Ideas on plants, please

whitesatin · 2 February 2018 at 2:07PM

Our house is elevated, with decked areas leading down to the grass which then continues to slope down towards the back fence (ours) which staddles two gardens in the road behind us. We don't know these people and don't want to get into any kind of dispute (live and let live). Anyway, in both of their gardens, there are two huge, very old trees which were cut right back by their previous owners, seven years ago. This has resulted in them thriving and, basically, taking a lot of light from the bottom of our garden. It's our fence and, apart from masses of ivy growing on their side, up our fence and up the trunks of their trees, causing some bulging of the fence by their sheer size, the fence still has some life in it yet. So we have decided, for the time being, to just live with the situation in the hope that they might, eventually, do something about them. Who knows? They might love them. We could possibly run to getting someone in to cut back any overhanging branches but, to be honest, that would hardly alleviate the problem anyway.

We are going to paint our fence in a nice slate grey, remove the broken path slabs that go right across the fence, replace it with earth or shingle or something and fill with either plants or huge potted plants. We want to keep maintenance to the minimum (both retired). We can't grow any trees really as they would look silly being so overshadowed by the trees behind the fence, remembering that we would be looking down onto them from the house and decks, so, we would welcome some ideas on what we could grow that would look nice against a dark grey fence, not take too much looking after and not look too silly. Grasses and flowers? Shrubs? Climbing roses? We just have no idea where to start. We have someone coming to give us a quote to carry out the heavy work but they are not garden designers so we need to have our own thoughts (or yours, lol). Any advice welcome, please.

Katiehound · 2 February 2018 at 3:26PM

It would help folk if you give some indication of the way the plot faces. For example for the 'bed ' in front of your newly painted fence- it will have a huge bearing on which plants will struggle or thrive!
Presumably the large trees mean that this bed are full /partial shade
What kind of soil? sandy, clay etc ?

I'm a fair weather gardener so wouldn't want to make suggestions but some essential facts about the conditions will influence what plants you use.

whitesatin · 2 February 2018 at 4:57PM

North West facing I believe. The front of the house gets the sun in the morning, the back in the evening. and yes, past late morning, in full shade from the trees in the back. Not much soil as paved over, albeit badly, with some shingle also, next to the fence. Bedding plants do grow in pots in summer, ivy everywhere though coming through from neighbours. I’m told it’s good soil by a previous builder who had to move some when we had the summerhouse built further up, towards the house.

JulieM · 3 February 2018 at 12:51PM

I'm in a similar position, a border facing north west which is overshadowed by next doors trees. One thing you need to take into account is that the trees will take a lot of moisture out of your soil so avoid anything that needs a lot of water. Over the years I've found that the following shrubs are happy in my border.

Camelia - flowers early in the year
Choisya - there's a variety called Sundance which has yellow leaves, the flowers are insignificant.
Salvia Hot lips - small red and white flowers all summer long, seems to thrive anywhere.
Erysymum Bowles Mauve - it's like a large wallflower which grows into a bush.

These seem happy enough in my border, whereas other shrubs such as roses struggle as there's not enough light.

whitesatin · 17 February 2018 at 5:13PM

Same garden, still getting nowhere (why is it so difficult to get people to come out for quotes these days?) Anyway, I'm now thinking, on the right hand side as you look down the garden, to remove an old (almost dead) plum tree, gravel all that side of the garden as it is covered in ivy, weeds and who knows what, after getting someone to clear it, level it and put membrane down. Ideally, I would like to fit three staggered apple trees in that area, medium sized eventually and I'm wondering if it would work having the trees surrounded with gravel?

To be honest, the whole thing is becoming a nightmare and if we don't get some action soon, I can see it dragging on for yet another year.

Farway · 18 February 2018 at 10:20AM

If the membrane is water permeable, as most are AFAIK, then having gravel around the apple trees would be fine. Just try and leave a small circle of bare soil around the base, so you can accurately water / add fertiliser etc if needed

Think trees in the streets, surrounded by paving

If you get the tree young enough, and they can get their roots down into real soil then you will have them for years to come

The leaves falling on the gravel may be a PIA later on of course, but maybe leaf blower would sort this out

whitesatin · 18 February 2018 at 1:06PM

Farway wrote: »

If the membrane is water permeable, as most are AFAIK, then having gravel around the apple trees would be fine. Just try and leave a small circle of bare soil around the base, so you can accurately water / add fertiliser etc if needed

Think trees in the streets, surrounded by paving

If you get the tree young enough, and they can get their roots down into real soil then you will have them for years to come

The leaves falling on the gravel may be a PIA later on of course, but maybe leaf blower would sort this out

Thanks, that was very useful information. We do have a leaf blower from Aldi but recently have found a coconut broom to be useful for clearing leaves, even on the gravel at the front of the house.

Alvinism · 26 March 2018 at 4:09PM

Plants that have worked well in my north facing border include:
Heuchera - great as they come in all sorts of colours
Mahonia winter sun - lovely as they provide vibrant yellow blooms in the depths of winter
Houttunyia cordata - colourful leaves and white flowers in summer, dies back in winter
Bulbs: Snowdrop, bluebells, snakeshead frittilaria, daffodils

Good luck!

Ideas on plants, please

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