Rubbish gardener here but having a go!

[Maggiethecat]

Need medium size evergreen plants/shrubs to fill space.

Ive planted a climbing evergreen ivy which hopefully will hide ugly fence exposed after removing 2 trees.

I’ve planted agapanthus, hebe and lavender at front but need shrub/plant to go behind them (I know I’ve done it a bit back to front!)

was thinking ceanothus but the border is only 1 meter deep and think it wouldn’t allow for smaller plants in front.

All help welcome!

I reckon things like lavender and hebe will grow into those spaces, so I would pop in some tall annuals like cosmos daisies in the spaces for this summer, and see how the perennials are doing next spring.

Nice plant choices!

Looks nice! I'm no gardener either but I'd suggest painting your fence now whilst it's uncovered and easier to do
I think a shrub there would block out the plants too so maybe a climbing rose or another climber to flower and compliment the ivy

Thank you both!

@custardbear - Thats a good idea about the fence - hadn’t even occurred to me 🫤

Meant jasmine to climb along the fence, not ivy. But I gather that it might take a long time to grow. Climbing rose sounds great.

@MrsBertBibby - I know, I don’t want to overdo it but reckon that the lavender and hebe won’t be more than 0.5- 1 m ultimately.

The trouble is most shrubs will be as wide as they are tall, or at least those dimensions will be in proportion, so a shrub which will go to 2m high can expect to be at least 1m wide at the base.

So I reckon to get height behind, you should use things that will be much more vertical, like foxgloves, or sunflowers. Verbena bonariensis might work. Height without girth.

I have grown alium sphaerocephalon for the first time this year, very pleased with that, chest-high flower heads with very fine leaves, very graceful.

@MrsBertBibby - that makes sense! I love foxgloves but have a cat so don’t think they’ll work. Will check out verbena.

Well done with your alliums!

How about a Chaenomeles, flowering quince? A lowish growing evergreen plant that can be trained to a fan shape. Lovely pink, red or white flowers in the late spring.

This 👆 in addition to the Hebe and the Lavender growing bigger/wider than you’re expecting, the Ivy will bulk out, lining the inside of your fence by several inches. It should all look lovely when it gets going 🙂

@AnnieSnap - hoping it will be nice eventually!
Mistakenly said it was ivy but it's actually jasmine to go along the fence. I know ivy is quite rampant but hope jasmine won't take forever to fill out.

@Maggiethecat I do like Ivy, but it will look beautiful with Jasmine 🙂

Lavender can be a bugger as it likes loamy/ gritty soil/ full sun but some shade and a lot of water ( but not too much!)

You might find it struggles in the same soil as the other plants you have in there.

In my experience agapanthus grows brilliantly but do separate the bulbs every couple of years or they get overcrowded.

Climbers like ivy and jasmine need more water than you'd think to get them going properly so keep an eye on them ( and a nitrogen rich fertiliser)

Why wouldn't foxgloves work with a cat? If you are worried about poison then I think it is unfounded. Apparently foxgloves taste extremely bitter, so I'm sure even if your cat did sampled it it wouldn't ingest enough to cause a problem.

Foxgloves grow wild in my garden and the surrounding fields, there are several cats in the area who are fine and the majority of houses on my road have dogs who are also fine.

As for the Hebe, what size did it say on the label, these can vary considerably in their final size? I have one that self seeded which is now 1m in diameter and still growing.

None of my cats have ever shown the slightest interest in nibbling my foxgloves.

How about a philadelphus up against the fence? they can be trained to be flat and have lovely scent when flowering. Euonymous too.

If you paint the fence remember it will need to be repainted in future. If you leave it rustic it can stay rustic forever. I love a painted fence but am realistic so mine are all very rustic.

In my experience Jasmine takes a while to get going - I'm talking a couple of years - and I think you're going to need something against that fence for it to scramble up, it's a twiner and I'm not sure it will take to your slats (although it might).

Heliopsis is a perennial sunflower, lovely and tall and will grow against your fence. Japanese anemones are lovely too.

I have lots of foxgloves, and two very outdoorsy cats.

I do avoid lilies, all but canna AFAIK are deadly. I lost a fit 6 year old boy, probably to.lily poisoning, the pollen is so toxic.

@Beebumble2 - flowering quince looks good, will look at!

@LadyOfTheCanyon - who would have thought that lavender was tricky to grow?! It just looks like such a laid back plant. I’ve got clay soil and they’re in full sun so let’s see what happens!

@RIPWalter - I’ve always heard that foxglove was poisonous so just thought it would be bad in case cats got near it. The hebe label says 1m x 1m - similar to yours.

@LadyGardenersQuestionTime - think I have a philadelphus on the opposite fence - sweet smelling flowers (reminds me of jasmine but flowers very briefly). Like your take on the unpainted fence!!

@MrsBertBibby - sounds foxglove shouldn’t be an issue which is great - they’re lovely.

I also have Foxgloves together with cats and dogs. They don’t show any interest in them. Lots of plants are toxic, but animals just avoid them. There are two exceptions to my knowledge. Firstly, Lilies, as they have very toxic pollen which can be picked-up on coats as they brush past and later licked-off. Secondly, Laburnum, which I love, but every part of it is highly toxic. One of my dogs loves to find a twig dropped from a tree and chew it. So sadly, my beautiful Laburnum tree had to go.