Q How can I make the most of this sunny corner?

THIS LITTLE CORNER has so much potential; often the most challenging sites provide the most planting fun! Full sun and a well-drained soil suggest droughttolerant, Mediterranean plants – just look how happy the variegated yucca is! Reader Sarah Ashton says she’d like an evergreen shrub at the back and some summer colour that lasts all season long. I think we can go one better, filling the bed with evergreens and silver-leaved ‘evergreys’ to help cover the bare soil all year round. For the statement evergreen, I’d go for clipped privet Ligustrum ovalifolium, variegated Italian buckthorn Rhamnus alaternus ‘Argenteovariegata’, a small pittosporum or bay tree Laurus nobilis. Paint the fences a chic grey (or white, or blue to max out on the Mediterranean theme) then add trellis for a sun-loving, fragrant star jasmine, Trachelospermum jasminoides (H9m/30ft, S3m/10ft) or spring-flowering Clematis cartmanii ‘Avalanche’ (H5m/16ft, S3m/10ft). Both are evergreen; you’ll need to tie them in. For symmetry, I’d balance your variegated yucca with an identical one, then between them go for a contrasting leaf shape or texture, from a smallleaved mounding Hebe rakaiensis (H1m/3ft 3in, S1.2m/4ft), blue oat grass Helictotrichon sempervirens (H1.4m/4ft, S60cm/24in) or something soft and feathery such as artemisia ‘Powis Castle’ (H60cm/2ft, S90cm/3ft). Fill in around these architectural beauties with silver- and blue-leaved sun-lovers such as lavender ‘Hidcote’, Eryngium zabelii ‘Jos Eijking’, perovskia ‘Blue Spire’, blue fescue (Festuca glauca), Helichrysum petiolare and Convolvulus cneorum. Plant a selection of these, in threes and fives for continuity, rather than dotting them all in. Around the front create a relaxed fringe of Mexican daisies (Erigeron karvinskianus, H30cm/12in, S1m/3ft 3in) and underplant the whole thing with purple alliums, blue echinops and white agapanthus for seasonal interest. ● Does your border lack a certain je ne sais quoi? Email us at garden.answers@bauermedia.co.uk