Front garden border help (with a manhole cover)

[PureBlackVoid]

I have a border which is approx 5mx1m. There is a manhole cover to one side closest to the house, raised slightly above the soil. I will top the soil level up a bit but I want to avoid making a deep raised bed style border.

There is currently one conifer closest to the road, 2m tall and a small rose next to it. I’m debating taking the conifer out but haven’t decided. The rest of the soil gets overrun with bluebells which I loathe.

I have 2 dwarf cherries in pots, and I’m planning to plant one of these out in the border(a prunus cistena and prunus incisa). Haven’t decided yet which one.

I’d like at least a couple of evergreen shrubs (more if I’m getting rid of the conifer) to give year round structure. And some year round flowering with perennials and bulbs. I’m a big fan of flowers on tall stems, like tiarellas and verbena bonariensis.

Can I fit all this in without it being too crowded? What (if anything) can I plant near the MH? Or how close to it can I get? I definitely need something on the MH side, otherwise I’ll just have an random empty section.

Also how can I kill off the bluebells?

Any other tips? I’m planning to start planting this autumn, so I could do some prep work (bluebell killing) over summer.

It’s west facing and gets afternoon sun.

Thanks!

Am I getting this right? You want to fit a dwarf cherry, two or more evergreens, and a whole load of perennials and bulbs in 5 square meters?

I'd expect the cherry to take at least 2 sqm, and you'd need at least 1sqm per evergreen, so that doesn't leave you much more. Could you keep the cherry in a pot and put it on the manhole?

Am I getting this right? You want to fit a dwarf cherry, two or more evergreens, and a whole load of perennials and bulbs in 5 square meters?

Not a whole load. A few, predominantly those that are more height than spread. I have a few in the back which are tall and narrow, but looking for some more suggestions to fit the space.

I’ve seen some of those ‘borders on a roll’ that have about 14 evergreens and perennials for approx the same size space, so I thought it’d be doable (I’d just rather get some ideas and pick the plants out myself)

I suppose having one of the cherries there isn’t essential, I just have 2 of them already. But yes, I could keep the incisa in a pot, it’s max size is around 2m and it’s an easy one to prune to keep to a smaller shape. Ideally would like to ‘hide’ the pot somehow so it’s not just randomly tacked on the end of the border.

The manhole cover in our back garden is covered by two small wooden decking squares with pots on the top.

If it is something that is unlikely to ever need accessing, then plant some low-growing spreading shrubs beside it and train them over. Maybe a prostrate cotoneaster or juniper.

The rose presumably takes up about 1sqm? So you have another 4sqm to play with, unless the conifer stays.

If you kept your evergreens quite small, say lavender and rosemary type size (or something like box, that you can clip to size) then you can put some perennials in between. I have a not too dissimilar sized border where I have a dwarf lilac, a japanese maple (small one) some anemones de caen, some alliums, a peony, a veronica, some heucheras, some forget-me-nots and some tulips. Nothing evergreen though. It looks very full and I fully expect to have to take out some of the other plants once the japanese maple and the lilac grow to their full size.

Your border sounds interesting @CatherinedeBourgh, quite varied. I may forgo the shrubs and look for an evergreen or winter climber to train along the fence, if I can find something that doesn’t grow outward too much. That ought to leave a nice stretch for varied planting in front, plus I could somehow train it over the MH as pp suggested.

I just don’t want it to look dead over winter, as the rest of the garden is just slabbed/pebbled which I can’t change for a while. It looks very glum even on sunny days!

The rose stays quite compact without much effort to be honest. It’s about 60cm height and width. I’m not sure of the variety.

Many evergreen shrubs are good for structure but ime not particularly interesting in the winter, unless they are winter flowering camellias or something like that. Not sure any are small enough though. Maybe something like a euphorbia charcacias or wulfenii? They look pretty interesting in winter. What colour is the rose?

I prefer to focus on shape and bark/stem colour in the winter. Things like dogwoods and coral bark maples look beautiful even when they are not in leaf. Also small trees or shrubs with interesting branch shapes.