Can you help plan my garden? Shrubs/ bushes? (Diagram)

[SunAndAColdBracingWind]

(What is the difference between a shrub and a bush anyway?)

I’ve spent the past two years living with the garden and know what I want, but not how to achieve it.

The whole garden is at the back and side the bottom is road/ path and the left neighbour.

It's the silver areas I need help with (not the bit marked 'gravel')

The round green spots are conifer trees (topped). The soil (I think) is acidic - rhododendrons and conifers/ fir trees grow well - and there are a lot). We're in a very northern climate - anything planted will need to cope with wind / rain/ frost etc.

There are some steep slopes into the garden and one are that I’ve marked as very boggy (sitting water after rain).

I think I want to bottom of the garden to grow 'wild' - but not look abandoned…. I wondered about heathers/ bushes.

The area to the right of the picture is my first project:

*It gets full sun in the morning, partial shade in the day and shade in the evening.

*I don’t want anything that as have to weed (flower beds)

*Anything planted must be able to tolerate the wet times (the soil drains well otherwise)

I was thinking bushes:

*Maximum height, no higher than c.1.5m - there are too many other hedges that we have to keep clipping
*Bee/insect/ animal friendly - flowers?
*Look nice in winter - evergreen not essential, but would be nice

In an ideal world, I’d like to be able to leave it to do its thing. That’s what happens in the rhododendron area (planted years before we moved in).

I don’t think I want more rhododendrons….

Do you think this is workable?

I mean I know weeds would grow amongst the bushes, but I’m tolerant to nature doing its thing, I just don't want weeds to be drowning out plants. Hence bushes…

Which way is North? Is the house at the bottom of the slope so your boggy area is catching all the runoff?

Do you have windows which look out that way? I'd think about what you want to look out on from the house. Also, if possible I'd try to think about planting so that you hopefully have some colour throughout the spring/summer/autumn but that can be hard to achieve. If you are in Scotland there is a facebook page called Plants for the Scottish Garden which I find quite handy as to what will and will not cope with our winters.

I think these directions are correct. Main windows face north east and towards the boggy area, but there are smaller windows all round. The previous owners concentrated on the areas marked grass/ flowers and the rhododendrons are so big, they must have been growing for years. The grass to the right on the picture is in much better condition than the grass to the left (can’t call it a lawn).

The green that I’ve added at the bottom is the neighbour. It’s run off water from their land, but nothing they can help (although we’re in discussions regarding drainage on both our properties). We're on a slope and they’re higher than us.

Where the there letters N(orth) and E(ast) are, is farmland/ view that I don't want to hide (hence topping all of the conifers and wanting lower bushes - although the neighbour to the right is higher than us, I don’t want to block their view.

The road is bottom left, going round the properties. I should have added this information before, but I gave up drawing!

I can't manage to 'garden' it all and I want to support wildlife, so I’m trying to find a compromise.

Thanks - I’ll check out that page.

https://shop.woodlandtrust.org.uk/tree-mixes-and-packs
Anything here suitable?

What about hebes? I think they are fairly hardy and would seem to match what you want. I would think about the slower growing shrubs, so even if their ultimate height is in theory say 3m, it would take a long time to get there and may never reach it in a more exposed garden.

How big is the area? How many shrubs do you think you would need? Do you like groups of shrubs of the same type or do you prefer a more mixed approach?

I haven’t had much luck with hebes, but maybe there are different types.

I did think about those bushes with the leaves that turn red (forest fire or flame?)

Rowan, Euonymous, viburnum? There are evergreen viburnum and deciduous. Crataegus Paul's scarlet (it's a hawthorn but with pretty double flowers).
Brooms, some of the tougher shrub roses?
Goat willow would like damp conditions.
Rose of Sharon seems to do well anywhere (hypericum I think).
Dogwood for winter stem colour.
Google some of these and it might help to narrow down what you want. I'm a long way south of you so my suggestions might not work where you are.

Thank you. I will look into these.

I think I want a good mixture - not too uniform? The area is (roughly) 8mx5m.

I have a bed of hydrangeas and Mexican orange blossom. The hydrangeas could cope with the dampness and the Mexican orange is evergreen (and has really spread, make sure you leave plenty of space when planting)

Okay so I’m in what sounds like your area - apart from roddies pieris all do really really well. American flowering currant gives very pretty early colour and is pretty indestructible. Diablo bush gives a nice leaf colour and grows well. Buddlejas of course. Californian lilac, I have a short one afraid I can’t remember the name. My photinia never seems to want to get bigger than 1.5m. Viburnum Eve Price.
There are many hebes and some grow amazingly in my village, others I’ve tried are just meh…I’ll try find out the name of the happy one for you later.

Personally I would include some small garden trees that do not need to be trimmed and are "airy" enough to not block views or sunlight, but would provide height and structure. Things such as:

• Amelanchier
• Sambucus Nigra (black lace is a classic) but there is also a finely cut leafed golden/acid green variant which is lovely.
• Magnolia
• Apples or pears on a dwarf rootstock (M27 or M9)

However, sticking to your scheme I would suggest:

• Physocarpus - a mix of red, purple, orange or lime green leafed varieties - all very pretty and would max out at 1.5 - 2m. Lovely flowers too.
• Hydrangea's towards the moister end
• Mahonia's would provide good evergreen structure.

In between the shrubs I'd plant vinca minor in white or lilac. This will spread between the shrubs and provide evergreen ground cover, suppress weeds and provide flowers and habitat for polinators. (It will spread less than it's thuggish cousin - vinca major which could be too much).

Deciduous viburnum that I love is V. Plicatum Dart's Red Robin. White blossom in spring, and clusters of red berries in autumn. The branches grow out in layers.
Cotinus is another one with beautiful autumn colour but they can get pretty big and mine never took kindly to being pruned to size.
What about elder? Sambucus black lace, beautiful dark cut leaves reminiscent of Japanese maple leaves.
Mahonia, choose a compact variety. Very architectural evergreen spiny leaves, huge sprays of fragrant yellow flowers in winter, Great for birds and bees. Can be hard pruned.

Red dogwood is hardy amd should do fine in soggy conditions. The stems look good in winter if you can cut it back once a year. Otherwise they lose the red.

Any hebe I have ever known has committed suicide at the first hint of cold and I am in the south.

I would stay away from goat willow. My neighbour has one, so I have them popping up all over the bloody place. Definitely not low maintenance if you keep having to pull them out.

Have you thought of a pond? Very wildlife friendly and easy to maintain once it's established. For the boggy part maybe, you could plant some marginal plants.

I second Viburnum Eve Price. Very easy shrub that I basically ignore and it rewards me (and the wildlife) with pretty flowers and then berries.

Sort of. One of the options I had when looking at the drainage was to drain the standing water past the shed and towards the bottom of the garden (where it says wild area). It’s the way the water flows naturally. If it begins to stand there, it might pool (it’s the lowest area). The man with the digger has the land beyond, so we’re working with him for drainage so it doesn’t cause him problems (he has proper farmer's ditches in various places).

Thank you so much for the ideas that you all have given. I’m writing them down and starting to make a chart (😬). I haven’t heard of a lot of them!

Oops, and also thank you, I mentioned the goat willow because I was going to get one.
I won't now 😁

(What is the difference between a shrub and a bush anyway?)

Gardeners call it a shrub.
Everybody else calls it a bush.
😂

If you are looking for something lower to go nearer the house I love lavender bushes. We had two in the garden for over 15 years and they were great. Large for lavender, attracted loads of bees and smelled great in the late summer. The only attention they required was a trim in the late autumn.