"JennyC" wrote in message ...
I have a laurel hedge along my driveway and would like to plant
something in front of it to liven it up a bit in the summer. There's
about a foot of soil between the drive and the hedge and is can get
very dry.

Any suggestions please ?

Jenny

How about good old Nasturtiums (tropaeolum)? Lots of colours to choose
from (they don't have to be orange), thrive in poor dry soil, and you
can eat leaves, flowers, and seed-pods. It's about a month too late,
technically, but if you can't find plants I think it would be worth
sowing some seed this week.

If you want something perennial, I wonder if a row of little pinks
would do on the sunny side. My pinks reward me for weeding with their
flood of scent, and the grey leaves look nice in winter. You'll need
to take cuttings (dead easy) or plant seedlings every four or five
years to replace the old plants, as they stop flowering well at about
that age.

There are good cranesbills such as Geranium endressei and relatives
which do well for me in hungry places. And if the site has killed
other things you've tried and you don't mind a real spreader, try
"Snow-in-summer" (cerastium tomentosum): plant and forget, and you'll
have white flowers in summer (next year now) and grey foliage all the
year round. I mention these together because I have both growing in
the patch of stones where I park cars, and they look wonderful. But
the snow-in-summer is a weed if you put it in a real flower-bed.

Mike.