Hardy colourful plants for a sunny spot

[KTD27]

Hello! I am a brand new novice gardener - never had a garden before and getting to grips with ours before summer. Last year we sort of renovated the grass part as it was all stones - not suitable for our babies - and this year we would like to plant and tend to the beds at the top. The largest is full of wildflower and weeds at the moment. We are halfway through weeding it and removing it all. I’d love to know any recommendations for what to plant. It’s a very sunny spot and gets the sun from around 11am til 4/5.
The smaller bed only gets sun in the morning so we could do with something which prefers a bit of shade.
Any favourites which would look colourful and are relatively easy to care for by a novice?
Have attached pics though they’re from a distance and helpfully the sun isn’t out but hopefully they’re sort of helpful for now.

How big is the area? To get an idea for how many plants would fill it.

Wildflower types are good easy care for full sun. Leucanthemum, poppies, cornflowers, calendula, forget me not etc? They pretty much grow themselves.

Or more gardeny things, hollyhocks, foxgloves, snap dragons, nigella. All super easy care and can self seed.

What about foody things like nasturtiums (lovely orange flowers) and wild strawberries? (Lush leaves, pretty white flowers and millions of tiny berries) Again don't need any care except keeping your nasturtiums in check.

For the shady area think woodland plants. More foxgloves and forget me not, primroses, violet etc. I had cranesbill geraniums in my shady patch. And ferns. They all look after themselves!

Bright orange calendula. They are so gorgeous!

Do you want to do much actual gardening when they're planted?

If not, things like lavender, cerinthe, hardy geraniums, if you fancy doing some seed sowing, cosmos are great in a Sunny spot and are great for filling in gaps and for cut flowers.

I’m going to say not much gardening if I can help it. I want to tend to the sleepers down the fence after this I’d like to grow some herbs to but have to be the only person on the planet who can’t grow mint. That’s how novice I am.
Some lovely ideas thank you!
The large bit is about 7mx2m and the small bed about 4x1m

No 5m by 2. Not 7! Need an edit button

Livingstone Daisy’s are really nice and bright too. I always get compliments on them from friends who sit in my garden

Geums. Really easy. Lots of flowers, every year.

A wallflower - Bolwes' Mauve flower for ages - not too much maintaine in them.

Glasnevin is beautiful - up against a wall or fence (needs to be tied in)

We have St Johns wort, lavender, azalea, rhododendron. All fairly evergreen, and bright flowers, with gravel around the bottom for minimal maintenance.

have to be the only person on the planet who can’t grow mint

There's one main rule with mint, which is to grow it in pots! Many other herbs also do well in pots, topped with gravel helps keep the leaves clean. (And if you have any pets/small children being potty trained, minimises the risk of them being peed on).

errol’would you believe I tried that!?! I think it was just crappy timing as it was right before the heatwave last year and I couldn’t work out where to put the poor thing where it wouldn’t get fried then I wasn’t sure if I was overwatering or what!
Where does mint like to be?

@redforshort what is glasnevin? It comes up as a place when I search

Think it's solanum glasnevin (Chilean potato plant) - pretty purple flowers!

In the part shay bit I’d put a Hydrangea, hebe or spirea. They come in a wide variety of shades from white to dark pink and are as tough as old boots, once established.
Already mentioned, Cranesbill Geraniums also a tough plant. The creeping variety would cover the ground in any rough spots.

Yes, that's it GarethSouthgatesWaistcoat:

Here you go @KTD27:

www.rhsplants.co.uk/plants/_/solanum-crispum-glasnevin/classid.1720/

It's an attractive plant, flowers well and gives a nice cover. Maintenance is securing new growth.

Glasnevin is indeed a place - big graveyard and a botanical gardens there. Not sure if there's a connection.

Fab! Thank you all so much. Off to research and plan for my garden centre trip

Mint, unlike most herbs, tends to like some shade and to be kept quite moist IME.

I’d paint the fence first, then plant some climbers. ( clematis, passionflower)
Some higher perennials ( delphiniums)
Medium sized perennials ( lupins, iris, dahlias, hydrangea )
Smaller more bedding type. ( forget me knots, daisy)
Bulbs, summer bulbs like gladioli, iris, lilies.

Try to plant in groups, repeat plant in waves. Try to buy three or six of each to get a good display. A big clump of iris for example give a much better display than random flowers here and there.

Also look at your soil, improve it with manure and add some fish blood and bone.

😊 enjoy your new hobby.

That it is excellent advice from Iris,spot on .

I really wish I'd seen similar and taken it when I started - my approach was to buy plants I liked the look of and put them in the ground paying no attention to whether they were suited to the position . Perenial ,annual ,bedding were all mystery words to me .

Much money later I've moved on to looking for plants that will thrive where I put them .But I have beds where as my gardener friend kindly puts it "you have a lot going on there " .Designed they are not !

I’d paint the fence first, then plant some climbers

Before planting the climbers, also either put in trellises - which you might also want to paint - or screw in vine eyes and put wires along the fences maybe a foot or 18 inches apart. The climbers need support and it's worth spending the time getting that in place.

We need to replace the fence completely actually so it’s a good thing to think about. Fish blood?! Holy moly there’s lots more to this gardening lark than I realised
The soul could use some work I think. Manure and fish bone it is!

I recommend a Scabious as they are bomb proof
Geums too
Slugs don’t like them.
Anything in the daisy family apart from bog standard Ox Eye seem to be like cat nip for slugs in my garden. They ate an entire Coreopsis as well😭

THank you peridito.

I give this good advise from making all those mistakes 😂

One of the first borders I planted over ten years ago was bitty so two years ago I labelled everything at the end of summer with plant labels. I then dug it all up and replanted.
Massive job but the difference is phenomenal.

Fish blood and bone and bonemeal will Improve your soil, and manure will really help. Don’t underestimate the importance of good soil.
If you have wilko or B &m bargains, you will find it much cheaper than a garden centre.
Actually a large b&m will have good plants too.
Aldi had honeysuckle and passion flowers this week, again much cheaper than a garden centre.
Do update on progress.

Oh I’m excited now! Thank you everyone. Most helpful board on mumsnet ever