Inspiration required !
Dave Steel
Posts: 8
in Plants
Dear All I'm in need of some help/inspiration please ! We live in a 3 storey town house. On the top floor, accessible via bi-fold doors, is a lovely roof terrace/patio area. We've just invested in a pair of large planters (H50 W43 - mouth) but we're not sure what to put in them. Any ideas ? This area doesn't have instant access to water so ideally something which doesn't require vast quantities of water. We'd really like something which flowers. Any flowering evergreens spring to mind ? It obviously needs to be happy in a pot. The terrace doesn't bask in sunshine (a few hours up until early afternoon). Any thoughts / recommendations greatly welcome.
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Ferns would do well. Any Dryopteris will cope with a bit of neglect. No flowers though.
A camellia would cope in a pot of ericaceous compost,but to get decent flowers you will have to remember to water it and not let it dry out.
You might look at some of the smaller hebes. They won't mind the wind exposure so much. They are evergreen with a choice of leaf colour and most have colorful flowers too.
One of the smaller Choisyas? Most of the flowering shrubs I can think of aren't evergreen. Lavender?
It is possible to grow viburnum tinus in a pot and keep it trimmed to a reasonable size; it is evergreen and winter flowering. Skimmia japonica would also work; it prefers acid soil.
Hi Dave, you could also try a Nandina. Not showy flowers but you can get some excellent colour from the newer varieties--I hate the dumpy 'Fireball' personally but am very taken with 'Plum Passion' and 'Gulf Stream'. These are used in California for municipal plantings, so v tolerant of drought, but also seem quite happy in partial shade at least.
Agree with Tetley, even lavender grows surprisingly well over a season. Put in few plants in the container.
Many thanks. All advice gratefully received from this keen beginner.
Dave.