Low maintenance dividing border

sobeitjedi

Hi.

Need advice please....

We have a small stretch of border (20cm wide by approx 3m long) separating our driveway from our neighbours driveway. What can we plant there? Ideally needs to be evergreen, low maintenance, copes well in dry soil and sun, grows to a good height, etc

Any advice gratefully received. 

twopenny

Small Hebes springs to mind. Or big ones if you don't want to see your neighbours

Look up Varigated Hebes for the different variety and colour of leaves.

No maintenance needed but you can nip the tips out to make them bush more if you like. They flower also and are liked by bees.

Also Lavenders.

Hidcote is a small variety. Needs trimming in spring and autumn to keep them bushy but you get perfume as well.

FreeBear

Got a low growing hedge of Myrtle - Dark green leaves all year round. Small white flowers during the summer. Brush against the leaves, and it gives off a nice smell.

Ayr_Rage

With the recent hedge and border dispute topics popping up, invite your neighbour round for a drink and AGREE on a plan !

sobeitjedi

Ayr_Rage said:

With the recent hedge and border dispute topics popping up, invite your neighbour round for a drink and AGREE on a plan !

Not an issue - it's our border and the neighbours have said we can do what we wish anyway

fatbelly

Get some ground cover plants underneath the shrubs to minimise weeding. I like Ajuga Reptans and London Pride

sobeitjedi

Is there a way to recognise a plant/shrub that someone else has planted? Seen some apps that claim to do it, but they charge.

Farway

sobeitjedi said:

Is there a way to recognise a plant/shrub that someone else has planted? Seen some apps that claim to do it, but they charge.

If you do spot some, maybe easier to take a photo, upload and just ask on here, plenty of knowledgable folks around here.

ka7e

I use the PlantNet app, it's free and very accurate at identifying plants.

-taff

Normally I wouldn't suggest this but a supporting fence or something with ivy, you control the height of the fence, and there are different types of ivy. Or yew, which you can clip to whatever height you want, Cotoneaster will also grow quite high but I'm not sure 20cm is wide enough. Also cypesses, tall and thin, cut out the leader to stop the height increase.

Dustyevsky

It's a driveway separation, so the first consideration is whether what you grow will interfere with getting in and out of cars and stand being stepped on now and again. It's also a narrow space with potentially fast drainage or crappy clay, depending on things like who built the drives in the first place.

Personally I'd look at low, Mediterranean type plants. e.g helianthemums, sage etc, and tough ground coverers, like ajuga or thrift. Because there are no details of drive width, only you know how high you can go, but big plants in narrow gaps look daft!