Some nice and easy plants for new garden

[Kelly Jo]

I have just brought a new house and the garden consists of a lawn with about half a meter either side for some plants (and bear fences). I am a complete novice gardener and work all week so I do not have much time. I would really like some pretty plants to cover some of the fences but they really need to be very easy to manage. I was wonderering if anyone has any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

[Jules001]

I know it's not strictly a japanese style garden, but you could plant with ornamental grasses and lots of gravel on top to stop weeds becoming a problem, most grasses don't grow too tall so that won't cover your fences, but you could put some willow /bambooscreening against the fences to go with the theme, you could have windchimes and oriental type statues too.

Just a thought is it a brand new house or just a new house for you, if not brand new you might be advised to wait a while and see what comes up as you don't know what the previous owners have planted.

[Kelly Jo]

Thanks Jules

It's an old house but it doesn't appear to have any plants as there is already small stones on top of the soil. Its looks pretty bear at the moment

[Thunderbird+]

Hi Kelly,
I dont know how much sun or shade you get in your borders, but I can think of one plant that will do well in any aspet and is easy to manage, as long as the ground is not prone to waterlogging.
BERGENIA (Elephants Ear) Has large round evergreen leaves with 1ft stems of white or pink flowers (late spring-early summer) that will soon cover the ground and require little maintenance.
Several varieties are available B. 'Baby Doll' has smaller leaves Good Luck Tbird+

[Kelly Jo]

Thanks Tbird!