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front garden design

bramble loverbramble lover Posts: 13
in Garden design

hi i am a new gardener and i have just moved into a house with a messy front garden. i want it to look nice but also be wildlife friendly.

the problem is that the garden is only 3 foot wide and seems to be in shade all day. hubby wants to pave it and i need to persuade him that there is a better solution.

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  • LynLyn Posts: 22,861
    How about a compromise, let him pave it over and you find some shade loving plants to grow in tubs. It may be a bit small at 3feet to dig up.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • bramble loverbramble lover Posts: 13

    thanks lyn, i do not have access to water at the front of the house so i was hoping to keep the palnts in soil. can you recomend a shade loving plant?

  • LynLyn Posts: 22,861
    I wouldnt like to say Bramble, but if you google 'plants for shade' i think you will be spoilt for choice.
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • bramble loverbramble lover Posts: 13

    thanks lyn will try that

  • CheerypeabrainCheerypeabrain Posts: 100

    Will it be dry shade bramblelover?

     

    http://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/Plant-trials-and-awards/Plant-awards/10-AGM-plants/10-AGM-plants-for-dry-shade

     

    http://www.gardenersworld.com/plants/features/flowers/plants-for-shade/1108.html

     

    Maybe a narrow brick path leading up to the front door and a little bed with one or two ferns, a foxglove or three poking up between them and maybe alechemila mollis ? lovely foliage. Snowdrops will grow in dry shade too. Don't forget to improve the soil before you plant, if hasn't been cultivated it could need organic material digging in...there is loads of unformation online...ask specific questions and you should get the answers you need. Good luck image

  • bramble loverbramble lover Posts: 13

    cheerypeabrain thanks so much for all that advice. it has snowed/rained non stop since we moved in so i do not know what it will be like in the summer.

    i will look at sowing some foxgloves this weekend. am i too late for snowdrops?

  • lucy.lucy. Posts: 1

    hostas might be good as the foliage can come in shades of green,blue, cream or white and all like a bit shade.

     

  • bramble loverbramble lover Posts: 13

    lucy thanks for the suggestion, i have been warned off these aa i was told that slugs love them? i do not want to use pellets and if they get tatty hubby will want to pave it.

  • neatbushneatbush Posts: 34

    hostas are worth the trouble, planted in groups looks fab.

    no need to use pellets (yuk} go outside in the eveing armed with a torch and tub. snail picking.

  • Sue TSue T Posts: 9

    Make your front patch beautiful in winter when everyything else is dull. My photo is the seedhead of hellebore - winter flowering and a shade lover. Another winter 'must' is daphne odoratum - pink strong scented flowers on a compact shrub, Jan - April. Perfect by the front door.

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