Help!! Recommendations Please!!

[Pinkpussycat]

Hello all my green fingered friends. :flower: I need your advice please. I have a trough container in my tiny front garden and want to fill it with some dwarf shrubs/plants that are fragrant and perrenial and basically dead easy to look after. I've tried lavender in the past which was lovely for about 2 years but then got leggy and untidy (I'm not a good pruner :blush and currently I have some daphnes which smell gorgeous in the early part of the year but they don't flower for long and are far too tall for where the container is placed underneath my bay window. Btw the trough is in full sun for the best part of the day, when we get any that is. :grin: So do you have any recommendations please?? MTIA Sx

 

[Milly]

Have you thought about heather plants you can get a huge variety of heathers some grow tall others go short or flat and wide and of course you can get lots of colours and they dont mind full sun and very little water you can usually get an idea of what each variety does by the lables or ask at your garden centre sadly they dont really smell much but you can see bees etc on them when they are in flower and you can under plant them with bulbs .

 

[Pinkpussycat]

Hi Milly thankyou for your reply. Heathers were the first plants I tried funnily enough but they didn't thrive, or rather I managed to kill them all off so I need something really hardy that doesn't mind a bit of neglect because I can't always manage to do much out there.

 

[madmax]

Have you tried a range of Mediterranean herbs. They love dry sunny conditions and do best in poor soil.
There are lots of different ones and each variety has several types in it( I really haven't put that very well but you know what I mean)
I would go for Thyme's a low growing Rosemary and may be some salvias. Unfortunately what ever you put in will need watering if we have a dry spell or it is in the water shadow of the house until it is established.
I would under plant with a range of bulbs for colour in the spring. You can quite easily layer them up in the planter with the last ones to flower deepest working you way up to the first to flower. I have bulbs in planters that have come back for 5 or 6 years now with me doing very little to them.
Hope that is of some help.
Karen

 

[Loveinamist]

Hebe. Little or no maintenance, pretty flowers. Won't outgrow your pot too soon, many varieties. Leaves are interesting after flowering.

 

[madmax]

Hebe. Little or no maintenance, pretty flowers. Won't outgrow your pot too soon, many varieties. Leaves are interesting after flowering.

Not only but they are one of the few things my chickens don't eat, so you will be safe if you have any passing chickens!!
There are lots of interesting varieties if you look for a specialist nursery on line you should get a good choice.

 

[Loveinamist]

Not only but they are one of the few things my chickens don't eat, so you will be safe if you have any passing chickens!!
There are lots of interesting varieties if you look for a specialist nursery on line you should get a good choice.

Bunnies like them though!

 

[OscarFelixJake]

Nepeta, mint, parsley - fast growing and smell lovely - also kitty friendly

 

[Waterlily]

We've got Nepeta (catmint) in our hanging baskets, it trails a lot and if it's near the ground it would take root eventually. So I'm not to sure about putting it in low planter. It's lovely though. Has pinky flowers in the spring but they don't last long (well ours didn't lol).

 

[sublime]

Just catching up with this thread.

Wooh - the chance to plant up a sunny trough is wonderful!
If the trough's big enough, then I'd go for hebes, too.
If space is an issue, or you want something lower growing, then you might like to have a go at creating a sort of Mini-Med in a trough?

There are lots of plants which thrive in hot sunny conditions on the side of sun-baked mountains, or on cliff sides, which love sharp drainage, and they'd love the sort of conditions you describe, PPC.

There are loads of plants to choose from, but plants which grow in interesting 'cushion' shapes or have leathery leaves are a good starting point. Most are evergreen, of course.
My favourites are the sea thrifts and sea pinks, thymes [which come in a whole variety of citrus scents as well as variegated versions] and all the succulents like the low-growing sedums, which have a huge range of leaf forms as well as long lasting flowers. A dwarf box or two could add a little height and fragrance.
You might like to consider an under-planting of dwarf bulbs, especially the brightly coloured spring and summer bulbs where the foliage helpfully dies down fairly quickly after flowering - alliums, the dwarf canna lilies, alstroemeria, sparaxis, etc etc.

Oh, blow it - can I just have your trough, please??! :sun::sun::sun:

 

[Waterlily]

Last year we decided to use an old steel bath that we had taken out of the bungalow for a planter. We've used as many different plants as we can. A lot of sedums and saxifrage. I especially like ajuga though. Our Sublime (as usual) has a good list too.

Our plants have taken well although we did lose a couple over the winter. We put 6 more in yesterday but still need a few more.

A garden centre that we use has several baths and various other things used as planters, that's where we got the idea from.

 

[Autumn]

Last year we decided to use an old steel bath that we had taken out of the bungalow for a planter. We've used as many different plants as we can. A lot of sedums and saxifrage. I especially like ajuga though. Our Sublime (as usual) has a good list too.

Our plants have taken well although we did lose a couple over the winter. We put 6 more in yesterday but still need a few more.

A garden centre that we use has several baths and various other things used as planters, that's where we got the idea from.

That looks lovey , can I ask what plant is in bottom right hand corner with the purple flowers? I keep seeing them in peoples gardens , but have no idea wot they are called .

 

[Waterlily]

Hi Autumn, That's Aubretia. We put a pink one in yesterday too.

 

[Autumn]

Hi Autumn, That's Aubretia. We put a pink one in yesterday too.

Thanks ur a star , Ive seen the pink ones too :clapping:

 

[Weathergirl]

They are very pretty but are they the ones that spread very very quickly or am I confusing them with something else?

 

[Waterlily]

Hi Weathergirl, yes they do spread quite quickly. The one in the bath was quite small when we put it in last year, we've also got some on a rockery and that's spread too. I suppose you can thin it out lol.

They always remind me of lobelia.

 

[Autumn]

Hi Weathergirl, yes they do spread quite quickly. The one in the bath was quite small when we put it in last year, we've also got some on a rockery and that's spread too. I suppose you can thin it out lol.

They always remind me of lobelia.

Oh good im glad its the one that spreads quickly , several gardens near me have it and its looks beautiful along the sides of the paths, I will be looking out for some next time im at the garden centre.

I like lobelia too waterlily , I have it in all my hanging baskets.

Thanks :hi:

P.s Beautiful dog btw