What can I plant for colour between these 2 shrubs?

[CurlyhairedAssassin]

East facing narrow border is very boring. I have a holly which never grows berries (I assume whoever planted it didn’t realise you need male and female plants) and right next to it is (I think) a lonicera nitida.

As you can see at the moment the euphorbias underneath add a bit of a bright splash but after they’ve died down in the summer there is nothing there. It’s obviously shady with not much room at the top where they meet. Apart from putting a few bedding plants in for colour is there anything I can put there more permanently that will provide colour in summer?

Sorry that should be WEST facing border!

I think they’re both too big for the width of the border now personally but at least they cover the ugly fence.

Japanese Anemones? Pink, flower in the summer and about 2-3 feet tall.

Nasturtiums?

Just read about the anemones, it mentions spreading rapidly. Not sure i can handle anything else thst’s A fast spreader.

Crainsbill Geraniums would fit the bill. The larger varieties such as Wargrave or Johnson’s Blue.

Foxgloves? They like the shade, are bright and long lasting, and will self seed. Just clear the soil and put a few seeds in for 2 years running (they flower the 2nd year). Or buy plants if you can find them in lockdown. Or dig some up from my gravel! They are poisonous though so only if you don’t have young kids.

I assume whoever planted it didn’t realise you need male and female plants Or maybe yours is male?

Have you thought of growing something through the Lonicera? A climbing Tropaeolum perhaps, or a late flowering "orange peel" clematis?

Nothing too vigorous so definitely not orange peel clematis or that flame thrower tropaeolum thingy.

I think i’ll Put either some cranesbill or foxgloves at the base and look for a clematis to grow through the shrubs, something that would go with Etoile Violette which i’ll Plant to grow through a bit of a leggy lilac which is just a bit further to the right of the lonicera nitida. Will look nice when the lilac has stopped blooming I think.

Morning glory would be interesting, I don’t really know that plant. But does it really bloom just in the morning?! I’d never see it!

There's different species of Tropaeolum, in tasteful colours! Try T tricolor, or T azureum or T beuthii.

I have Etoile Violette growing through a lilac. But it's a bit too similar to the lilac colour, so although it extends the season, it feels a bit much of the same thing. If it were a white lilac or even a much paler lilac it would be better.

Not as big as the blue geraniums, but G endresii has a very long flowering season, even for a geranium, and thrives in shade. You could do both cranesbill and foxgloves, one to give impact at ground level and the other to carry the interest upwards.

Morning glory (Ipomoea sp) I think gets its name because it produces fresh flowers each morning. They certainly hang around all day. Or in the same family you could try Mina lobata (think it's changed its name now ... yes it has, it's now Ipomoea lobata)which has plumes of flowers which start red and turn orange and then cream as they age, so each flower spike is read at the top and cream at the bottom.

You could do both cranesbill and foxgloves, one to give impact at ground level and the other to carry the interest upwards.

Sounds good. THanks. And with the euphorbias there too, in spring, what’s the best way to look after all 3 growing in the same spot?