What long flowering plants can I put in this 4x1m border?

[MissisBoote]

I have a nice little sunny sheltered patch just outside the kitchen window that needs attention.

I have a sedum, Astrantia and Veronicastrum in there atm and spaces where plants have died over the years and haven't been replaced.

The sedum needs dividing as its massive and I'm thinking about moving the Veronicastrum as it's very tall. The bees do love it though.

I want low maintenance, plants that grow/flower about thigh high and are long flowering. I like blues, soft pinks and purples as well as white. Happy to do deadheading, basic upkeep.

What would you all recommend?

R. Fulgida is one of those interesting plants that likes its leaves and flowers in sun, but its roots moist but not in standing water, so also well-drained. Talk about fussy eh? My Dad grows it in dry shade on sandy soil in a hot part of the country (very close to the OP's home actually) and it never does terribly well because it's too dry. It's not happy in my claggy north-facing northern garden either - too wet here, and too little sun. Bah.

I think that part of the far Eastern belt, near the coast of East Anglia, is a very unusual climate for the UK. It can get really hot in summer, and it's dry, dry, dry - even by comparison to, say, Cambridgeshire. The soil is a mix of clay with belts of sand, and varies quite a lot sometimes even within a few miles. I think parts of it have the same annual rainfall as parts of Israel!

And at dry souls! It sounds like a name for a boozy drink!

I just bought some rudbeckia seeds to try out.

Now I'm all scared of them.

They do well in plenty of places mrsbert - just not the extremes of claggy, cold north-facing or dry and baked!

Wallflowers?

Yes traviata, certain varieties of aster are susceptible to mildew, but this type is not. My plant has never had it.

thanks breakfast, I'll have to try it.

I'm in the med region and basically my whole garden is like beth Chatto's dry garden - but even then I have to water a bit in the summer!

Things that do well:

Stipa
Lavender
Rosemary
Santolina
Erysimum Bowles' mauve
Madonna Lilies (poisonous to cats)
Arum lilies (too well, actually)
Irises of all types
Aubrieta
Euphorbia charcacias
Hyacinths and tulips (but not daffodils)
Ballota
Lamb's ears
Sedums
All the herbs, obviously (but then they grow wild around where I live)

I'll add some more as I think of them!

liara- "I'm in the med region"

Ooh lots more suggestions

I've got Erysimum Bowles' mauve in flower nicely already.

What do you do with it when it starts to get a bit leggy? Can/should I prune it at all?

I know, shove, but I'm such a misery guts that I sit here moaning about my inability to grow acers and shade lovers, and dream about a proper English garden (and one that gets watered from the sky sometimes).

But then it rains for a few days and I remember how it was when I lived back home and get over myself I'd still love some acers, though.

My erysimum don't tend to get very leggy (all that drought keeps them nice and compact), but if they're not looking nice I just rip them out and put a new one in, as they are so easy from cuttings.

I've never taken cuttings before - can you tell me how you do it @Liara?

I have seed compost - will that do?

I'm afraid I'm not very scientific about it, I just cut off lots of tips, nip off the flowers (I usually can't find any that don't have flowers) and stick them in pots with any old soil I happen to have around, several to a pot.

They root quite quickly ime. Once they have I divide them up into individual pots and leave them hanging around until I have a hole I want to fill.

You sound like my kind of gardener :o

I'm going to give it a go tomorrow.

Another one that does well for me (and the cuttings root in days) is centaurea pulcherrima.

The flowers are nothing special, tbh, but the foliage is lovely.

It grows like crazy for a couple of years, fills any gaps in the planting and then tends to flop most unappealingly and I rip it out. I cut any tips that are still looking good, plant them in pots and a month later they are good to go back in again.

Doesn't exactly meet your list of requirements, but an extremely useful plant in my garden.