Dear Sibe,

I am looking for a large evergreen shrub to form the backbone of my sunny herbaceous border. Do you have any suggestions?

Kind regards,

James D

Our Gardening Expert replies:

Hello James D,

It's a great idea to have an evergreen shrub in the background of an herbaceous border as this will give the feature some permanence over the winter months and also will act as a foil to show off the colourful plants in front. Buxus sempervirens (Box), with its small glossy leaves, will provide a superb background and there is also the advantage that it can be pruned into a hedge shape or even the 'Cloud Box' shape popularized at Chelsea a few years ago. However, there are quite a few other flowering evergreen shrubs that would do almost as well.

The first one I would suggest is Viburnum burkwoodii which grows to about 6in (15.2cm) high and has the bonus of very fragrant white flowers around April when your herbaceous border would be quite bare. Another plant with fragrant flowers (although they are quite small, and may even go unnoticed if it were not for their elusive scent), is Elaeagnus pungens - choose the variegated 'Maculata' for a bright yellow and green background.

There is also the deservedly popular Choisya ternata which forms a more rounded shape and has delightfully scented flowers blooming mainly in May but also sporadically throughout the rest of the summer. One last plant that should not be overlooked is Camellia japonica. This would do particularly well if your garden is not subject to frosts during the flowering time from early March onwards and there are an incredible number of cultivars and colours available to choose from. For the rest of the year it would form a perfect glossy background.

Hope this helps.

All the best,

Sibe

For advice on how to get started see Creating a Border and Border Control.

The above image is of a Burkwood Viburnum 'Viburnum x burkwoodii' available from Crocus.