Help re garden design - Cotswolds
Hello All, We have been in our house for 3 years and although the house is a new build the back garden is large for a new house. We are trying to decide what to do with the left hand side of the garden. I thought of a hefty border running down the whole length of the garden with lots of large shrubs. The left hand side is right up against our neighbours garden. Does any one need any further pictures?
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Can you tell us what the soil is like, is it sunny or shady ?
Do you want evergreen shrubs, or things such as roses for some colour as well?
Also are you a fan of variegated shrubs ?
There’s lots people could suggest but knowing more about what you want to use it for helps.
It’s a nice garden, are you just fed up of the expanse of grass?
You could edge the whole path with flowers, then have a path towards the left leading to more flower beds, or a pond, or a patio area, or vegetable patches. Lots of choice, it all depends on what you want to use it for 🙂
Another picture which hopefully is clearer (see below)
Hello, largely sunny, garden is west facing, Soil is heavy clay and yes we like evergreen and variegated shrubs
Thank you for the responses, we do have a dog who uses the garden extensively! We already have raised vegetable boxes the other side so wouldn't want any more. Our children are grown up.
As the garden is the patio, then some steps and then another level I guess its rather unusual. We are overlooking open fields which are very unlikely to be built on.
Possibly holly, and also euonymus that come in various colours . I'm sure others will have suggestions.
By the way, I have serious garden envy !
I'd suggest you form a backbone of large shrubs or small trees (amelanchier? isn't keen on too much lime so depends on your soil) and infill with grasses and herbaceous perennials.
If you're North Cotswolds, have you been to Hidcote? Some lovely border planting ideas there. If you're south then Westonbirt has some really lovely plant combinations and you can get dwarf versions of a lot of the plants so you can scale it down. You could also keep an eye out for tour days at Prince Charles' house at Highgrove - I've not been but I've heard good things about it
If you're high up on the western edges, by the Birdlip or Snowshill and your garden is quite open to the West, you may find evergreens are quite hard to keep alive, apart from the really tough ones like juniper and holly. Cold winds can burn the leaves off even quite hardy plants, IME.
But if you're somewhere over the East, or down in the Stroud Valleys, where it's a bit kinder, you'll be able to grow a much wider range of things.
― Terry Pratchett