What would you plant in a raised flower bed?

[YouCannotPossiblyBeHungry]

We have had a new patio and now have a long, raised flower bed to fill. It's a South facing garden and I'd like something that has greenery all year round and bright flowers for as long as possible. What would you plant please?

Camellias and rhododendrons maybe? With bulbs underneath.

It depends how deep it is. If you have space then I’d go for nice evergreen foliage front and back and some perennials or bulbs between them to add the colour.

Lychnis like a sunny position and give lots of little bright pink flowers. The lovely silvery foliage Is a bit different. Ideal for the mid depth of the border .

Nepeta is good for flopping over things and spreads well but isn't green all year.
Low growing junipers would be green (or blueish) all year but get very big.
Hardy geranium Rozanne should flower all summer and spreads and flops well but dies down in the winter.

Helianthemums (rock roses) are lovely for trailing over the edges of raised beds in a sunny aspect. They come in a multitude of colours, and flower for several months in spring to summer.

I add pots on to the top of mine too, so in the winter I add some heathers and things to add some colour & bedding plants in the summer!

Lots to look up thank you. I'm in awe of people who know their plants!

And beautiful photos, thanks IsolatedIzzy. They look great.

Lovely plants Isolatedizzy. Plants in pots are so versatile, easy to pop them into dull spots.

I really like the purple flowers in your picture IsolatedIzzy, what are they please?

Trailing wallflower, I believe.

Hardy, vigorous and persistent, trailing bellflower, Campanula portenschlagiana, is an alpine campanula, easily grown in rock gardens, on walls, in front of borders or even in containers. It forms a generous, dense mat of small ivy-like leaves which become hidden beneath the mass of small purple bells in summer.

www.gardenersworld.com/plants/plants-with-purple-flowers/

If the raised bed is deep enough you can grow just about anything that you would in an ordinary flower bed.

You could pop one or two Selenico Angel Wings into the display. They love the sun and add year round interest into the mix. I planted one last year, haven’t done a thing with it, and it’s looking great. Ignore the rest of the “landscaping”, it’s a work in progress!

Our gardener gave us a great tip when he was creating a new cottage border for us a couple of years ago. He filled it with some plants that were flowering but left some gaps, and told us to go to the garden centre every month for the next year and select anything that we liked, that was in flower that month. We put a few plants in every month (mostly perennials and self seeders) and we have lots of colour there now.