New flower beds for mother in law

[Dr Pips]

Hi all,

My mother in law is having a new garden landscaped and has asked me to plant the beds. There will be two beds, one about 8m x 1m, the other about 6m x 2m.

With the deeper bed I'll obviously have to get a variety of heights, and there are plenty of fences for climbers.

She wants the usual, colourful, fragrant but needs to be very low maintanence. I was thinking shrubs, cissus, wigela, that kind of thing, with summer bulbs.

Any ideas would be appreciated,

Thanks,

Dom

[Dr Pips]

Oh and she wants something with horrible thorns to put under a fence where somebody jumped over and broken into their shed before. Preferably something that looks nice as well, but really nasty thorns!!!

[VirginVegGrower]

Chaenomeles for thorns looks quite pretty.

[Two_Sheds]

She wants the usual, colourful, fragrant but needs to be very low maintanence. I was thinking shrubs, cissus, wigela, that kind of thing, with summer bulbs.

There's no such thing as beautiful AND low maintenance !

What direction do the flower beds face? North or south? It greatly dictates what you plant.

Shrubs ... good as backbones, but not terrifically interesting. Hebes are flowering, attract bees though. Just a little clip needed once a year.

Bulbs are great: plant them and forget them. Spring bulbs, through summer and into autumn. Get the whole range.

Work to a colour theme, so it doesn't all look tacky & municipal: unless she likes that look *shudder*

Does she want cut flowers for the house? Amazon.co.uk: cutting garden: Books

Oh and she wants something with horrible thorns to put under a fence

Pyracantha: tolerates poor soil and shade. Lots of white flowers followed by yellow. orange or red berries for the birds. Vicious thorns.
Mine grew from 3" cutting to 6ft fence in less than 4 years, it's easy to train onto a fence, needs good tidy pruning once a year



Oh, if she likes yellow, plant some coreopsis:



what a giver, it flowers on and on, good for cutting, loves poor soil, and comes back every year. The only maintenance I do on it is to cut up the dried stalks (looks like straw) in early spring and chop them up for the compost (actually, I drop the chopped stalks on the beds as a mulch, but this might not suit your tidy MiL)

[Veggielot]

For a minute I thought you meant to put the mother-in-law in. I know you are not supposed to like them but thought that was a little drastic. Must stop jumping to conclusions.

[Two_Sheds]

^
you're showing your age, Les Dawson