Bit of help with smaller shrubs

Rosemary?

Taxus baccata 'Summergold' ( 0.6m in 10 years) might suit. Will survive full sun or partial shade and is evergreen(gold) and hardy. Will survive pruning to keep small.
Dwarf rhododendrons or azaleas, Cistus corbariensis (rock roses),Lithodora diffusa, Cordyline 'Red Star' should all survive in sun in a pot. Plus lots of bulbs. I hope you will let us see what she does with it. It is always helpful to know what others are growing.

Thanks both
I have already been informed I will be taken to a garden Centre to help choose that probably means I will end up doing the planting.lol

I love the colour of my Leucothoe ax.'Zeblid' in a trough Brian its a wonderful blaze of colour mixed with evergreens ...
Enjoy your trip to the garden center ,you might even get a treat of a cup of tea and a bun :o))

Oh dear and you loathe gardening LOL.

Dwarf lavender. There are blue- or white-flowered forms.
Going off the shrubs theme, dark-leaved heucheras are evergreen, happy in full sun, and would be a good contrast in foliage colour. 'Obsidian' has grown in the sunniest part of my garden for several years now.
The black ophiopogon takes also drought in its stride.
Or the grass stipa tenuissima.

A herb trough? 3 varieties of Sage, the common green/grey, the purple one, the Variegated one, a silver curry plant ( not culinary) all drought resistant and tidy if picked regularly. And some spiky plants for shape contrast, Chives?

Dwarf Hypericums,Santolina,Iberis.

More good ideas shall need to make a list

Andrew you mention Lavender but would they grow on multi purpose compost they are are lime lovers not sure there would enough to satisfy them,they are another no no in my garden.
Siris Think she plans a separate herb garden so all good suggestions not familiar with the silver curry plant will look it up
Amy will have to look up Leucothoe ------
not familiar with that one,as for a cup of tea and a bun I shall expect nothing less than a pub lunch,
This is Olivia's Mum we are talking about the one I had to exercise together with Jamie throughout her pregnancy.

Phil
Hypericums must be worth a consideration.

I guessed this was Caroline Brian she hasn't moved away from you has she ? you would miss Olivia terribly ... Did you get your pub lunch :o)

Brian - my garden is slightly acid and they are quite happy here. A good handful of gravel or horticultural grit under a lavender at planting time would give it the drainage it needs.

Amy this nursery visit is a few weeks off when its a bit warmer thats why I getting some ideas together.
the new house is about a mile away about the same distance, different direction,
She has kept her coach house and rented it out no man in her life doing it all on her own.know stopping some ladies is there.

Thanks Andrew will bear that in mind

Some ideas there for my balcony as well!

I have 3 long plastic troughs on the balcony floor, up against the railings. In the 15 years they have been there I've always replanted them twice a year with winter/summer bedding plants. Never grown anything perennial in them - other than Daffodils but even they get moved out every couple of years.

Now I'm getting a bit tired of it & the "exercise" twice a year really does my back in nowadays.

Something nice to look forward to then Brian , I'm glad they're not moving further away She's an amazing lady and mother Olivia has a great role model and you as her substitute Granddad keeping an eye on them both x ..

I know what you mean about hebe...but parahebe is wonderful and much hardier here. Mine has floweres a little all winter on my north facing deck, and its much softer than hebe. I've also used tree heathers in a planter..great bright golden colour for the winter along with a nice carex perhaps. Then she could add some spring bulbs and colourful summer bedding (nemesia etc) which she could change with the seasons for a change. There are some lovely creeping evergreens on the 'alpine' benches too. Im very fond of Arabis. It makes lovely mats of rosettes. Oh, and theres always heucheras! :)

Other Half "agrees" with choice of Heuchera Plants and Leucothoe and has gone off to think about others! :O)

Ours have bulbs which need constant attention!

Eirlys
Will be interested if you come up with any other ideas
I have a list of possibles but of course who knows what the garden ctr will have in stock.
Bit reluctant on the Heucheras as they are very prone to attack from vine weevil in my area especially if she uses peat based compost which is most likely

Brian - a top dressing with coarse gravel seems to inhibit problems with vine weevils on heucheras. You just need to make sure the plants are 'clean' before planting them.

Andrew agree re the top dressing ,and your point about them being clean before planting is often the problem the peat based compost plus the fertilizer often totally fills the pot with fibrous roots which tear if you try to separate
that only leaves Provado or Bug Clear,neither of which I am that keen on useing.
so I shall probably steer clear of them. having said that there are plenty of other things the weevil like besides

Luma apiculata : dark leaves, white flowers, red berries that change to black.

Kalmia latifolia : "Little Linda" but is lime-hating.
a dwarf cultivar. Buds are intense red, opening to pink flowers which deepen in colour as they mature.

A very interesting selection, nothing I could improve on, agree on not using Heuchera, even with gravel!! do let us know what you decide on Brian....