Front garden small tree/bush recommendations

Calculator123

Hello.
I've got a medium sized front garden. It's 10m long parallel to the public path outside and 3m deep towards the house. There's a dwarf wall which varies from about 2 feet to three feet along the 10m length At the moment it's just grass. I've done a lot of work with my back garden and I love it but want a front garden that's less maintenance. I'd like a little privacy from passing pedestrian traffic.
I'm considering planting native trees/shrubs/bushes along the length of the wall that would grow circa 5 feet to 6 feet high. Ideally bee/nature friendly. It gets good sun from first light to late afternoon, all year round.
Would anyone have some good recommendations? I'm open to any suggestions and I think a mix/variety would be appropriate.

looksee

If you are prepared to treat them like a row of shrubs and not clip them into a homogeneous striped caterpillar, a selection of shrubs can look very nice. If you were in the countryside I would suggest the Irish hedgerow mix of trees and bushes, but I guess you are in a more urban situation.

Try and alternate evergreens with deciduous so you maintain the appearance of a solid-ish row in the winter. There could be slight variation depending on where you are - exposed coast/ southern part of country/ northern etc. Holly (E), Weigela (D), Mock Orange (Philadelphus, D), Abelia (D but has some cover most of the year depending on temperature), escalonia (E), ribes (bit of a thug but cut down severely each late winter and it will be gorgeous). There are lots of possibilities and you can wander away from the strict hedging plants and be a bit adventurous. Don't plant anything like as close as recommended for a hedge, let each shrub show itself off, you are not looking for a stock-proof barricade.

macraignil

Calculator123 wrote: »

Hello.
I've got a medium sized front garden. It's 10m long parallel to the public path outside and 3m deep towards the house. There's a dwarf wall which varies from about 2 feet to three feet along the 10m length At the moment it's just grass. I've done a lot of work with my back garden and I love it but want a front garden that's less maintenance. I'd like a little privacy from passing pedestrian traffic.
I'm considering planting native trees/shrubs/bushes along the length of the wall that would grow circa 5 feet to 6 feet high. Ideally bee/nature friendly. It gets good sun from first light to late afternoon, all year round.
Would anyone have some good recommendations? I'm open to any suggestions and I think a mix/variety would be appropriate.

Growing to 5-6 feet maximum would rule out most trees and lots of shrubs as well. Your options are a bit wider if you allow yourself include plants that might get bigger but can be kept trimmed to about that size.



Flowering currant is nice and I don't bother cutting mine right down to the ground and it seems to do fine. The other currents and particularly the red currant can also look nice.



Ceanothus/Californian lilac has great flowers and is evergreen.


Viburnum tinus is evergreen and flowers in the colder months of the year but you may need to trim it back after a few years growth.


Hebe is evergreen and the version I have most of flowers twice a year and naturally stays at about 4 foot tall.


Berberis and Mahonia are nice evergreens with good flowers but can be a bit prickly.


Sarcococca are evergreens with nice fragrance to their winter flowers.


Osmanthus are nice evergreens with nice spring flowers.


Flowering quince is good for winter flowers but is deciduous.


Rosemary and Camellia are nice evergreens with good flowers.


Pittosporum are generally nice evergreens with interesting leaf colours but you may eventually have to trim them back.


Aronia is a nice deciduous option with flowers, fruit the birds find delicious and good autumn leaf colour.


Spirea have a few varieties but most seem to be deciduous and have good leaf colour and flowers.



Cape fuchsai are another interesting evergreen option with long lasting flowers.


Buddleia are one of my favourite shrubs since they are so good for attracting pollinators and butterflies in particular but they are vigorous and most would need to be trimmed back each year to stay below 6foot.


Abelia is another shrub with good flowers.


Coprosma/mirror plant is another nice one for interesting evergreen leaves.


The link above should go to some video clips from my own garden with some of the above suggestions on the shrubs playlist. They are not all native but I prefer having more variety so have not limited suggestions to just plants that are.

looksee

Macraignil, you don't have to do it every year, but one year, just for the craic, trim ribes back down to maybe a foot or so high, you will be amazed at the flowers, and it will come back as fast as Buddleia. We cut a huge, completely overgrown ribes back in October to about a foot - big 2" to 4" diameter stems - in the 'new' garden, and its already coming back out of the old wood.

macraignil

looksee wrote: »

Macraignil, you don't have to do it every year, but one year, just for the craic, trim ribes back down to maybe a foot or so high, you will be amazed at the flowers, and it will come back as fast as Buddleia. We cut a huge, completely overgrown ribes back in October to about a foot - big 2" to 4" diameter stems - in the 'new' garden, and its already coming back out of the old wood.

Thanks for the tip. Might give it a shot some year. Interesting you mention buddleia as the flowering current I have is planted right next to a strong one of those that is bigger than it so the currant is very unlikely to get out of hand with the level of competition it is getting. Took some cuttings when I just trimmed off some of the lower branches a month or two back so will hopefully have more plants to try different things with down the line. The flowering current is only planted a couple of years as the first one I planted actually died I think from dehydration as it was near some mature trees on a hot dry summer spell when I was not aware that they do depend on good levels of moisture in the soil and it hadn't time to get settled in properly.

Calculator123

Thank you very much for your advice. It was very helpful. I've purchased the following driven by your recommendations and a particular selection available on a supplier website.

1 Buddleja davidii pink
1 Ceanothus Yankee
1 Forsythia x intermedia 'Spectabilis'
1 Spiraea arguta
1 Weigela x florida Bristol Ruby

I might add a holly tree too, depending on space. I was given a fuchsia recently, so I'll put that somewhere in the line-up.
Thanks again. I'm looking forward to seeing how they go.

looksee

Buddleia is one that can be a bit of a thug if left to its own devices, though its one of my favourites. Do cut it back severely each year, it will grow with great enthusiasm and give a much better show of flowers. Forsythia can also be pruned a bit to control it - I found I had to cut large chunks out of it occasionally to bring it back into shape, and cut it back a bit after flowering. I have never bothered pruning weigela or spiraea, maybe you should, I don't know. Ceanothus is lovely but has a bit of a tendency to flower beautifully for a good number of years then suddenly die. Or maybe its just me. Odd.

You have a nice selection of vigorous, easy shrubs that will make a good show in the garden.