I have two pots by my front door, but everything dies in them!

[Swifey]

It's north facing, and incredibly windy and cold! Any ideas? I fancy a shrub (small) of some kind?

euonymous is a small variegated shrub. We have a strip of bed on the north windy side of our house. There are 3 of these there and they look great, and have been there ages.

It comes in white and green and yellow and green, glossy leaves, touhg as old boots and you can chop it back as you like.
I also have a hanging basket on that side an it will grow petunias etc happily, as long as I water them often enough.

Windy will make them dry out quickly so water may be the problem.

water them

I have alpines in my pots by the front door (north facing and windy).

I'm very good at not watering stuff, but they've survived very well over the last couple of years.

Empty and clean out the pots with disinfectant in case of germs and fungi. Put in new soil/compost.
If unglazed they will loose water quickly and need daily watering. If glazed twice weekly or weekly watering may be enough.

Hebes are also quite tough.

Ivy - resists everything and you could train it round one of those wire ball thingies to shape it.

When I'm organised (yeah right ) I take some ivy cuttings from our fence, put them in water to root, then plant in pots with snowdrops. They look beautiful .