I really miss the garden in the house we sold to fund our caravanning. In addition to masses of trees and shrubs, I had annuals planted in 36 truck tyres stacked 3 high, which made a level I could reach easily. Sadly, there’s not much point planting annuals now, because I’m generally not here to see them bloom. This gives the hint that I like flowers, lots of color and perfume.

EAST Under some shade mesh on four posts, I have pots containing a rhododendron, camellia, pelargonium, a couple of ferns, two young Powton trees and a Crepe Myrtle( both cuttings from the old house), aloe vera, bulbs of daffodils, jonquils, star flowers, snowdrops and hyacinths (all from the old house) and various cuttings of things I nick on my travels. There’s also a big pile of interesting rocks, left by the last tenants.
These pots have survived our travels (courtesy of the automatic timer) but the weeds overtake the pots and the ground around them. I’d like to make a feature of this small area of pots because it’s in a place I can easily see from the house. Fish fern and variegated ivy are beginning to cover some of the ground and I’m reluctant to get rid of them but don’t want them to take over too much. (The Powtons and Crepe Myrtle will have to go into the ground ASAP.)

The rest of the square house has narrow garden beds along the sides, with not a lot growing in them.
NORTH This bed is what people see as soon as they drive in and it looks terrible. I have a soaking type hose which might be good for here??? I’d like some tallish plants, about 1 metre high, at the back of the bed. (If they’re bushy, they could occupy the whole bed.) Suggestions please?? It’s in the blazing sun all day, so I don’t suppose I could have hydrangeas?? What can I put at the front of the bed if the back plants are tall and thin?

WEST The bed on one side of the door is very protected and shaded and can be watered easily. An ugly old cypress provides much of the shade. It isn’t huge and son doesn’t want it cut down so I’ll tolerate it because of the good effect on the house. I’ve put in a bird’s nest fern and it’s doing well. Suggestions for some other plants?? --- no trees though.
Nothing is growing in the bed marked out on the other side of the door and I’ve earmarked that for my big shell collection. I have some old shade mesh. Would that be suitable to put under the shells?

SOUTH I’m happy with this area, which I’m slowly getting filled with agapanthus, which appear to cope with the small amount of rain we have.

GENERAL The house has a veranda roof all the way around but no one ever got around to building the veranda floor except for the east and a little of the north side. The house sits 600-700 cms above the ground. The garden beds are outside the veranda area. The soil beneath the veranda roof grows weeds by the million. It’s a huge area, about 30 metres around by 4 metres wide. Solution?? Hubby added veranda boards so I could access a ramp at the side and the small area he did cost an arm and a leg, so putting more veranda on a house we don’t own, isn’t the answer.

My apologies for this lengthy letter ---I needed to give the overall view. I’m happy to receive all sorts of suggestions so I hope that many people can oblige.

I am far from expert compared to the others here who will no doubt wade in soon enough to provide some advice but just a couple of thoughts that came to mind...

1. Geraniums might work on the northern side. They generally require very little pruning and can neatly occupy about a 1m tall x 1.5m width. Constantly flowering you might not have much of a perfume (unless you crush the leaves as you pass them) but you'd have some visual beauty.

2. Given you're obviously not able to bend or stand, could you buy standard roses at the appropriate height which would allow you to do most of the maintenance and then your husband could get involved once per year as required? I'm thinking of the small neat "balls on a stick" effect that it's possible to get through semi-regular pruning. If you bought them at the appropriate height for your wheelchair (easy to judge when you go shopping for them) then you should be able to do 99% of the the maintenance whilst seated? The final height of the plant would be determined already so you'd not need to be concerned they'd be the wrong size ultimately.

3. You might consider eliminating the fishbone fern (hey, you said your husband would help sometimes!) and laying down some serious weed-barrier (even thick newspapers would work) covered by gravel / white stones / woodchips that requires no ongoing maintenance. Your pots could then sit on this area and you'd have them as a feature without the weed problem.

Hope that helps...

my neighbours are pensioners and use besser bick blocks (the ones with the holes in them) to grow most things. They can get them knee high or higher and grow most things in the holes.
If hubby is a bit handy he can make a form for the concrete blocks and make them at home or you can buy them a couple at a time ---- check out the square foot forum in the USA part of garden web

I'm recovering from a boken back and have found no-dig gardening a real help - lots of mulch and many low maintenance pants.

for your north bed - try some gevilleas or melaleucas or even the buddleia - butterfly bush (weed haters will denounce me for suggesting these)

west - a wet/shade loving herb garden - vietnamese mint, cardamom, odrinary mint, other ferns, have a look at some of specialist forums in the USA part of garden web

for the east get a large pot and make a fish pond??

just some ideas
cheers and good gardening

paradisi

Lavender dont like wet feet so they may do for the north, or what about daisy's only trouble is those both need pruning at times maybe Grevillea. You could have Campanula at the back and Polyanthus in the front or even pigface

Canna lilies for the West, and dont forget there are lots of smallish flowering prunus, what about Daphne, do you like Natives have a look at the link below it may give you some ideas. There are so many plants out there for your area so good luck with whatever you choose.....Cheers..MM.