"rbel" wrote in message
news

We removed some very elderly shrubs and some rather sick large escallonias
last autumn from some metre plus wide borders and would be grateful for
suggestions as to what to replace them with. Preferably evergreen,
flowering or just attractive foliage and shape.

The location is south Devon, about 800 metres from the coast, on a
relatively exposed hill. Two borders receive full sun for around 2/3 of
the day and another for 1/3 of the day. Frosts of any significance are
rare (even this winter) but high winds are fairly frequent. We are on the
edge of the Devon Redlands and the soil has a fairly high clay content.
Existing planting includes various conifers, pieris, mahonia, various
broom, eryngium, photinia davidiana, some large phormium, a couple of
surviving escallonia gold ellen, various euonymous, fatsia jopinica,
skimmia, berberis darwinii.

--
rbel

If you really want to push your luck, find the most sheltered site from the
wind and frost, and put in a plant of Gardenia jasminoides "Kleims Hardy".

It's only a single flower, and seems to me slightly less scented than the
double-flowered houseplant (but that could just be because it's usually
cooler!). But it has survived this and last winter in a just frost-free
greenhouse (minimum of 1°) without a mark on it.

--

Jeff