ideas on how to fill a circular border left from conifer tree felling.

Two things - has the stump been poisoned? Have you dug around in the bed yet? You need to turn over the soil in the bed and work in some composted manure or soil conditioning compost from the garden centre, or similar stuff. This will improve the soil and also let you know how much rooty material there is left in the soil, and depending on how much useable soil there is, that will dictate quite what you can grow until the stump starts to rot.
Once you've established that, I'd like a clue as to the size of planting space we're talking about;-)

hello, last year I removed a very large conifer from my back garden and had the same problem, we left the stump which is about 18 inch diameter and about 4ft tall and made a bird table for the top of it, yes it will eventually rot but not for a good number of years, the soil which was in the circular border was completly removed and remixed with well composted material and a few non peat grow bags , we then regrassed a large part of it where the conifer had encroached onto the lawn area, I have planted a fuschia a hibiscus, and some summer bedding in the remaining area every thing has grown very good and the grandkids love feeding the birds on the table, good luck.

Hello, thanks for your responses.
In answer to Bamboos question. The stump hasn't been poisoned but the bed has been dug around and the soil looks surprisingly quite good. There are alot of roots hanging around which we've tried to cut away but there's still quite alot remaining. The stump is no higher than 2ft and it sounds like a great idea to have a bird table but it would just be a trap as I have a cat who loves to hunt!
There's also another smaller stump which I forgot to mention from a much smaller confier type tree but this is covered up by the soil at the moment. The circular area is roughly about 5 square meters. I don't have much imagination in the gardening department so any advice is greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

I'm just a bit worried that the stump might regrow, but as its a conifer it may not (unless its Yew), so up to you whether you take the trouble to drill and poison it to stop that happening (see my blog on tree stump treatments if you want to treat it).
As there's been a conifer in situ in that soil, it's likely to be a little acidic, so I'm thinking things like Pieris, Camellia, Skimmia, Rhododendron, Azalea, smaller Acers BUT I don't know whether its shady or sunny, this area, or whether its in the middle of the garden or against fences or whatever. If its circular, and you can walk all round it, then you'd probably want something taller in the middle (if possible) and shorter ones round the outside? Any chance of a photo? Or more info?

Yes I should be able to send a photo. The area where it is part shaded and you can walk around it, It gets sun mid afternoon onwards. I have a sentimental rosebush that I would like to plant in it and have an acer in a pot in my back garden which seems to have shrivelled. I have been advised to replant this into the ground to let it thrive again. I've also bought a few bedding shrubs today which are supposed to give all round colour. Your suggestions were what we had in mind though so thank you. I will try and get a photo to you asap. How is it best to send the photo on here?

YOu can add it to the question above (I believe) or you can put it in your photos and direct people there, or post it as another "question" by saying here's the photo, or whatever, and upload the photo with it

hello i have now uploaded 2 photos of the border and tree stump. please let me know if you need any more info. thank you.

Not much chance of planting in the middle of the bed then, with that stump there! Think I'd stand a large pot on it with something lovely inside to grow above everything else. Sounds like you've got plenty of stuff already to fill it up with, so I guess you don't need any more ideas!

Well I'm not sure if I need any ideas or not but the shrubs I have bought are Gaultheria procumbens, japanese eunoymus golden maiden, hebe james stirling, pieris little heath, leucothoe scarletta, rhododendron impeditum (it's all latin to me!) I don't know if these plants are any good or not and they can go back as i still have the receipt. I have 4 x all the above which makes 24 plants. The acer i have was given to me, so i put it in a pot and its shrank! The rosebush is quite new and was a present for my daughters 1st birthday. Do you think all these will be ok to plant in the border? What should i do with regards to putting something in the stump as if I put a pot on and it's windy, it will definately get blown down. Many thanks for your help, i hope you don't think I'm wasting your time because I really don't know what I'm doing. It's a little bit of pot luck!

All the plants sound fine to me, though I'd question whether there'll be enough room for them all as they grow! I meant a large pot on the stump - use John Innes No. 2 or No. 3 (depending on the what you plant) compost in it, its heavy, should keep it in place, specially if you don't let it dry out - unless we have a hurricane of course!

Well that could be a possibility!!! Sorry whats a john innes? And what do you think I should put in the pot?

lol! John Innes is a loam based compost sold in bags at the garden centre - comes No. 1 (seed and cutting) No. 2 mature plants No. 3 even more mature plants! If it were me, I'd put a Phormium in it, probably a reddish/purple one, or the yellow/green variegated one, but you might not like phormium. Google it and see.

told you I was a numpty when it comes to gardening! I will a look on google.

sorry me again. so would you put a big pot on the stump with compost and put a nice big plant in it?

Just had a look and they're nice. Would one of them be ok in a pot though? Worried it may blow over.

Yes - a pot big enough to cover the stump across its bottom, with compost inside the pot and a plant inside that (I'm being facetious here, sorry, no offence;-). Looks like it might take a pot up to 12 inches deep and probably up to 10 inches across the bottom? Can't be exact from the photo. Advantage with phormium is that it has those slightly floppy sword like leaves, so they'll arc downwards and over the sides of the pot a bit. This assumes the stump is level, though.

Yes the stump is pretty level. I've looked on google at the other plants and they're all really lovely. Now i have to decide which ones. Thank you for all your advice. When I decide what and how I'm going to do it. I'll send a pic in. Can you get hold of phoruims at the moment?

Should be able to, though sometimes you find the choice is a bit restricted as to variety. A word to the wise though - don't buy the one called Sun something, can't remember its name, Sundance? Sunrise, I don't know, but its distinctly pink and very light green striped, quite narrow leaved for a Phormium - it won't survive the winter outside - I know cos I've tried, but the garden centre won't tell you that. there's a yellow and green striped one that's fine, a purple/browny one, a reddish one (see my photos for that one) and they all do survive.

Thanks they do look really nice so I will definately take your advice and put one in a pot. Don't know if I should got for the ones that look like an upside down palm tree or the more bushier ones though

Upside down palm tree? Not getting that at all?! Did you look in my photos? The pic I mean is the last one on the first page and its the phormium is on the left of the picture.. You need to look at garden hybrid phormiums such as Duet, Bronze Baby, Yellow Wave - though quite often, they're not labelled up that well. You're not getting mixed up with cordyline, are you? That's got a long, woody stem like a trunk with a sprout of leaves at the top, and not what I mean.

Yes I am - i have one in my back garden it has a trunk but the stems stick up. So not that one then? Sorry if you think I'm a bit dim.

I don't think you're dim, rookieg - I'm absolutely certain that you know a hell of a lot about something I know nothing of - each to their own, and now you want to know about gardening - this is how you learn, asking questions. I see from your comment under the photo of my phormium that you now know the difference between it and a Cordyline. By the way, phormium is technically an evergreen perennial - that means it gets bigger at the roots every year, so eventually, you'll be able to split the plant and have two instead of one, and then on and on.... Can't do that with cordyline.

How will a phorium go if it's in a pot though? Not sure what the base is like etc etc.

I've got three phormiums in 16 inch deep, narrow pots on my balcony - every 2 years ,I turf them out, split them in half, repot one half and pass on the other to someone else ,or find somewhere to plant it. If my pots were wider as well as deep, I could leave them longer than 2 years, so if yours is, say, 16 inches deep by 12 inches wide, then it'll probably be 3 years before you need to either put it in a bigger pot or split it. They grow with normal fibrous roots ,nothing bulbous or cormlike.

Hello Bamboo me again!!! How many bags of compost do you think I'll need to work into the border?

4 x 80 litres should about do it.

Hi there Bamboo. We did all the planting on Saturday much to the annoyance of my partner, he had a bit of a face on but I think he's over it now! Do I need to put fertiliser on or miracle grow or just leave them? Thank you again.

Depends what you mean by fertiliser - if you want to add organic compost or something to the top, fine, but don't put down anything like Miracle Gro or Growmore or any high nitrogen feed at this time of year. Start feeding with that sort of thing from early April next year - if its Growmore (the cheapest) chuck it on the soil and turn it in, either with a fork, or rake it in, and repeat six weekly. Miracle gro general purpose is much more expensive and you need to do it much more frequently, check the box. Glad you got it all done, though.

Thanks for answering all my questions you have been really helpful. I don't know what I'd have done without you. I've put some pictures on, of the finished result but it obviously looks a little bare but hopefully, will fill out a bit by next year. Thanks again your a star!

;-)

Oh yes i forgot to mention - when i planted a couple of the rhodedendrons a couple of them looked a bit dry and sad. I watered them earlier and they still looked the same. Not sure if they're going to survive. What can you suggest to try and "save" them? Cheers.