What would you plant here?

[InBetweenDays]

We're in the final stages of putting in a new patio in a lower section of our yard to give us a more private area in our yard for a pizza oven, fire pit, hot tub, etc. (we have a decent sized city lot on a very popular street for walking/running and while we love feeling connected to the neighborhood we want some privacy )

To add more privacy to this area we bought some Corten steel planters to place along a retaining wall that separates the lower section of the yard from the upper section. What would you plant in these planters? They are only 10" wide and there is a shelf that is 12" deep, so it can't be anything that gets too wide or deep roots. We would like something that will grow at least 1' but preferably at least 2'+ tall. Bonus would be if it's evergreen. And then some sort of trailing or spilling plant that will spill over the edge.

We prefer a more contemporary/modern garden look and our plan is to plant Japanese forest grass (and maybe agapanthus?) in the beds right in front of the planters. We're in USDA hardiness zone 8b.

Ignore the mess - the area is still somewhat of a work in progress. 

[lessel]

I do not have a green thumb at all, but someone in our old neighborhood (lots of mid-century homes) had similar planters and they had sky pencil holly and creeping jenny in planters similar to these. The pencil holly give the height and creeping jenny give groundcover... and it's a nice dark green/bright green color contrast.

[InBetweenDays]

lessel, thank you! I'll look into those.

[treedimensional]

Kniphofia

[InBetweenDays]

Oct 11, 2020 7:18:03 GMT -5 treedimensional said:

Kniphofia

I love red hot pokers but only knew the common name 😊 Thanks for the recommendation!