Help me with low maintenance plants please!

[TurquoiseCat]

So I have a garden with a border. I would like some nice plants for this, but I hate gardening. I've tried it and it's just not for me.

So I was wondering whether I could get some recommendations for plants. I would like some low but wide growing flowering bushes (about a metre wide) that I can just literally plant and leave alone!

Also, the cat constantly pees in one patch of the flower bed, is there anything that can actually survive that?

Shrubs are best bought small, it wont take long for them to grow. Most can be chopped back if they get too big. Is your border Sunny or shady?

Sunny border, how about herbs? - Lavender rosemary, sage, pretty and useful. For flowering shrubs - ceanothus, potentilla, choysia, fuschia loads to choose from that like sun.

Cat will probably pee elsewhere once plants go in. Out of interest, what colour is the cat

Shady is more tricky. My shady border has mostly evergreen shrubs but not showy flowers - garrya, euonymus, hollys, and perennials - ferns, hellebores, Achillea.

It's a very sunny border - the garden's south facing, and the border's west facing so it gets sun almost all day.

Thanks for the suggestions - lots to google now! We do have one lavender that has done quite well, I hope it survives this summer and DD's prying fingers though!

The cat is a small tortoiseshell, and has already successfully seen off two plants already (including a fuchsia, which I though would survive a nuclear war) - still, I'd rather it's my plants than my neighbours...

Agree with herbs as you are lucky having a sunny border. I am a big fan of perennial geraniums as they seem to be bullet proof and there are so many varieties.

Have some more suggestions on my website

kidsinthegarden.co.uk/family-friendly-plants/

Buddlieah are lovely and attract the butterflies and bees, they grow like wildfire but you can give it a good haircut once a year and they thrive.
Lavender and rosemary are easy to keep, they spread out well and respond well to being chopped back once a year.
Dahlias are beautiful but need more upkeep, they're stunning though when in full bloom.
Fuschia and geraniums give a nice burst of colour and aren't too faffy.

Geraniums, osteosperums, sunflowers, nasturtiums are the best plants for lazy gardeners

Thanks for all this, lots of trips to the garden centre planned!

I never thought about geraniums, a bit of red in the garden would nice. It might not be true, but I always associate dahlias with earwigs (which thanks to my DB I have issues with) so I might steer clear of those!

These are perennial geraniums, cranesbills, they die back every year, you hack them back to the ground, then they grow again next year. Fabulous range of colours - my favourites are bright bright pink.

If you get the red annual geraniums they will die at the end of the year. But you can just rip them out when they're done.

I was also going to say hardy ground cover geranium , we have pink ones and do nothing with them at all - they just spread and spread ,it's brilliant. I also have quite a few hydrangeas ,which do need cutting back but are also easy and quick growers.

Hmmmmm... this is a tricky one. If you really, really hate gardening, and you never want to be outside doing it, then don't plant any hardy perennials, even easy-care ones. The soil that they need to thrive will need weeding, and even though they are incredibly low-maintenance in comparison to other plants, they will require a bit of fuss. Instead, just whack in some big, hardy, low-maintenance flowering shrubs that only need pruning once a year. I'd definitely have a smoke bush (cotinus) if I had a sunny border, and a Daphne and an Escallonia. Oh, and a sun-loving magnolia, osmanthus, and a Garrya 'James Roof' if I had a spot sheltered from the frost. Also, Perovskia 'blue spire', lilacs, viburnum opulus with it's lovely white pom-poms...

Unfortunately, my garden is in shade.