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Posted by shadrag (U14882686) on Friday, 27th May 2011
Hi all, at moment our front garden is predominately made up of one tree and losts of stones. Thinking of placing several planter pots at our front door. Any suggestions as to what ii should plant in them. Unfortunately we get no sun at the front of our house, but would like something that is evergreen and flowers is possible. Many thanks.
You could try a climbing hydrangea - not fully evergreen, but has leaves most of the Winter, with white flowers in Summer. Nan x
Do you want something temporary or permanent?
If temporary and for summer colour go for the old-standbys impatiens an begonias-fine in shade.
Geoff
, in reply to message 3.
Posted by mister-grow-it-all (U14591945) on Saturday, 28th May 2011
ferns and bedding as above post mentions,
Sounds good, many thanks
Anne
, in reply to message 5.
Posted by mister-grow-it-all (U14591945) on Sunday, 29th May 2011
Hosta
Epimedium may be
Preferably permanent, don't mind a mixture though, i plan to get 1 large, 1 medium and 1 small planter, but undecided as to what type of planter to buy... ie plastic verus clay.
Anne
if you have the money, get the best pot you can find. my front door(shade all day) has stone urns with a deciduous fern and hosta sieboldiana elegans. looking fab right now with some smaller pots with saxifrage , stipa lessingiana and japanese maple.the saxifrage has long flower stems that poke through the grass with the tree slightly taller behind.
I have another one for you- alstroemeria-had some in tubs and now planted out in garden - but completely hardy - survived last two winters in tubs with no problems and should be ok where you live- ok in sun or shade- very exotic blooms -comes in lots of different colours and is probably my favourite plant at the moment-trouble and pest free.
I would go for nice looking plastic tubs,cheap enough and easily replaceable-clay ones easily damaged and can crack in winter.
Hope this helps.
Geoff
As nanpickle says a climbing hydrangea petiolaris mixed with ferns would cope in shade. The flowers are white umbrella sprays and the seed heads look pretty in winter. I have a mix of the two together.
I call mine my Mobile Fern as I move it around to fill gaps through the seasons.
MLx
Ah thk u for picci, looks a good combination
That sounds a good one Geoff. Would it generally be available at Garden Centres to buy or do u have to grow it yourself from seed (gulp) ?
ps i bought several Mistral Anemone from garden centre and planted in plastic pots filled with milti compost (put holes at bottom of pot and thin layer of stones) then placed on our back garden patio which gets sun most of the day.
They looked beautiful............. for about 2 weeks.......... and now the leaves have gone to autumn colours ie: brown & yellow. The new white buds don't look too healthy either. Any idea whats happening here??
pps I did water them and i don't THINK i drowned them in the process
Disheartened.... this gardening lark isn't as easy as i thought it would be
Anne
Hi Anne,
I think you said somewhere you live in Scotland- if that is right then I suppose gardening conditions are a bit tougher than here in Southern England -however we all have our disasters even" professionals"- on Beechgrove last night they showed the bulb planter that failed and the hedging that wasn't a qualified success.
Don't get disheartened just because a few things don't work out- I guarantee that you will be dead chuffed with some brilliant gardening thing soon - just keep at it.
Back to the alstromerias- I bought some a couple of years ago in a local nursery- cost about £4- they have tuberous root system and divide quite easily- go for the dwarf type-have a look on-line for images -dont go for seed -get plants.
As for the anemones I dont know-it could be too much water- I dont put any drainage material in the bottom of pots with multi-purpose compost - not really needed if enough drainage holes- also could they have caught a cold?
I hope my moral- boosting speech works- a lot of gardening is just about trial and error- now carry on!!
Geoff
I cannot grow Anemones for love or money, I don't know why this is but I have learnt that there are plants that I can grow by just smiling at them and with some TLC. Every garden is different and you will soon find some sure fire successes, some by accident and some with a little bit of research.
Good Luck.
Re "could they have caught a cold"................well........probably cos inbetween spells of sunshine last week (rare occasions, i have to admit), we did have eighty miles an hour winds and torrential rain.
It caused alot of damage locally . with mature trees falling in many areas (the joys of living in Scotland), so Yes perhaps they did catch a cold.
If that IS the case, i presume there is no "medicine" as such.
Anyhow, too late, i gave in to the compulsion to pluck everything that didn't look quite right and well maybe i got a bit carried away ,cos i'm now left with several bunches of healthy lookihg stocks
Anyhow ..........after my fuscia" incident"..............i'm ever hopeful
Thanks for the other info, i'm out looking at the weekend, it's supposed to be great weather here this weekend (prob means wind speed down to fity miles an hour)
ta much . Anne
Thanks Kate....there is hope for me yet.
Never been into gardening before, never had the time with work blah blah, but making the time now and enjoying the immediate results.
Thought if couldn't go wrong with planters and multi compost (eh not true) and thats BEFORE i get started on the planting for the back garden.
Great to have found this site to help me though.
Anne
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