Recommendations for bank

pavb2

Hi all, the front of our house looks out onto this west facing bank and I would like to cover it up to maybe the grass in one, two or three types of shrubs which will give a flower, foliage and all year colour.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

looksee

One end looks very shaded, does it get sun all along it? It also looks as though the soil might not be great, and there seems to be some chopped down trees, which will mean a lot of roots, will you dig them out? Also the tree on the left looks as though it will cast shade and have roots at that end. Do you want them low growing to leave the view or taller? At a guess I'd say you have alkaline soil and you are not up a mountain?

Flower, foliage and all year colour is a tall order. I'd be inclined to look at evergreen shrubs preferably with some colour in the leaves, variegated shrubs would give variety but its hard to keep variegation in shade. Flowers in season - mostly spring and early summer - but you will not get flowers all year with just two or three types of shrubs and evergreen.

That's mostly the bad news 😀. On the other hand its what most of us with rural gardens have to some extent so there are solutions. You will probably have to add a good layer of compost/manure/decent soil to get a good bed to work with. If you do have alkaline soil you should avoid the rhododendron/Azalea family, and camellias. Give us a bit more information and you'll get some suggestions.

One that comes to mind is Peiris - lowish growing, evergreen, nice creamy white flowers in spring, bright orange/pink new leaves. Ceanothus (Californian Lilac), low growing evergreen with bright blue flowers for a good while, but may only last a few years. I had one for about 10 years, lovely flowers, then it just died suddenly. Vinca Major - will send out runners to cover a big area with a mass of evergreen, low growing leaves (about 9 to 12 inches) lots of blue flowers in spring and summer, give it a haircut after flowering to keep it vigorous and bushy.

macraignil

Darwin's barbury is a nice evergreen that is blooming well at the moment and other evergrees that produces a good flower would be Mahonia, Viburnum tinus and winter flowering honeysuckle. Variegated leaves will provide more long lasting colour but as Looksee pointed out they may be more difficult to keep happy. Pittosporum tom thumb has nice dark leaves for most of the year and has kept going well in my own garden in a sheltered setting but I have read the colour is better in a sunnier spot. Abelia is another evergreen with nice flowers and I have one that is a variegated leaf variety that does just as well as the more standard darker leaved type. Its good to have some deciduous shrubs to have the interest generated by the way they change through the seasons.

Happy gardening!