Quote:
Originally Posted by lannerman
Hi, Phil, you don't say where you live ? Regarding the planter, makesure that you have drainage holes in the bottom. If you had some stones or rubble you could put a 20-30cm layer over the bottom, and there is nothing to stop you using multi-purpose compost apart from the cost. Ideally a mixture of topsoil and multi-compost or even just plain Irish moss peat would do but try to put a layer on top of pure compost to stop the weeds. Also its important that you leave 10cm gap between the top of the planter and the compost to give you a watering space for when it's very dry.
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Regarding the planting, unless you have a theme eg. 'cottagey', coastal, or alpine etc. personally given this type of situation I always find that texture and foliage will look better for longer and will require less maintaining than plants which rely on flowers for effect, so with this in mind here are a few plants that would look good all year, Pieris, especially some of the variegated varieties, Euonymous fortunei sp. in gold or silver forms, Azalea japonica, any of the short bushy evergreen grasses, lavender, Phormium 'Bronze Baby' or indeed any of the smaller flax varieties , some of the new varieties of Heuchera are exceptional eg. 'Creme Caramel', Blackbird, Marmalade etc. and finally any of the winter flowering Erica carneas and throw in a few Cyclamen Miracle for more winter colour. Finally, when planted to your satisfaction and remember the golden rule of gardening is that there is no golden rule, if you like it then thats fine- top any remaining bare surface with pebbles, gravel, bark or anything that highlights the foliage colours and not only will it finish the whole thing off but will help to retain the moisture in dry weather.
best wishes and good luck from Cornwall