To replace an ugly, smelly, now dead bush?

VelvetGlove

I thought I'd tap into the vast amount of knowledge in this forum & ask for some opinions please

In the front of our house is a small triangle of earth surrounded by bricks (rockery I think it may be called?), which did have a really smelly half dead, low growing, bush type thing. If you brushed against it, it kind of smelled of cat pee, but I think it was the actual plants smell, not that cats had pee'd on it! We cut it up & just have the rather large root part to dig out now but we've been left with a gaping hole in the triangle & are at a bit of a loss as to what to replace it with....

I'm hoping to have something in there which will cover the ground & be green all year (hoping!) with perhaps some nice looking/smelling flowers on. I am guessing it will have to be some sort of low growing bush or ground covering plant, but haven't a clue what to plant or even if it is still OK to plant that kind of thing outside at this time of year. Some people are said to have green fingers, I think I have anti-green fingers as unless it can mostly look after itself, I will manage to over water/under water/ plant in the wrong place etc.

Any ideas for a look-after-itself, ground-covering-green-plant-type-thing? Thanks for any ideas that come up, if you say the name I can always Google for a picture Thanks folks!

lauralla

Depending on how much sunshine you get there, you could try rosemary, which will smell lovely and stay evergreen, and have little blue flowers in summer, plus of course you can cook with it. It can make quite a large bush, but if you do use it to cook, you will naturally keep it trimmed. Or, for something properly ground-covering, you could try thyme, again, pretty flowers in summer, smells lovely, edible.
They both require sunshine, but are also pretty good at coping on their own, so won't die if you forget to water them a few times!

floyd

Magnolia bushes (as oppose to trees) or camellias are nice and glossy evergreens and have large colourful flowers on them. Magnolias grow a little more slowly so no good if you are looking for rapid spread but they do smell nice.
There are some of those cat-pee-bushes on the corner of our street, not sure what they are though

VelvetGlove

We do get a fair amount of sunshine here as I'm in Kent, so these sound like good ideas. I would like something that could cover quite quickly or even some flower things that would ground cover while the bush type thing is growing perhaps?

peter_the_piper

Potentillas are great, form a spreading mound and flower all summer without getting too big.

VelvetGlove

Thanks for the suggestion peter_the_piper Just googled some pictures of potentillas & they look really pretty. Then again all the suggestions so far look pretty, I think it'll come down to price when we go hunting at the weekend to buy something.

Fingers crossed we can find a bargain!

peter_the_piper

Don't forget to go to the local small nursery. We all complain that supermarkets are killing of the small shop well the sheds and gardencentres are doing the same for nurseries. You'll soon only be able to get the same plants from big sellers and the diversity will go.
Rant over.