What to plant in smallish bed

awec

I have a small bit of "garden" (soil really) at the front of my house, it's basically a triangle shape, about 2m x 5m along the sides that meet at a right angle. It's the barrier between my driveway and the footpath to the side.

A lawn is pointless given the size of it, so I'm thinking of basically making it a flower bed.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what to plant, that is low maintenance, survives Irish winters and won't grow into a forest? I wouldn't want anything higher than 2/3 feet at max, and I prefer stuff that stays a bit neater rather than endlessly sprawling out.

I was thinking maybe 2 or 3 topary buxus plants and then some stuff around it, but it's that "some stuff" that I have no idea about. I could go to woodies or horkans and pick up a bunch of random stuff but I've no idea what I'd be getting!

Any help appreciated!

Harry Palmr

A few ornamental grasses in the middle with hostas around the edges

miezekatze

Maybe some hydrangeas? They don't really need any looking after and have nice flowers. They don't grow that much either.

ldy4mxonucwsq6

Big budget I would do Stipa grasses mixed with Heathers (nice with bark mulch or slate/stone landscaping.

Or small budget you could sow a mini native wildflower meadow.

awec

THanks all.

Any downside to doing this work at this time of year?

Don't want to use things like bark mulch because the flower bed is level with the footpath and driveway, so the bark would just be blown all over the place, and I don't want to build a mini fence around it.

corks finest

A "smallish wife"

ldy4mxonucwsq6

awec wrote: »

THanks all.

Any downside to doing this work at this time of year?

Don't want to use things like bark mulch because the flower bed is level with the footpath and driveway, so the bark would just be blown all over the place, and I don't want to build a mini fence around it.

Now is a good time to start putting some spring flowering bulbs into the ground if you wanted to.

The ornamental grasses and buxus look good all year round.

Loads of options for containing the area, you could use rocks as well throughout between plants or even as a border.

Really depends on your tastes and how you want it to look, neat and tidy with little to no maintenance or something a bit wilder that might need tending now and again?

A low maintenance perennial prairie garden would be lovely 🌸

macraignil

awec wrote: »

I have a small bit of "garden" (soil really) at the front of my house, it's basically a triangle shape, about 2m x 5m along the sides that meet at a right angle. It's the barrier between my driveway and the footpath to the side.

A lawn is pointless given the size of it, so I'm thinking of basically making it a flower bed.

Does anyone have any suggestions of what to plant, that is low maintenance, survives Irish winters and won't grow into a forest? I wouldn't want anything higher than 2/3 feet at max, and I prefer stuff that stays a bit neater rather than endlessly sprawling out.

I was thinking maybe 2 or 3 topary buxus plants and then some stuff around it, but it's that "some stuff" that I have no idea about. I could go to woodies or horkans and pick up a bunch of random stuff but I've no idea what I'd be getting!

Any help appreciated!

It depends to some extent on what soil you have and the levels of light and wind exposure but my suggestions for what you are asking for would be:
Penstemon

It has long lasting summer and autumn flowers and has survived fine in my own garden over winter. There are different varieties and the only management I have done is cutting off some of the old flower heads to encourage more new ones and digging out parts of the clump of growth to propagate it to other parts of the garden.
Cape fuchsia is another option for nice summer flowers and again I have found it can be easily divided into more plants and the flowering is extended by dead heading.
Curry plant, lavender, thyme are good for full sun and well drained soil and the erysium bowles mauve variety is great for long flowering but may only last a couple of years.
Geum is also great in my opinion but some think that it self seeds too much.
Ajuga would be my pick for one of the best low growing ground cover options but it does sprawl a bit so would need to be cut back occasionally.


If you go for slow growing low plants then you may need to help them a bit more with weeding where as if you go for the more vigorous ones you may need to trim them back more so it is a bit of a trade off in what you choose. Much better idea than planting a lawn anyway.

fryup

awec wrote: »

Any downside to doing this work at this time of year?

best time of year really, not too hot not too cold