Novice gardener needs some ideas/advice

[Greedyfly]

Hello guys....

I am a total gardening novice. I have recently moved house and we only have a small yard space out back. It is quite open and one half is a complete sun trap the other shaded the entire day. I would like some colourful flowers and plants to put out there maybe in some tubs or planters, I have a cat so nothing that will hurt him as he will eat anything he sees. The plants/flowers themselves need to be easy to look after. As I know nothing about gardening I would like some suggestions on what to get.

I was thinking along the lines of some potted rose bushes (but after some internet research, apparently they don't like cold winters - I don't really have space in my house to bring them in). It's just so dull and grey out there I want an injection of colour to brighten my afternoons.

Thanks for reading and your advice.

[alexanderd]

Roses are okay over winter if you get the hardy type. A clematis in the sun would take no looking after, just cut it back once a year. Daffs and tulips grow well in tubs and come back year after year. Check in your local library in gardening I am sure you will find loads of selections. I dont have a garden but lots of pot plants. Good luck

[carlton23]

What direction does your garden face, North, South, East, or West? and what is your soil Alkaline or Acid, also what part of the UK do you live? Have a look around your neighbourhood to see what plants are being grown well, and don`t be afraid to ask people about their plants, as we all like to pass on our experiance with plants.

[Greedyfly]

Carlton its a yard so we have no soil back there, everything will have to be grown in boxes or tubs. I live in Yorkshire so the weather is sometimes quite chilly.All neighbours also have drab boring concrete yards - so no one to really ask unfortunatly.

[carlton23]

Oh dear, how unfortunate to live in drab old Yorkshire, but at least you can grow whatever plants you wish if you use the appropriate compost for them, but grow hardy plants, and take that little bit of extra care with them in the winter months by giving them a good covering with a 2" mulch.

[CatGirl4]

As you're worried about your cat,i'd stay away from lilies.

[Greedyfly]

Thanks for your answers so far. I would like to point out that I did not say Yorkshire was drab - far from it, I said our yards are drab!

[rowanwitch]

Hi Greedy,
Pots and planters can look a bit 'bitty' for your shady side think a bit bigger and use some decking boards or railway sleepers to make a really big raised bed about 3 ft wide and the length of the yard, and about 2'6'' high you will need to put lots of drainage in the botton shingle is good (and cheap) and then fill it with a mixture of topsoil and some potting compost. plant it up with clinmbing hydrangea (petiolaris) anda small lerafed variegated ivy and you could try climbing roses or clematis. then in front of these ferns, hostas, alchemilla mollis, spotted laurel or fatsia. and some shade loving flowering plants like impatients and violas, keep to pale shadesand white dont forget to squeeze in bulbs for spring flowering

Choose a single colour for your pots and as it is a small space keep your colour scheme fairly restricted, I would probably plant white perennials and lots of coloured foliage and add a fresh colour each year with different bedding.
If you can change the colour or walls or fences light colours on the sunny side and a black or very dark brown colour on the shady side so it warms up Stranglely enough in small spaces a few larger plants work better than lots of little ones. Try to add a small pool or fountain, the sound is relaxing, a solar powered one in the sunny side would be easiest and lights for nightime

[woofgang]

grow your cat a bed of catnip in a sunny bit...he''l love it

[AlBags]

Multi-level planting is a key to small courtyard gardens.
Get some shelves/staging up in the design ; )

[boxtops]

We've got a side of the garden that gets no sun, perfect for ferns in pots. As for the sunny side, you can get a quick fix now with loads of tubs and hanging baskets of standard and balcon geraniums, not a problem for the cat and full of colour.

[237SJ]

On the sun trap side I would plant dwarf lavender in pots. You never have to water it and it smells lovely when it flowers (and attracts bees which is good for the environment)

[boxtops]

Never have to water? My lavender is quite thirsty!

[Greedyfly]

I do love bees - will be giving these ideas a go thanks guys

[rhinoinyork]

we live in yorkshire with a small yard.. we have tubs of honeysuckle, roses, clematis. pansy, nastertium, runner beans, peas, sprouts, tomatoes. so you can grow just about anything in a yard

[darcydark]

Try a ceanothus, lovely evergreen shrub, blue flowers, just prune as you wish or just let it grow, problem free shrub. Or a Spirea, a shrub covered in white flowers, no looking after it, prune as you wish. A Camelia, easily looked after shrub, as long as it doesn`t get the morning sun. A Hydrangea, bright big pink, blue or white flowers. Allo fo these are suitable in pots, put stones, broken crockery on bottom of pot for drainage, place smoll stones on top of soil after they are potted, stops sun drying out soil, reduces watering. I have all these in pots, no problems. Google them.

[Buenchico]

The Royal Horticultural Society has a superb search facility, on their website, for suitable plants. See here:
http://apps.rhs.org.u...selector/default.aspx
(You can ignore the 'member's login' section at the top. The search facility is available to everyone).

To check whether there's any risk to your feline owner, see here:
http://www.moggies.co.uk/plants.html
(That's not a typo, by the way. People own dogs. Cats own people!)

Chris