I've just dug everything up in my front bed and I want to start again - what can I put in that is low maintenance and pretty?

[IHeartKingThistle]

I have a big curved bed to the side of the front door. It gets full sun but only in the afternoons.

3 years ago I filled it with perennials which looked lovely for the first 2 years, but I obviously was doing something wrong because most of them have now bitten the dust and I hate the way they look during the winter.

So I've dug it all up. Now have a large expanse of bare earth.

I'm thinking shrubs? A few medium plants rather than loads of fiddly little ones? The bed is under the living room window so nothing higher than about a metre though.

Any suggestions please?

Philistines!

The lavender probably gets an hour of sun in the early morning if it's lucky. Is that why it looks like a heap of dead sticks? There's basically one stripe of sunshine in the back garden and the lavender ' s not in it. But the back garden 's a whole other thread!

Lavenders LOVE sunshine, hate shade, frost and damp. It might be alive - check for green shoots. If it's alive, it'll need a heavy pruning to cut back the older woody stems. Do this in the summer, after its flowered.

Yes, lavender is native to places that are hot and dry, so you need to try to replicate those conditions.

Meant to say that people often try to
plant roses underplanted with lavender, which doesn't work because the soil that roses prefer (damp clay) is fatal to lavender (which prefers dry and free-draining).

Just thought of another one - Cotoneaster. It is quite slow growing, easy to prune, and will "hug" your front wall nicely if you put it at the back.

Oh yes, I've seen some lovely cotoneasters shaped to frame windows.

There's also berberis if you want to deter burglars, as it's very thorny.

Framing windows sounds nice - when we bought the house it was covered in Virginia creeper which I loved, but we had to cut it down as it was out of control.

I don't have any cotoneaster (apart from what pokes through the fence from next door) but I gather that it is quite densely branched, which makes it quite easy to trim into a shape. I can't find a picture online, but it was shaped to go under a window and up the sides.

I heard it said on a gardening programme on the telly that Chinese Virginia creeper is less vigorous and easier to keep under control, but reading the blurb here I'm not sure whether that's true.

I'd add some helibores, for lovely winter interest. Mine are out at the moment, we're moving house ( hopefully) and I'll be taking some of mine with me ( and getting some new ones!)

OP we moved last year and now have exactly the same problem. I also plan on digging most of it up. Thing is, in the summer it looked amazing, but looks bare and forlorn the rest of the year. I agree about the use of shrubs to add structure, but i quite like the idea of keeping some of the annuals, though not sure how to combine the two. Would you want some annuals for colour, but whilst adding shrubs for structure? Evergreen shrubs would probably be best - some great ideas already on here from more experienced gardeners than ourselves!

Sorry Op, no advice from me, I'm sitting on your thread for inspiration too

Rats! I appear to have killed this thread

Red robin?

Just seen above poster's Nn -uncanny!

Not you Hiawatha !

I think you probably want some "carpet" or "clump forming" plants...if you go onto the Crocus or Garden Centre Group website, you should be able to put those terms in and see what it comes up with. Faced with a similar dilemma, I have a couple of silver carpet conifers which form a basis as they provide year round colour and then I have cotoneaster, ceonothus, roses and a few other things (whose names I can't remember) as well as bulbs and annuals.

I would put one centrepiece in, taller, and work around that.

I'd aim for a large shrub or very small tree eg a crab apple or small pear for year round appeal, then groups of small shrubs and some perennials that the edges.

It's nice to get a lot of leaf shapes eg grass and then ferns in the shadier edges. Some Daphne's might be nice for winter if they like your soil, or Christmas box. They flower in February and March so that winter isn't dull, and smell heavenly.

You might think of infilling the spaces with bulbs and small stuff like violas.

Forget the pear- just saw the window issue.

Daphne odora?

DH is VERY keen on acers. TBH he'd have a Japanese gravel garden out there if I agreed to it! Acers aren't evergreen though are they - would I be back to heaps of sticks in the winter?

I second shrubs. I did this on my front bed as I wanted it to be be maintenance free. If you plant these they will largely take care of any weeds which grow - also a bonus.

I suggest Philadelphus (mock orange) which smells gorgeous in flower and is very easy to grow. Tough as old boots so if it starts to get a bit large just hack it back. Also a Euonymus. Lots of different varieties of this including several gold ones. Also tough as old boots. For ground cover I suggest a few spurge plants (Euphorbia). They are quite attractive and will just fill any bare ground and will reseed and grow each year. You could also put in a dwarf lilac. I'd avoid hydrangeas unless you like watering as they are very thirsty the first few years.

I have quite a few japonica (lovely lush green) and skimmia (clusters of pink berries) throughout the bed which are evergreen and c.2ft tall.

Under planted with cyclamen, hellebores, primula, euonymus.

Also have a spotted laurel and red robin, both fairly compact.

My favourite thing, which I inherited, is a nandina firepower. It's amazing! And evergreen. It was stunned that it doesn't drop its leaves in winter as it is quite acer-esque in appearance It has green leaves in summer (mine goes lime green, slightly shaded by the fence) and hot pink/ red in autumn/winter.

I also have golden variegated ivy, star jasmine and pyracantha as climbers which are all evergreen.

Hope that helps

The first time I read this I thought OP meant bed as in sheets and blankets

The acrid deciduous, yes. How about the nandina?

The nandina looks great . I am overwhelmed with choice!

Any ideas which shrubs I can put at the back, against the wall? I know the tallest things should grow there but it's a tricky spot as it's much darker and wetter there.

Hmm. Teucrium doesn't get too big I think and mine has been covered in blue flowers for months. I also have lavender but saw that you already have lots of that. Do you also have cotton lavender? Likes the same conditions as lavender, has yellow flowers in summer I think.

I also really like Nepeta (catmint). Bees love it and it doesn't get too massive. Do you like Broom? I'm not sure whether that may be just a bit too big.

One option could be to plant herbs - sage, rosemary, thyme, oragano, majoram, chives, fennel. They shouldn't get too big (unless you let your rosemary get to be a total monster), attract bees etc and you can use them in cooking. You should take a bit off every now and then to keep herbs heathy I think.

Alternatively, geraniums / bugle / dead nettle could be nice. I also like euphorbium but not everyone does.