Football proof plants needed!

[Smowball]

Lol, I have a small garden - all patio and decking. raised flowerbeds either side.I love flowers, plants but boys football always ends up snapping things.So even though he does go across to park mostly now, he still has a kick aboutside. So what shrubs, plants can I put in pots and beds that are really strong and hardy. Either evergreen , with flowers or not, I dont mind. They just need to be pretty resilient!

[sunny-dave]

Variegated Holly- a spikeless variety unless you want to deter his footballing activities :)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...plant_pages/412.shtml

< actually usually has more yellow variegation than the picture shows)

[woofgang]

Mahonia is fairly resilient, smells lovely about now and is a bit prickly, if he has to rescue the ball from it, it will put him off kicking in that direction again lol.
Hardy fuchsias, the small flowered kind are fairly bendy and will quickly regrow over any snapped off bits.

[murraymints]

hebe...pieris...

[sunny-dave]

Forsythia is lovely in the spring - if you prune it back each year after flowering you can produce a good shrubby barrier

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...lant_pages/3306.shtml

[Smowball]

Dave, I bought a tiny forsythia last week, its only a foot high. How big will it get this year? or not lol

[sunny-dave]

Perhaps a couple of feet - but very spindly - then you cut back to about half size & that will encourage it to spread and produce flowers next year (I think)

[Smowball]

hmmm, my mum never pruned hers and it ended up high and thin, almost tree like.

[woofgang]

You can get a dwarf kind the spreads out not up and cheap as chips!
http://www.jparkers.c...-forsythia-mini-gold/

[Smowball]

hmmm thanks woofgang

[murraymints]

you have to prune fosythia immediately after flowering as it flowers the next year on new growth.. euonymus also a good hardy shrub..emerald and green variety...

[Smowball]

murraymints - do you mean as soon as the yellow flowers have died off??

[Philtaz]

Pyracantha and Cotoneaster are quite sturdy.

[Smowball]

Pyracantha? Ive never heard of that. How big does it get?

[Nibble]

Best keep it under control, see here

http://www.hedginguk.com/pyracantha.html

[Philtaz]

You can buy small ones in coffee-jar sized pots for a few pence, just keep it trimmed back from an early age and it should be fine.

They make good bonsai too.