On 25/08/2011 18:50, Janet Tweedy wrote:
Between a friend's house and the next one there is a small strip of ground.
The houses are a cul de sac of large detached but modern houses with
drives only just big enough to contain a car's length and the re is no
proper boundary between each house - rather there is just the tiny strip
about 3 foot wide that goes road.
I know both owners and they wanted me to recommend something other than
the unruly (possibly as it's never been pruned) half-dead lavender in
situ at the moment.
i thought of box balls (nothing too high as the two families get on very
well and so would prefer something quite low,
Perhaps that Ilex that is similar to box or maybe, i thought a row of
small hardy fuchsias though they might stretch out a bit with their
growths in summer and these houses can't really afford the space so it
really should be confined to the three foot wide.

One of the low growing cotoneasters perhaps? Or a variegated form of
something that would otherwise be too vigorous for the location.

I even thought of rosemary but wondered if anyone out there had a
brighter idea?

Rosemary tends to be a bit short lived even when looked after on
anything but the most free draining soils.

p.s. You guessed it, neither are gardeners ! So it really ought to be
something that doesn't show neglect easily.

I suspect whatever they get they won't prune it and it will become
messy. Low trellis with honeysuckle on might be another option.

Regards,
Martin Brown