Which plants / shrubs can take a battering?
Hefty
Posts: 370
Hey everyone, so i have a client whose garden im working on - she has kids and says that the garden is mainly used by her husband and kids to play football in
so im looking for shrubs and plants that will bounce back and be able to withstand such punishment etc etc
many thanks in advance
0
Posts
Why not just wait till the kids take up computer games? Shrubs and footballs don't really mix.
I have three boys and yes my garden takes a real battering with the football.
I use a lot of ornamental grasses around the "football pitch" eg pheasant tail grass, lavender sees to bounce back fine
In other areas I bang in hazel posts into the lawn edge from my coppice to ward off stray footballs..
Railway sleepers are another good boundary
I'd rather my boys were outside kicking the football than inside staring at a screen even if my garden takes the knocks....
Most of the shrubs in my garden would stand up not too bad from a football. Can't say the same about my perennials though.
I would rather have the kids outside playing football, too, but it's a recipe for disaster to have footballs and baby shrubs. Big established ones might cope but tiny ones won't and you would spend all your time worrying about them. Play football and have fun. Childhood is short and you can have a pretty garden when they have moved on.
I agree with Posy. They grow up soon enough. Some of th ebest gardeners and plantswomen are those who only got into their gardens once the kids stopped using it as a playground - Roemary Very, and the like.
Meanwhile, it's unfair, and possibly expensive, to expect young shrubs to cope unless you can build a barricade to keep balls and kids and big footed OH off, in which case, anything can be grown according to soil and situation.