By Clarkj
West Sussex,
United Kingdom 
I'm about to have a new lawn laid and want to re-vamp my east west and north south facing front garden borders with low growing evergreen shrubs. The soil is mostly clay. The fuchsias are very old and we're attacked by a bug this year so want to know whether I should get rid of them? Also The wigelia is also old and woody! I will be putting some compost etc on borders so any ideas what I should use would be welcome
12 Sep, 2017
Answers
The fuchsias should be cut down almost to the ground in the spring when new growth shows at the base so they should be OK. Just keep your eye on them as they grow and remove any affected shoots as soon as you see them.
Hebes do well on clay and are evergreen. Roses aren't evergreen but they love clay soils. Skimmias. Euonymus fortunii - silver or gold variegations, bright all year.
12 Sep, 2017
Thank you. Is the weigelia worth keeping?!
13 Sep, 2017
If you don't like it, rip it out.
13 Sep, 2017
You could try hard pruning it and see if it regrows lower down?
13 Sep, 2017
I have Juniper Blue Star. As name implies is a blueish low growing evergreen, drought tolerant, low maintenance. I don't know how much snow you get, but it looks outstanding against the snow.
12 Sep, 2017