Trachycarpus companions Port Moody

My accountant has asked me to redo a garden.

Her back gardens were designed about twenty years ago. Nice stamped concrete, patio, winding walkways, flowing plantings, and trellises. A hottub, firepit and water feature under a Japanes cherry tree can be seen looking south from the covered sundeck.
To the left of the deck in a south facing tear shaped bed,
growing next to the back of the house is a twenty foot tall Trachycarpus fortuneii. It is planted towards the front and in the middle of the 2 foot tall raised Allanblock bed.

The soil in the bed is currently dry and is only hand watered. The palm is very healthy and has never been wrapped for the winter. I believe it was planted too close to the house for its current size, but that's not going to be dealt with.

I don't know why, but the original designer put a Fatsia japonica in with the palm, and it is toast now of course. Obviously it was for the leaf structure.

Diane wants a mediteranean feel to the new plants, and likes succulents
but not sempervivum and she hates the colour pink. Blues or reds are fine

After plant establishment, she desires a low maintenance garden here.

My experience is in standard meat and potatoes west coast plantings.

Any-one have any suggestions or successes with perennial groundcovers and plants that fit the clients description?

Will I run into a problem with allelopathy?

I will be ammending the soil and using reputable wholesale plant suppliers.

I'm thinking one anchor plant to the left of the palm (18 inches tall) on the large side of the tear drop garden. This is where the eye is drawn to when they sit by their water feature to the south west under the Cherry tree.

This anchor plant should have a leaf structure that is different yet harmonious to the palm. It needs a flower maybe and probably verigation.
Behind that I thought some-thing about the same height but wider with different and probably smaller leaves that would backdrop the new anchor plant.

A low growing flowering succulent or zeroscape ground cover or combination is required too throughout the raised Allanblock bed, which is about twenty feet long and five feet deep at its widest point to the left of the palm.

To the right of the palm where the teardrop narrows, I would like another
smaller anchor plant and companions.
Some-thing different from the other plants, yet interesting.

I've been looking at Cordyline, Yucca, Aloa, and Oliander
ground covers: low growing sedums or thymes?

My background: I'm a CLT Landscape Industry Certified Horticulturist, an ITA Journeyman Landscaper, ISA Arborist,WorkSafe Hazard tree assessor,
IPM/PHC certified, BCLNA, CNLA, ISA member etc etc.

Once again I find myself rewriting my business plan as the market and my interests change.

Mostly my company has serviced strata property landscapes for fifteen years.

I am looking at doing more of a design/build situation now,
with less politics I hope. I will continue to do some landscape maintenance

Thank-you for your response

 

So this is a dry, sunny bed? There are so many plants that would do well there. Does she want strictly Mediterranean, or can it also be somewhat of a Southwestern theme? If she wants low maintenance, then I would recommend using plants that are reliably hardy here, so that rules out Cordyline, most Aloes, and Oleander (Nerium) due to the level of protection needed through most winters. Yucca is a very good choice, especially Y. gloriosa and Y. filamentosa, although filamentosa is somewhat overused. Various grasses can be used to add dramatic texture to the garden, as can Iris. Lavender does well in dry, sunny gardens, but needs to be clipped a couple of times a year. Iberis is a Mediterreanean native, and is very low maintenance. Dianthus as well provides a wide variety of colour and size, with some species used as groundcovers. Artemesia is a nice ground cover, with lovely silver foliage. And the list goes on and on. If it's a Mediterranean sunbed she's looking for, I recommend the use of low-maintenance, silver or glaucous perennials with a heavy emphasis on groundcovers. Yucca and grasses provide some drama, but won't take up too much space (unless you choose a larger grass, which I don't recommend). This was hastily written, but I hope you find it useful.

 

Thank-you for sharing you knowledge and for your help.

 

The palm won't be wild about dry and sunny. What it likes is moist and fertile, with a little shade and shelter not being unwelcome. Even in Britain it may be most at home in a damp, sheltered ravine. Many examples here get beat up by the wind and have poor coloring, due to the foregoing needs not being met.