Plants For New Garden

Hi all, I recently had my garden landscaped and the time has come to decide on what to plant in the empty borders. I will unfortunately need to widen the borders to a metre as is now only 50cm wide so will be doing that soon.

I want to make the garden colourful with shrubs, and then to plant some more colourful perennials annually. My garden is a West facing garden so pretty much full sun all of Spring and Summer. I know plants aren't cheap so can buy them gradually if required, but looking to get established ones as haven't got the patience to grow bulbs.

Any advice on which plants would look good would be appreciated. Also where is the best place to buy plants as Garden Centers seem to be very expensive. Please see images of garden below.

 

Its not easy advising someone on what plants to buy, its really a learning process on your part to know what you want, as its all personal preference.

Maybe good to go around garden centres and just look, I'd wait a month or two.
Then you can come up with names of the plants you like the look of.

Its much easier for people to advise on if a specific plant is suitable for your garden than just come up with a list of plants that you might not like.

You can get good plants at places like B&Q etc. Might be cheaper than garden centres, but the choice is likely to be more limited.

There are so many plants available but bear in mind if its flowering now its unlikely to be in flower in a couple of months time.

Have you thought of an exotic type garden or a cottage type garden, do you need a play area for kids/dogs.

 

Thanks Pete,

I have kids but no pets. These are what I found these plants so far:

Hydrangea PURPLE TRIUMPH

Weigela florida All Summer Red

Syringa vulgaris Sensation

Potentilla fruticosa ''Bella Sol'' -

I like cottage type but don't mind a hybrid if that is possible.

When is the earliest I can get summer blooming plants as don't want to wait 2 months if possible?

 

@Danny30 Plants are expensive these days, you may be able to find some on freecycle or Nextdoor. You could try growing some from seed some annulas are very easy. Also frieands and relatives might let you have cuttings or a chunk of a perennial. Have a look at nurseries rather than garden centres they can be cheaper, also local markets often have a plant stall and browing car boot sales can pay off.
First of all as Pete said you need to decide on what you would like to grow, style of garden, facilities etc.
Treat yourself to a couple of garden magazines and have a lookat some of the ideas in them, go for a walk locally and look over hedges and fences; you may get some ideas also see what does well in the local conditions. In a couple of months some people will start to open their gardens under the National Gardens Scheme may be worth a look.

 

Some of the ones you mention you could get in March and get them and you may see blooms this summer.

 

Hello Danny30, just a couple of tips....If you're planning on staining or painting the fences, do it now, before you plant up the border. If you are likely to want flowering climbers, get the support (s) sorted out beforehand. Some plants climb by sticky roots but most twine or need tying into wires or mesh.
The other thing is the proportion of evergreens to deciduous plants. It's recommended to go for a higher proportion of evergreens, to give the garden foliage and structure through the year. It can look pretty deadly if all there is to see are bunches of bare twigs Check out Photinia, Ceanothus, Euonymous, Eleagnus, Cistus, Lavender, Rosemary, Hebes, Santolina, Pittosporum and Ballotta.

 

Hard fact 1) There's no such a thing as instant garden unless you are willing to invest thousands.
Hard fact 2) That's what makes it fun, you gradually build something unique, learn a lot and get some quality time outdoors.

Check out supermarkets that have a gardening section. Our Morrisons sells good quality perennials and shrubs often for less than £3. The caveat is that the plants are small and will not look much until next summer.

However, if you invest in a couple of larger shrubs and then use the leftover budget to stock up on cheap, young shrubs and perennials, next summer you are likely to have a good selection of well rooted plants that will grow quickly.

For this summer, why not buy a lot of bedding plants for all summer colour while the new shrubs get going? Again, supermarkets are the best places for bulk buying.

It would be cheaper to sow some hardy annuals that you can just scatter around, but as you said you are not that keen on growing from scratch, bedding plants might be for you. (But do buy a packet of hardy annual seeds such as Nigella and scatter them somewhere, they will not need any attention apart from watering. )

Libraries and charity shops have good books listing plants by type/ flowering period/ colour, they are very helpful when you are making your wish list. And if you are lucky, something on your list just might pop up when you nip into Lidl for milk.

Good hunting, enjoy!

noisette47 is spot on, very good tips.

 

@Selleri, the envelope's in the post

 

Get some bulbs for daffodils, snowdrops etc for the spring time. Dead easy buy bulbs, did small holes one bulb in each, cover over and forget until next year.
As well as the shrubs get some perennials, things like lupins, oriental poppies, dicentra, heuchera, geraniums to add interest lower down.
Also shrubs like dogwood (Cornus) have coloured bark that is attractive in the winter, Callicarpa bodinieri has bright purple berries in winter.

 

You may like to look through this link Danny of good and bad retailers.

Retailer Feedback | Gardeners Corner - The Friendly Gardening Forum

When buying plants don't forget to check labels for the mature (over all) height and spread as you will need to make allowances when planting. Unfortunately (a gripe of mine) is that labels never contain root spread which is just as important.

 

Thank you all for the advice. I ordered a few of the plants above, however the 20 litre Hydrangea was sent completely cut down so not what I was expecting. Will update with some photos when everything coms to life.

 

You do prune back Hydrangeas in early spring, so you wont have to do that this year.
Might be a bit drastic if its cut right down to ground level though.

 

I have been reading reviews on the company and now realised lots of negative reviews. Will see how the plants pan out but going to stick to buying in person from now on.

 

Hydrangea in a 20 L pot would have been quite big, so cutting hard back would make packing easier and prevent damage to top growth. It should grow away happily in spring, flowers this near maybe late summer/autumn depends on the variety.

 

My action would be to decide where you want beds to go, dig them over and just sling a load of annual seeds down for this year. Lots of choice in seed mixes which are very cheap to buy and fairly reliable. With any luck, you’ll get some colour this year,whilst you think about what you want. then bung a load of bulbs in in the autumn so you’ve got some early spring colour next year. By then, you’ll hopefully have given some thought about what you want going forward