Underplanting hollies in an east facing border with quite dry soil. 2-5ft shrubs/perrenials and annuals needed

[Cinderariel]

I love gardening but I am quite bad at it.. so please do help! We have hollies which are "undertrimmed" to 6ft so that they block out the view above the fence but the whole ugly fence panel shows with a bald holly trunk in front of it. What can I plant to fill in this space - thinking low effort/high impact and guaranteed results?

We inherited a east facing border planted with a row of hydrangeas,underplanted with epimediums,several self-seeded aquilegias and daffodils and tulips.Hydrangea apparently need to be kept moist whilst young but then become more drought resistant when mature.Our soil is very dry and free-draining and goes rock-like in very dry weather.

I would have a dig first to see how well you can dig the soil and how bad the holly roots are. You won't need a big planting hole for herbaceous perennials and annuals but tulips should be planted very deep and shrubs prefer more space for their roots. If you can easily dig to a foot and half or so you have more choice.

Skimmia - a useful smallish shrub for places like this and is attractive through the winter months.

Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' - a beautiful perennial that doesn't mind a bit of shade and copes well with dry soil.

It's too much gaff doing links from my phone, but if you go to www.rhs.org.uk and search for plants for dry shade there is a page with lots of suggestions.

You may need to prove the soil if it's very impoverished.

Or too much faff. Dratted phone.