interest (flowers in spring/summer then ideally berries) and happily live in a whacking great pot!
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Oh yes, and I'm happy to prune it to keep it narrower!
Well, it's not evergreen, but for winter interest you can't beat a Twisted hazel (Corylus contorta) - a living sculpture in your garden, stunning when covered with frost or gleaming with raindrops, then catkins in the early spring - and very happy in a container.
It's a bit less stunning in the summer, but there's plenty of other plants to hold your interest at that time of year.
And how fantastic to cut a few stems for the house
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I didn't know they would do in a container. It is definitely a thought...
If you're going for an evergreen Steve - why not just put it in the ground?
Gaultherias are quite good - like a bit of shade and a bit of sun - berries later on too. I have one in a similar spot. The birds leave the berries till later on, or don't take them at all, if you get a white or pink one.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
"... The contorted hazel makes an excellent container plant and can be combined with spring bulbs and hellebores in a winter-to-spring arrangement, where - with care - it will survive for many years..."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3296697/How-to-grow-Corylus-avellana-Contorta.html
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
My twisted hazel is in the ground and, after about 10 years,is now about 3.5m high and wide and very dense. It provides excellent cover for birds as it is next to my bird feeding station.
This year I shall be lifting the canopy and I have to remove straight stems from the base every year.
With judicious pruning it would look great in a big container but eventually it will want to grow bigger. Maybe occasional root pruning would control that urge.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Have you considered a daphne? Daphne odora aureomarginata looks good - evergreen with variegation and scented flowers in spring.
Or maybe good old choisya ternata Sundance for sunshine in winter and orange perfume when it flowers?
Or a self fertile variegated holly?
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
I was going to suggest the Choisya Sundance too, it's bright yellow leaves add a real punch in midwinter.
I have a decent choisya directly opposite this gap on the other side of the garden and a little Daphne in a pot that is slowly growing on the patio.
Keep 'em coming folks. All good ideas so far!
What about a sarcococca confusa? Lovely highly scented white flowers in winter, almost black berries follow. Fine in a pot, does well in partial to full shade.