Shrub suggestions please

[wowfudge]

I got some great advice on here for a small tree a couple of years ago and the weeping pear we put in is doing well.

I'm now looking for a hardy shrub for a downward sloping, east-facing border between a terrace and the lawn. I have taken out a huge buddleia which had taken over and cut back a massive, straggly, old hypericum and several smaller ones. The soil is acid with clay. Ideally I'd like something that flowers and will attract butterflies and bees. Scented would be nice next to the terrace. Evergreen would be great too. Maximum height 2m when fully mature. There are already laurels, rhododendrons, hydrangeas and spireas in the garden.

Is the spot in much shade or full sun?

Hi there Fox full sun for much of the day, though fairly close to the house. On the north side we have mature trees.

I've just bought one of these, but I'm a sucker for blue plants!!

www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/95971/Ceanothus-Puget-Blue/Details

RHS website are crap for pictures though so also have a google

I'm a novice btw, however your east facing caught my attention but my east facing is in heavy shade so know a few shady plants. But won't be any good for you.

Thanks for the suggestion. Now I'm not a blue fan unless it's purple or a paler shade. I'd love a lilac or a camellia. I bought a magnolia for another spot in the garden at the weekend. Yes, the RHS website often has one, close-up picture of a detail so you have to look elsewhere.

I'd say a camellia is possible. We have two - one in partial shade, the other pretty much in (light) shade all day.

Both happy and full of flowers! Gardening in heavy clay soil. Go for it!

Osmanthus fragrans is a lovely dark evergreen shrub. Mine is covered in fragrant white flowers at the moment.

Leycestia formosa (pheasant berrry) would be a good choice, beautiful dark red flowers. Various types of Cornus would be good, they're not evergreen but have amazing vivid winter stem colour. Aucuba japonica is a bit boring but reliable.

That should have been spelt Leycesteria formosa.

I'm absoltely in love with camellias. Namely as they are ever green, I'm sick to the back teeth of deciduous plants and the issue with leaf collections and then them looking bare and sad in winter. And camellias flower early and the flowers last a good couple of months. They are also very pretty without flowers, and you can keep it pruned to the size you wish.

However they are slow growing, so buy a decent size.

I know what you mean Bluntness we have a woodland garden and it would be depressing if everything were deciduous.

I'm think low growing Acer by the lawn, a camellia near the terrace and maybe an osmanthus in the middle.

That sounds a good plan. The previous owners of our house put a lot of deciduous trees and plants in, and as much as they are lovely in spring summer and early autumn, it's an Avalanche of leaves to deal with and everything looks bare in winter, so now, unless it's ever green I won't even consider it, no matter how pretty it is.☺️

I'm planting a Viburnum Carlesii Aurora in my garden - not evergreen but it fulfills all your other criteria, OP. Grows to around 2m, very fragrant pink blossom in spring, great autumn colour (red/orange), and the new flower buds are decorative too. A nice rounded habit, minimal pruning needed, hardy in low temps, likes more or less any soil.

Evergreen is nice but I particularly wanted autumn interest and I reckoned it was an acceptable trade-off

I'll check that out. Bought a dwarf weeping acer, which I think I have the perfect spot for, a camellia, a sambucus nigra and a bog rosemary today. Still need the other evergreen shrub, but the ones the garden centre I went to had we already have.

For autumn interest, try a purple smoke bush - we had one in our last garden and I've just planted one at the far end of the lawn where there's a mahonia, a pieris, photinia, etc. Should be eye-catching.

Thanks wowfudge! We've got a continus already - it's quite a big old beast now (inherited from the last owners-but-one) but it is lovely.

A weeping acer sounds great.

COtinus, not continus. Gah.