Help me choose all year colour low maintenance plants for a sunny border

[WalkingTed]

I'm sick to death of our back border which is an overgrown mass of weed.

IVe got someone's coming to totally dig it over and get it ready for planting but I am clueless so don't know where to start

My only criteria is low maintenance and year round colour.

Please help

Oh it's a chalky soil by the way

How much sun does it get? Which direction does it face? How deep/long are we talking?

Lavender (English not French) will flower every year. Cut back almost to the woody stems after flowering to keep the plant in a tight shape ready for next year.

Erysimum Bowles Mauve looks great (I'm obsessed with purple). Bees and insects love it and it spreads into pleasing mounds of colour (purple!)

Peonies are gorgeous but mine don't flower! I may have planted them too deep so they're on the list to lift and reposition.

Do you have a fence behind? I have ceonothus, passionflower, clematis Freckles (evergreen), climbing roses, spring and summer clematis on my sunny fences as well as pyracantha.

Depending on the border size I'd recommend some shrubs for structure/evergreen interest. My sunny shrubs aren't particularly evergreen - I have lilac red pixie, acers, hibiscus, camellia (partial shade but mine gets a good dose of strong sun and does okay). Choisya sundance is lovely.

Depends how big the space is really

I was just going to say eriseyum (sp?) Bowles mauve. I love mine. Year round colour, I only bought them last spring and they’re huge. My garden is shades of purple, pink and white, so thinking of long flowering, and quick growing, I also have lots of geraniums (wargrave pink, rozanne), hydrangeas, roses, lavender (only English, mine are white and purple varieties), campanula, salvia and clematis.

I also have easy to maintain shrubs like escallonia pink Elle (stays small), winter and spring flowering chamelia, buddleia, lilacs, euphorbia and rhododendrons. I find easy climbers to be hydrangea, evergreen jasmine, honeysuckle and having lots of success at the moment with long and repeat flowering climbing roses.

But if you want low maintenance and colour, I would choose just a few things and repeat every few feet, thinking of height and spread. So much easier to think through and maintain as you can do it less often.

I'm an evergreen fanatic! (Still learning about gardening and what goes where and can't be faffed planting every year!)
I have (in various borders)
periwinkle variegated, tall with purple flowers
Hebe - variety of
Pachysandra
Saxifraga
Armeria
Choysia
Pieris- gorgeous red leaves turning green
Red robins - trees and bushes
Viburnum Tinus
Periwinkle minor
Pinks (year round leaves)
Lavender
Honeysuckle
Camellia (use feed to correct soil)
Azalea and rhododendron -as above
Campanula
and a few others I can't remember names of (low growing)

Perennials add further colour throughout year

Whats a good online nursery?

Good online nursery is Crocus. For value for money Wilko have excellent plants. Heathers and ferns will provide a good back drop for the border. Particularly the creeping grey/blue ones. You will,probably need to dig in some Ericaseous compost and topdress with composted bark to retain moisture. If you underplant with a range of summer and winter bulbs you will have a long trouble free season.

I would also look at stems and seed heads for winter colour. Or ornamental grasses. Various Cornus, especially Midwinter Fire underplanted with black grasses look stunning. Cockburnianus, if you have room gives off an ethereal glow with its white branches. Plant it at the back though, as it has vicious thorns,

For ideas you could look at Piet Oudolf or Anglesey Abbey Wimter Garden. I went over to grasses and stems a few years ago and I love how they just take care of themselves.

Hardy geraniums , they grow anywhere , spread like mad and are lovely .