Planting ideas for front garden - thoughts??

[SallyOMalley]

We've just had a new driveway put down (permeable blocks and gravel), which includes a quadrant-shaped bed that is roughly 2.5m long along each straight side. One straight side of this bed borders the pavement.

Our driveway faces north, and the road runs almost exactly east - west, so the bed gets morning sunshine and, in summer, evening sunshine too.

All the original and very tired planting has been pulled out, except for a Photinia 'Red Robin' which stands approx 6ft high at roughly the right angle of the quadrant.

Sooo, I'm looking for shrubs for the bed which, ideally, incorporates some evergreen and some autumn interest.

So far, I like the idea of a hydrangea (one that turns a deep red) and a Euonymous with the bright lime green leaf. And then I'm stuck ... there's too much to choose from! The bed needs to be easy to care for. Bar a prune and a quick weed every now and then, I don't do well at cultivating a high maintenance garden!

Can you help me?? Thanks!

We have just planted some shrubs behind a low fence along our front border.

Ceanothus Skylark : evergreen, lovely blue flowers in spring.
A purple leaved hop Bush (Dodonia) which flowers pink in summer, again, evergreen. Not massively hardy.
A pittosporum tenuifolium. There are lots of types, we have the basic version, fresh green leaves with striking black stems, but there are variegated kinds if that's your bag.
Sambucca nigra "Black lace", a black leaved elder, which is deciduous.

Those will all go to 2 or 3m high.

We also put in a gingko biloba, but that's less common, but I 'd suggest you could put a full on tree in that bed, if you wanted.

If you don't want to weed lots, bark chippings are good for keeping them down, and you should invest in a hoe you can use to scuff it over every week or so, to knock back seedlings.

Choisya is a good pick, evergreen, variegated types, nice white flowers, nice smell.

Oh and Sambucus! Not Sambucca.

This is really helpful - thank you! I'll look up your suggestions.

I've always love ceanothus, so that's a definite possibility, although I thought they needed full sun??

I have a choisya in my South facing back garden. Lovely.