Hi Shelley. You are getting a lot of help here. Have you considered taking cuttings to the nursery for them to look at?

Time is of the essence. I would agree with the comments already made. I would also suggest the following: leave the grass, as removing it and replacing with something else will take time. Buy two large pots (the largest you can afford) in white to match the windows or black to match the front door for either side of the front door and plant up with sarcococca, daphnes and winter honeysuckle for scent right now, with trailing ivy and tete-a-tete daffodils (which you can buy in flower). Buy an additional pot, slightly smaller and place on what looks like a circular manhole cover. Plant this up with winter/spring bedding - there are lots to choose from, but keep the pot the same colour as the other two - perhaps add pale yellow wallflowers. Add a collection of pots and similar planting - the knack is to keep it simple. Add a window box for the full length of the window and plant again with ivy and tete-a-tete daffodils and pansy 'cool wave mixed' or pansy 'sorbet yellow frost'. For the left hand side of the picture plant a half-standard viburnum to balance the scene and again underplant with daffodils and pale yellow wallflowers. Once Mother's Day is out of the way you can then think about adding (depending on which way the front of the house faces) flowering shrubs such as abelia, hydrangea, roses or philadelphus to sit below the window to allow the scent to waft in to the room, and to link the left hand side to the right hand side. One thing to remember with pots in front gardens is to weigh them down so that they do not disappear overnight. If the small patch of lawn then becomes a nuisance to mow, remove it, cover the area with membrane and add decorative stone. You could start with larger stones towards the back and getting smaller towards the front, with some larger ones dotted in around pots for variety. Always keep the colour scheme simple for a stylish approach to the house - your mum is very lucky.

Hi Leeza - what well weeded borders you have! And welcome to the world of gardening - its great fun!! The shrubs you have will definitely bush out over time to cover the wall to a greater extent than they do know. I would be tempted to add some summer flowering perennials to fill up some of the space - something very easy to look after like a harder geranium orion or rozanne and maybe some penstemon like Raven - these would bring some colour interest into the area. Also think about some spring bulbs like iris reticulata, crocus or tulips. Good to plant know and they will cheer up the whole area. Other than that get a good mulch/top dressing to try and keep the weeds down!

Lavender should do well if it gets sun most of the day. Look up some English varieties as these can cope a little better if you get cooler temperatures. Only thing with lavender is that can go a bit woody after a few years so you may need to take cuttings or replace. Hydrangeas like those in the photo are thirsty plants and can get fairly large and probably better suited if the border is about a metre deep. Roses would look nice tho, look for patio roses that stay fairly compact and improve soil with compost and manure. Another option is Salvias (or sage) there’s plenty of varieties including many blue ones so worth shopping around. And how about some white alliums for height, these are bulb plants so they don’t take up too much space (see pics below). When shopping for plants look up their individual requirements and eventual height and spread and this should help narrow down options. The RHS website is a great resource with loads of ideas and info.