Front garden new house

A small tree in the middle of that grass area would immediately give you a feeling of screening - something like a sorbus or an amelanchier have a light canopy and several seasons of interest. Rugosa roses by the fence - tough, disease free, flowers then large hips. If you had the time, inclination and money, you could make a woodland garden around the central tree, replacing the grass with either chipped bark or the woody output from a garden shredder

Thanks Andrew the tree and the woodland theme were along my wavelength as well. I have a Ginko Biloba and a Monkey Puzzle which I have been nurturing in large pots, I was going to put one of those in the middle then plant things like Trilliums, woodland anenomes, cyclamen and ferns around the base. I love Alemanchier laevis as well so I may pop one on in the far corner by the fence and maybe the Acacia Baileyana purpurea along the fence as the sun shines along there, lots of different foliage colours, lets hope I don't kill the acacia - again!!

I hope you realise how big these trees can get. Monkey puzzles grow to 70 feet and gingkos to 100 feet. Acacias 'only' grow to 30 feet but resent pruning

Yes, they are good points, I'm not too worried about the height. I may have to think again about the acacias, a few other gardens in the town have them growing against their fence/pavement, I will take a look before I plant. I also have the hedge between the properties to re-do!

A few other ideas of shade lovers to extend the season - primulas, polygonatum (Solomon's seal), thalictrum (meadow rue), polemonium (Jacob's ladder), campanula trachelium (nettle-leaved bellflower which flowers in July), Japanese anemones to take you into August and Septmeber (although these can be invasive). Other small shrubs include sarcococca (Xmas box) - very fragrant flowers in February (one would be enough to scent the whole garden), dwarf rhodos if your soil is acid and moist (any of the Yak hybrids which only grow to one metre), euonymus with evergreen variegated foliage, mahonia aquifolium only grows to about four feet and suckers mildly, hydrangeas. I also reckon viburnum tinus should be in every garden - evergreen and flowers for six months from October through to April

Thanks Andrew, these are some fantastic ideas, I grow alot of your suggestions in my Nottingham Garden, so i'll be doing plenty of splitting before I go. I have so much stuff to take with me we are planning to get a dedicated vehicle just for the plants! What is the red shaded euonymus called again?

Are you thinking of the native euonymus alatus with autumn colour and the orange and pink seeds?

Yes Alatus, I must right that down somewhere. I always see plants I like, forget to make a note then forget the name and spend ages trying to find out what they are, thanks

I have a 'Wants' list (that currently runs to 7 pages!) of things I have seen, read about, lost or want to try. Just reprinted it as there were lots of written-in additions over the past 12 months. I try to take it with me whever I'm visiting a new nursery of Garden Centre or somewhere I know I can get unusual things