Trying to sort out my garden, complete novice, advice please?

[overweightcat]

I've never as much as done a day of gardening in my life until recently.
We moved into a house that has a good sized garden with 2 large planting beds running along one side of it with a stone border. Previous occupants had them made but never got around to planting so it was rather overgrown.
We pulled everything up, turned and sieved the soil and planted a few bits and cuttings that we got luckily everything has taken. The weed growth on the beds is ridiculous so I put down weed control fabric and bark mulch on top as I don't have time to be out there everyday pulling them up. It looks so much neater but I'd love to plant more and let some of the spreaders spread...
Not sure what else to put in and what's easy enough to look after.

So far I have only planted in one of the beds. We have geranium, lavender, a few irises, something called (I think) Yellow loosestrife, a palm looking tree from MIL and a spreader type one that has lots and lots of small daisy looking flowers. I also have a sloe plum sapling and another tree sapling which will take years to grow.
I've left some space around them for them to spread (hopefully) but put weed fabric on most of the beds as there's a lot of blank space that was just getting crazy.

What else can I put in the borders that's fairly low maintenance? I'd love a rose bush but not sure what to go for. I would also love some sort of climber.
We're in the countryside, the soil I think is clay and everything seems to have taken very well to it, our friend who gave us the geranium is shocked at how quickly it's established and flowering like crazy.

Any advice very welcome.

It sounds like you've made a good start.

If you have clay soil, roses should be happy. Is there a fence behind the flower bed? If so, climbing roses, clematis and honeysuckle will cover it if you attach netting or a network of wires. To choose roses, the David Austin website is great and will tell you which rose suits which conditions.

Other ground cover plants which are easy to grow are heuchera, tellima grandiflora and pulmonaria (better in shade). I love hardy geraniums and there are lots of varieties you could try as they obviously thrive in your soil.

Is the weed suppressing fabric all over the bed? When you plant do you make holes in it to plant through? Some plants have shallow roots and will spread along the top layer. Others will need deeper planting holes.
Hardy geraniums are great for getting started and are easily divided when you want the space to plant something else. Hydrangeas are great statement plants for looking after themselves and have a long flowering period. Hebes are another classic for easy to manage plants.
Also plant some spring bulbs in the Autumn so that it looks pretty in the spring.
Weeds will grow on the top of the bark clippings and are best pulled up before they get a chance to flower and set seed. Unfortunately In the countryside there will alway be weed seed blown in from the fields.

Ahh yes hydrangeas! Will have to look for some.
Also I've been eyeing up a hebe recently I think they look fantastic.

I'm aware I'll never escape the weeds @Beebumble2  but I'm hoping the weed fabric and bark will help manage them a bit better for now as I had a few weeks out of the garden recently and it looked like we had flowers among weeds not weeds amongst the flowers when I got back out there.
Also hopefully once I get more things in there hoping it will fill the gaps and become more manageable that way too - unless I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Thank you @ComeBackIntoTheGardenMaud I'll definitely look on their website for some roses.

I've been out there today and had a good tidy of the garden and porch and I'm feeling rather accomplished

Oh and @Beebumble2 yes weed fabric is pretty much on the whole top layer. I've left some room around the spreaders to let them spread and I will be cutting through it to plant making sure I leave plenty of space for them.

In my head I'm hoping as I plant more and get more and more things spreading and growing the weed fabric and bark will naturally start receding as it won't be as needed anymore.

So satisfying to clear an area for planting. Lamium known as dead nettle, but doesn’t sting, is a low growing, great spreader. It comes in several varieties some with variegated leaves. The most voracious spreader is the yellow flowers with silvery leaves.
Sounds like you’re having fun.