What should I grow?

[Scottishnewbie]

when we bought this place, the previous owners had some lovely plants(dailiahs, lilies, peony roses, azaleas, etc ,etc). all of which take a lot of time to tend to. time which i dont have and as i spend most of my time with the veggies everything has now become a bit of an eyesore to be honest.

there is a border between me n next door which is a breeze block wall, which is now annoying us! they have a beech hedge on their side and taking the wall down isnt an option.

i want to dig up all the lillies, what's left of the dailiais and all the things that are time consuming and/or dont grow very high and replant with stuff that is easy and attractive.

the border is about 3 feet deep but i could make it larger as its just lawn at the end of it, and about 25-30 feet long. at one end i have smoke bush, buddlejia and eonymous (all crammed together so something have to be dug out) and at the other end something else i dont know what...

so what can i plant (I dont have much in the way of spare cash) that will eventually grown to hide the wall (BTW we cant attach anything to the wall as it isnt strong enough to take the wires according to hubby)?

i'm thinking flowering shrubs and maybe edible stuff?

i see it from the house so i want something that isnt horrible and would like blue/purple/pink as a colour scheme (loosely)

oh lastly, it is east facing if that's any help

anything that i could easily take cutting from would be fab.

elsewhere in the garden we have (that i know the names of!)
forsythia
magnolia
daphne
buddlejia
mock organge (is that piladephus?)
the thing that has flowers that look like we dancing ladies!!
hostas

and of course lots of lilies, peony roses and stuff like that
thanks folks

[taff]

why not paint the wall whatever you like, then plant whatever you like in front of it...

if you want to hide it completely all the time, then you need something evergreen. If not, climbers will disguise it, not all of them need wires, some do it all by themselves, like virginia creeper etc.

[Two_Sheds]

In what way are the lilies, dahlias etc time-consuming? Don't you just plant them, then let them get on with it?


Dancing ladies - fuchsias?

[Scottishnewbie]

TS - yes fushcia - couldnt remember the name of them - thanks.

time consuming cos there is lots of earth with weeds and also need tying up and cutting down and covering with straw in the winter, and, and, and......

need bushes me thinks.....?

[Two_Sheds]

I don't dig up or mulch my dahlias: they either come through or they don't (they usually do).

You'll always have weeds if you have bare soil. More ground cover plants perhaps?

I'm getting into low-maintenance gardening too (what with 2 gardens of my own, an allotment and now the school gardens to tend). I loathe shrub gardens though, they are so dull. They also aren't maintenance-free, they need pruning and titivating.

This is a good book, lots of great planting ideas: The Time-Saving Garden (Readers Digest): Amazon.co.uk: Reader's Digest: Books

[Scottishnewbie]

book duly ordered - thanks. and know what you mean about 'dull' but i dont know much about plants and i have to find ways to:
1. hide the wall
2. reduce the amount of weeding
3. be easy for someone who doesnt know much!!

[Two_Sheds]

That book will really help you then. It has planting lists for different situations: dry, damp, shady etc.

It tells you how much maintenance/work is needed for different plants

etc etc

[Nicos]

I'd be tempted to paint the wall too!

[Scottishnewbie]

i hear what you say about the wall, but my thinking is this...it'll STILL be an unsightly breezeblock wall whatever colour it is and wouldnt i be better spending the paint money on plants? or am i being thick?

[Two_Sheds]

i have to find ways to...hide the wall

I'd be tempted to paint the wall too!

Dark colours recede, so I might paint the breezeblocks very dark brown/green/black, then plant up a trellis or screen in front of it. The wall will then just look like shadow

[Scottishnewbie]

hopefully this'll work (would be a first for me!) and you'll see what I'm working with...well part of it anyway!

[Scottishnewbie]

and the rest....

[Two_Sheds]

See, I hate lawns: so much work and you can't eat it.
I'd much rather have a smaller lawn and bigger borders full of pretties. Btw, that wall will be easy to hide

[Scottishnewbie]

i hate lawns too, but with 6 acres (4 used for animals) and no help from hubby other than grass cutting i dont have a lot of option!

[Nicos]

Cor- what a lovely size!

( can't see any chooks though!)

I'd definately paint the breezeblocks!

I presume you have to keep the beech hedge clipped at least once a year?...whatever you plant will still need to allow access to manage that.

One bit of advice- don't plant holly- the dropped leaves are literally a pain to pick up!...been there- done that!