How do I make my flowerbeds nice to sell house? What bedding plants etc

[xksismybestletter]

We are about to put the house on the market to sell and have a large flowerbed full of weeds and some dead vegetables. I have a man coming who i am going to ask to dig it over, but i am not sure the muddy look is the one i am going for. Is there something straightforward I can plant which will look nice and not need too much attention?

I also have 3 large plant pots in the same situation

Tell me what to buy?

Bark chip mulch for the flower bed and some pansies and chrysanthemums for the tubs.

I just bought some Hebe in the garden centre today on DMs recommendation - winter flowering and hard to kill.

If you're wanting to choose flowers for the colourful impact choose long flowering ones so you'll not be faced with 'gone over' plants if it takes a long time (as we did!!)

sorry - pressed too soon.

Pansies and polyanthus would be good. They'll flower right through to the spring

Thank you so much, this is exactly what I needed to know. I'm going to be wondering why I didn't do this before now aren't I? It will look lovely

Autumn Equinox is on Wednesday when the poles are aligned equidistance from the sun. This means from Thursday there is progressively less daylight than dark. The type of plants you can grow - ie that will flourish - will be limited. With the beds, you could plant some winter vegetables such as leeks, kale and winter lettuces. They will look good in rows even if you do not stay around long enough to eat them. Mail order plugs will get you going.

Cyclamen are lovely at the moment

Turn the beds over, it'll look ok. Just say “we didn't plant anything this year as we were planning on moving, so the beds are empty”
If they're gardeners they'll understand and if they're not they won't care.

If you buy some plants in pots for colour you can always take them with you.

The new people will probably rip out whatever you plant so don't waste your money.

Are people really so shallow that they’ll judge a property on such irrelevancies as what use you made of the garden, rather than what use they can make of it? Sorry not very helpful but it is so depressing.

As Zeal says we are in autumn, heading into winter. If you want plants rather than just blank beds you need things like heather or kale.

For something that gives year-round structure, but gives a change from evergreens, plant a couple of Senecio Angel Wings. They give year-round “lightness” to a bed. They can look expensive, but go for the smallest one you can find - they spread out fairly quickly. This was a toddler (£7 cost when I planted it, it was tiny). And now, people ask me how many I planted.

That photo was taken a couple of months ago. It’s grown even more since and now reaches the edges of the metal ring. The leaves have a lovely silky/velvety feel to them.

Three or four cheap fir trees would give height and structure.
Tall ornamental grasses are in flower now and their seed heads can be left all winter.