Ideas for a very challenging high bed (with pics)

JodyBPM

[EMAIL="http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/JodyBPM/garden/"]http://s859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/JodyBPM/garden/[/EMAIL]

If you follow the link above, hopefully it should give you a few pictures of the bed I'm talking about.

We have a very steep garden, and right outside my kitchen window is a bed raised to about 4 and half feet high. I really can't describe it, so have put some pics in.

We have around 150' of garden, all as steep as this, with various terraces, so we are really chasing our tails contantly to just keep it vaguely presentable.

The top half of this bed is going to be used for pumpkins and rhubarb, so we have that sorted. It is the bit directly above the wall that I want so ideas of what to do with. Most years I plant it up with bedding, because I want something colourful to look out onto, but I was wondering if there was anything that I could put there that would come back year on year, look nice, provide ground cover and be fairly low maintenance, because frankly that bed is a pig to weed! (I have to stand on a step ladder to reach it etc!)

I don't want to spend much money (of course!) just some suggestions for plants really. I am considering lavendar, perhaps, or I even thought about some decorative bracken.

I would like to have weedproof membrane down first, then with small shrubs etc growing through. I could cover the membrane with chippings or stones etc for aesthetics.

The bed is in a very windy area (made worse by the height), and is in the shade a fair amount of the time due to being so close to the house. So I'm looking for something that could cope with wind and shade! And still look pretty, and be low maintenance! Oh, and not too pricey! (I don't want much, do I!)

Any suggestions?

JodyBPM

JodyBPM

Sorry, link didn't work, so I've added (huge, sorry) photos!

amcluesent

I'd say the 'usual suspects' - bergenia, vinca, cranesbill, berberis, cotoneaster, bugle, sempervivums, stonecrop. None are exactly exiting, but they'll take poor conditions.

savemoney

Aubretia like poor soil lovely flowers in Spring/early summer

ARABIS, LITHODORA, PHLOX, ARMERIA

also Campanula

I have all of theses in my garden have a rockery

Lots of rockery plants/alpines too

Joly_Roger

I spy a sloping raised bed with plenty of drainage holes in the retaining walls, so basically excellent drainage, requiring drought tolerant plants. Being raised, I presume it gets decent light for at least part of the day. I know it's in the shade of the house, but being elevated off the ground will make a huge difference.

If it were mine I'd fill it with:
Aubretia for spring flowers


Yucca filamentosa variegata for a bit of height / structure (& flowers).




loads of perennial osteospermums for summer flowers



& Sedum iceberg for autumn colour


I'd probably throw some bulbs & rhizomes into the mix too

Crocosmia, dwarf irises, agapanthus, aliums, snowdrops, etc...

Basically enough wind/ drought plants with different seasons of interest so that there's always something interesting happening in the raised bed.

All the summer plants would have to be drought tolerant, but the spring and winter bulbs would get more moisture due to the soil being damper at those times of year, so drought tolerance wouldn't be such a selection consideration for them.

JodyBPM

Thank you all for the suggestions - keep them coming! I love the post with the piccies in, as I'm a real beginner and it saves me looking everything up:)

I'm loving that Aubretia, really pretty! The bed definitely needs something soft and colourful like that. Bulbs are also a good idea, but I'm guessing I may need to ditch the idea of a weedproof membrane if I have lots of different plants coming through at different times. The osteospearums are pretty too!

Kay_Peel

At the very top of the bank, or other inaccessible places, I'd put in two maintenance-free shrubs:

Cotoneaster Horizontalis - it is a woody, prostrate shrub with pink flowers in early summer followed by red berries and red leaves in winter.. They cover an area quickly and attracts wildlife. I'd put a few in - every six feet or so.

In between the Cotoneaster, I'd plant an arching Red Leaf Berberis shrub - yellow fragrant flowers followed by purple berries.

I'd second the plants, alpines and rockery things suggested by Jolyoger, Amclusent and SaveMoney and would add:

Alchemilla Mollis - an acid green perennial with yellow flowers. It catches rainwater and makes the droplets look like mercury. Plant perennials in groups of 3 or 5 rather than individual solitary plants, for maximum wow factor.

A variegated ivy - the variety Sulphur Heart has a yellow centre which gives it a 'lift' in dull dark areas.

A few heathers - I bought a pack of 5 plants from Aldi for a couple of pounds - they provide lots of colour and winter interest. They need snipping back after flowering so I'd put them somewhere that I could reach.

And I recommend a mat-forming, spreading, low growing, stunning perennnial like Ajuga Repans - (purple flowers, bronze-purple leaves)

I think your steep bank could look stunning, I really do.

:beer:

savemoney

Oh yes osteospermums I have them in my rockery dead easy to get cuttings. I got one cutting last year and this year I got around 15 plants from cuttings

savemoney

Plant underneath the osteospermums in picture 2 is cotton lavender another easy to take cuttings

savemoney

I also grow lavendar and wallflowers in rockery. Like Bower mowe

and this one in favourite as its pastel colours. One of my favourite plants

Its Erysimum variegated


Bowles' Mauve is another favourite beautiful purple flowers, flowers most fo the year even in winter I have the yellow one too

Very easy to propagate given loads of plants away