Plants in containers for a small low maintenance garden

[CoolShoeshine]

We have quite a small back garden compared to the house, it is about 10m wide x 5m long. It has fencing all the way around, plus a narrow patio the length of the house and some very patchy looking lawn. We are aiming to smarten it up this year! We’d like to get some large pots and fill with plants that are easy to look after but make a nice impact - eg big evergreen leaves. We already have bay and olive in pots on the patio and would like to place more pots around the lawn edge to break up the bare fencing. We are hoping this would be easier than maintaining borders. Any suggestions for suitable plants please. Garden in summer is quite sunny. Tia

I have a couple of hollies in pots (a standard female and a male Blue Prince) and they do very well with just an eye on water over the summer and some ericaceous feed added and/or a top dressing of ericaceous soil.

They do well in sun and shade and because I have a male/female combo I get lovely red berries on the female through the winter months also.

Peiris japonica, loads of different cultivars, choose one of the compact ones to grow in pots. Lots of colour, vari-coloured leaves and flowers, dead easy to look after - my kinda plant!

I was just about to suggest pieris japonica too.

Irish golden yew has a compact growth habit and can cope in a larger pot.

For an easy care shrub - Photinia Red Robin. Either as a shrub or trained on a single trunk. It also comes as a lollipop form, top grafted; so although the canopy will expand, the main trunk will retain its same height.

Lots of hebe varieties are ideal for pots.

As a point of interest - as you mention big green leaves (you might already be aware) - heavily variegated plants generally do not grow as fast as those with green leaves These plants have less chlorophyll, so produce less energy for growth. This can make them more suited for growing in pots.

Thank you for the suggestions- I like the idea of some holly and wouldn’t have thought to grow that in pots. Will have to look up details of the others, apart from red robin which I know and like.
didn’t know the fact re variegated leaves so that is a good tip, thanks 😊