At least with Laurel you may cut it back to the ground if need be. You can trim your side back to the trunks without killing the dratted stuff.

Yes Owdboggy, it will be quite a drastic cut back otherwise the grasses or any plants won't stand a chance! It's been quite sad seeing the border shrivel up with lack of sun & rain this summer so am hoping to revitalise it. Do you grow any grasses in your garden?

Not in this one. We did in our previous place. We had a large number of them. I found that if one made a place where they could grow well,so did all the weed grasses to. So make sure you begin with really clean soil, especially not couch or twitch grass.

Ignore this if you think its cheeky, as it isn't what you were asking. But as I looked at the pic of the border I thought it might be worth considering abandoning the idea of a proper border and planting some small shrubs instead - eg perhaps some of the smaller Berberis, a dwarf Rhododendron or Azalea, a few silver variegated Euonymus to give some lightness during winter and generally brighten it up. It would also be more labour saving. Or another suggestion, how about planting the whole lot with a Nepeta - flowers for months and doesn't leave any room for weeds ...And it is a magnet for bees.Also survives in pretty dry ground, which is inevitable so near a big hedge.

Good suggestions Steragram. Definitely worth looking into. Would need a lots of nepeta plants though as it’s 1.5 metre deep and 8 metres long. Are nepeta good in dry soil? Am first going to get gardener to cut back hedge, see how much light it lets in then dig over border. Then will see what seems to be best. Thanks again for your suggestions.

I think I agree with Stera about the small shrubs & Nepeta. My two Catmints didn’t mind the drought, nor did two Salvias, Pink/Hot Lips & Clotted Cream. None were watered & they are still flowering. The Catmint gets cut back after its first lot of bloom & grows up nice & bushy to flower again. I have 4 different grasses & they didn’t do anything during the drought but are only now trying since the rain.
The ferns I have (13) didn’t like the drought either. Other plants which would grow there are the Curry Plant & Cerinthe which seems to thrive anywhere. Hope this helps, & good luck with the chop.

Feverfew - thanks for your suggestions. It would make sense to put in plants that are drought tolerant. For some reason thought grasses were? A new project to get mu teeth into over the winter. Any suggestions for bulbs in there?

Yes Nepeta doesn't seem to mind drysoil. One plant makes a nice big clump and you can always begin putting bulbs or annuals in between until they grow. In that situation you might be better to go with a big one like Sixhills Giant. You would only need a single row,planted in the middle of the border as one plant can spread up to a metre though mine hasn't got quite as big as that..My Euonymus Fortunii didn't suffer in the drought at all, if that helps. I think a formal mix of a silver variegated one would look good with the nepeta and in my garden they grow well in the same bed but Nepeta on its own would still look great most of the summer. It does disappear in winter though ...

You might consider the upright(taller) varieties of Sedum which is a good plant for borders. It’s a low maintenance/ drought tolerant plant. The only thing that is a toss up is the amount of sun that it is going to get. Perhaps there are varieties that do well in partial sun.

Sedums tend to flop on my garden but they give awesome autumn colour! Am going to dig up border after hedge has been cut and lok for tall drought tolerant perennials at the back & take it from there.

You are right that grasses are drought tolerant. My Anamenthale is happy, also several Sesleria, Hakonechloa, and Miscanthus. Like Feverfew, I have discovered that Salvias are perfectly happy without being watered, and also Gaura (lovely and tall!).

An excellent website for info on grasses is Knollgardens.

Still about nepeta - would you like a few bits? Mine youd do with taming a bit.

Sheilabub- thanks for your suggestion about grasses. I’m leaning towards grasses and Salvia’s with some nepeta thrown in as well!

Steragram- I wouldn’t say no to some Nepeta! Could you tell which variety you have?

Was also thinking about digging in some soil improver, leaf mulch or ‘black velvet’ as we call it around her to give the soil some structure.

That’s an excellent idea to dig in soil improver of some kind … it will help to absorb whatever rain we get.

Looking back at photo’s I could make the border a bit deeper?