Plants for borders that can withstand a battering!

[ningaj]

When we moved house we inherited a gorgeous big garden - I have never been a gardener but am trying to embrace it and am really starting to love it.

My main issue is all the lovely delicate plants the previous owners have planted are being decimated by my DS's (6&3) and their football!!

There are some areas - rockery, further back in the borders that are fine but the boys nearest the lawn just get pummelled constantly.

I need advice on what I can plant in these areas that can withstand a bit of a knock of a football. I was thinking potentially heathers but There is a fair bit of space to fill and O need more options, and ideally a bit of colour!!!

Can provide pics if that helps

Thanks!!

Hebes, cranesbill geraniums, mahonia, persicaria, low growing Berberis, and Lamium are tried and tested in our family.

You could circle things in staked chicken wire. With the idea that the plants grow over and through it and takes the worst of the ball power.
Make a note of how high these plants grow this year and put wire in below this height so that you can't see it once the plant grows.

I have a similar problem as DS12yo has little talent but fancies himself as the next Ronaldo. What he lacks in aim he makes up for in power. Not a good combination for my borders.

I think the best thing we did was to buy a massive goal. That gave him something large to aim at and meant that the plants were protected. We'd had goals before and bought the same brand again, but bigger, with netting (Forza).

The flowering shrubs that have stood up to the football best are escallonia pink elle (evergreen, flowers for all of July and some of August, 1m x 1m or thereabouts, very very pretty and robust shrub), camellia, ceanothus, various hebes and lilac.

You could also plant robust shrubs for their foliage and try and get decent variegation - examples which are prettier than the average varieties for me are pittosporum Elizabeth and photinia Louise.

Great, thanks for all the tips. I think a bigger goal is also a very good idea!!

I think the trouble is that at the stage when you have dc using the garden as a playground you do have to default to a bit of 'municipal planting' if you can't zone off the garden.

I have almost the opposite problem, I took the view that this new garden was going to be a proper one and have planted it up accordingly and the dc (teenagers) now have to go to the park. Unless you have a whopper of a garden you have to choose really.

I think the biggest plus of our garden is that the boys want to play in it all the time, I've made my peace with it!! There are still lots of areas I can have pretty, delicate plants. And luckily we have a lot of mature shrubs which are pretty hardy.

I actually have a cranesbill geranium in a corner which has got huge and I was going to split, so that might be a goer. Going to google all the other ones too (my plant knowledge is pretty limited!!)