Border rescue A shrubby border enjoys a colour boost for summer

This shrubby border needs a bit of colour and summer interest. Ian Hodgson has some suggestions

QHow can I give my border a more colourful look? THIS SHRUBBY BORDER has tons of potential, but at the moment it lacks cohesion and falls a bit short on perennial colour. The purple-leaved hazel in the middle is a good start, but the other shrubs and perennials don’t really relate to it and there are no flowers, save for a few random kniphofia right at the back. There are lots of stylistic options here: I’d go for a more thematic aproach, perhaps choosing just silver-leaved ‘seaside’ plants, or grasses and daisies for a relaxed prairiestyle scheme. The boardwalk suggests the seaside to me, so I’d start by taking out the willow and gorse plants, then prune back the scrappy-looking perovskia. Its late-summer flowers will set up a new purple-blue colour scheme perfectly. For height, instead of the willow, I’d opt for a more transparent plant, so you can see through it to the planting beyond. At H2m (6½ft), Verbena bonariensis is a good candidate, with long-lasting flowers from June-September. For architecture, you could choose a suitably spiky Yucca filamentosa or elegant astelia ‘Silver Shadow’ – both would need a sunny, sheltered spot, well-drained soil and fleece protection in a cold winter. For something hardier, go for a green-blue phormium or herbaceous cardoon, Cynara cardunculus. To counteract all the spikes, drift through soft, tactile grasses, such as Stipa tenuissima or Pennisteum alopecuroides, adding taller and more upright forms such as Calamagrostis acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’ (H1.8m/6ft) or Miscanthus sinensis ‘Silberfeder’ (H2m/6½ft). Next, introduce some passionate purples for summer colour: Eryngium zabelii ‘Jos Eijking’, lavender ‘Hidcote’, Salvia sylvestris ‘Mainacht’ or smaller S. nemorosa ‘Caradonna’, Echinops ritro ‘Baby Globes’ (or taller ‘Veitch’s Blue’) and a few purple opium poppies (Papaver somniferum). Wispy gaura and hardy geranium ‘Rozanne’ would also work, helping to soften the edges. Finish off by laying a gravel mulch if desired – this will create a shingly setting that visually holds the plants together in a more exciting way than the Ajuga reptans used above.

Do you have a border that has lost its direction? Send an email labelled ‘Border Rescue’ to garden.answers@ bauermedia.co.uk