Good shrubs for a lot of bare earth?!

[smerlin]

So only 9 months after moving in to our new house, we have finally had our garden cleared of weeds and overgrown jungle! Unfortunately this leaves us with rather a lot of bare flower beds to be filled.

We have planted a lot of annuals in the bit we managed to weed ourselves and a few perennial small flowering plants but still have 2/3 of a garden to fill. Was thinking larger shrubs/small fruit trees to get a bit more green instead of brown. As I think that will actually be more cost effective. Does anyone have any recommendations? Am in South London, typical terraced house garden with central lawn and beds round the edges. Already have an apple, pear, couple of palm type things(?!), lilac and tamarisk

How much sun does your garden get? Some plants do much better in the sun, and others in a shadier spot. We need a bit more information!

Cranesbill geraniums form a big flowering clump, attract bees - they're perennial and easy to divide for more plants!

On my shady side I have hydrangea, ferns, skimmia, fatsia japonica, iceberg and new dawn climbing roses, nandina, astilbe, fuchsias, begenia (elephant ears), annual begonias at the front of beds filling gaps, buxus, brunnera jack frost, heuchera, hellibores, climbing hydrangea, euonymus, clematis armandii, ajuga (bugle) and vinca. More than one of each!

It's a great idea to have plenty of evergreen shrubs for winter interest.

Do you have tall boundaries (fences, walls)? If so it's a good idea to get some climbing plants in as many can take 2-3yrs to establish. As well as the above I have passionflower, ceonothus, star jasmine, evergreen clematis (freckles), pyracantha and buddleia on my sunny fences. They all tend to keep their leaves over winter (Herts). The buddleia is a thug and needs keeping in check after flowering

Acers are lovely structural plants and come in many colours. They lose their leaves over winter.

A tip I've heard many times is to buy two or three of each shrub. Your borders fill more quickly and you end up with a rhythm/ repetition as you look out across your garden. Obviously you might not want to do this with every plant but it's a handy way of filling space at the start.

Meant to add on the sunny side I have lavender, rosemary, other Mediterranean herbs, climbing roses, clematis (montana and summer flowering varieties), phormium, peonies, hibiscus, lilac, day lilies, iris, allium, tulips and forgetmenots in spring (you pull up the forgetmenots after flowering and shake the seeds about!), nasturtium and sunflowers following the tulips/forgetmenots, acers, self seeded foxgloves (also on the shady side), salvia hotlips, veronica, dianthus, solanum, loads more I can't think of!

I found this website really useful when looking at plants and planning. It's got loads of ideas and you can search plants and plant combinations based on the area you are trying to fill:
www.gardenia.net/

Heuchera - evergreen and have spiky flowers in summer, lovely colours, e.g: www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/heuchera-villosa-palace-purple/classid.2968/

Geraniums such as Johnson's Blue or Wargrave pink. Cut right back at the end of autumn, returns and spreads year after year. Pretty flowers:
www.gardens4you.co.uk/geranium-wargrave-pink-9cm-pot-gb-en.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqOKr0dXB2wIVzJPtCh3r1gQgEAQYAiABEgLC9vD_BwE

Lavendar, Verbena, Sedum, Sage, Phormium, Euonymous

Meant to say agree with Ginger, plant in groups of 3s or 5s

I confess I haven't done the 3s and 5s thing together in my garden as my buying/planting is bit haphazard

I was referring to buying in 2s/3s/multiples and dotting them about the garden in their preferred aspect
Admittedly they've tended to be larger shrubs/climbers/statement plants/fast growing things that I wouldn't need a mass of together. If I was planning a garden from scratch I'd definitely consider the 3s/5s planting technique if budget allowed!

This is really helpful thank you! I think just buying individual plants rather than say 3 has been a big mistake I have been making!

Should have said that there are two empty bits- large section that receives sun for most of the day ready to be filled and then a smaller section that is a bit shadier which has the odd fern or grass in it.

Have bare fences bar one purple clematis and a climbing rose that I only got from D Austin this winter so isn't exactly covering the fence yet! Would definitely like some fast growing climbers and some evergreen.

Love acers so a big one of those is on my list!

Sounds good! My house is a terace too but the garden is fairly long. I have two deep long beds

Hit post too soon!

Was meant to say I have two deep, long wavy beds the length of the fences with a lawn up the middle. And a deep bed at the bottom so lots to fill!

Hebes are great for filling flower beds. They are relatively low-lying, but can grow quite big if you let them. They also come in loads of colours so you’re not restricted to green even in winter. There are a ton of different varieties and some have lovely flowers in summer. I have several - much preferred them to Heathers because of the colours.

@GingerKitCat I'm so jealous at the sound of your garden!

Thanks @userxx! It's very much a work in progress I challenged myself to do it on a budget so a lot of the plants are from the sad plant shelf at Homebase/Morrisons and divisions from family members' gardens!

I've been concentrating on patio planters and baskets with annuals and the weeds have got ahead of me in the flowerbeds. Not looking forward to tackling them

I'm going to check out @lostlemon's link as I'm bad at knowing what plant combinations work together! I plant things according to aspect and move them around if they don't work in the medium-long term

Carol Klein has a brilliant tip for buying herbaceous perennials. Have a good browse and you'll a good minority of the pots have more than one plant in them - 2 or 3 plants for the price of one.

• you'll find

Ooh I like it concrete!

I love heucheras for all round interest. Plant a mix en masses for a really good effect. Plus they are fairly easy to propagate. Thompson and Morgan usually have an offer on them.

@greathat - a fellow heuchera fan..
www.heucheraholics.co.uk

Right loads of ideas for the nursery this weekend- thank you everyone! must try to buy a couple of large things rather than lots of tiny things though!

Bought some different roses in pots, star jasmine, cornus and heuchera. Interesting to keep going to the nursery and seeing completely different things available each time. Really like the colourful heucheras - do snails/slugs get them though? Snails are a plague where I live!

Heucheras seem pretty snail proof in my garden at least

I had a fairly bare garden, I found jparkers online great for lots of plants fairly cheap to get going. I rarely buy from them now and as they are small it takes a bit longer to get going but couldn’t have bought as much as I did full price so to speak.

Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’, perennial wall flower is a fantastic plant. Mine has flowered all year. Expertise will tell you that they are short lived, one of mine is 10 years old and started life off in a pot. The other is 2 years old, I bought it because I expected the first one to die! So now I’ve two fantastic specimens.

@GingerKitCat your garden sounds amazing. Placemarking to come back and steal some of your ideas this autumn!!

Thanks lulu! All my plants are fairly run of the mill but I get good results (rare to lose a plant!) Maybe someday I'll transition into buying expensive varieties online and expanding my repertoire

I'm not the greatest at propagation (no greenhouse, impatient to see results ) but I grow the odd thing from seed/ cuttings when the mood strikes (rarely!)

I'll try to post a pic of everything in bloom. I'd love to develop the garden more (pergola/structures/hidden areas or 'rooms' etc) but I think I'll save it for my next move.