Please help me plan my planting

[chopc]

We have a huge garden with lots of plants but it is mostly green. Colour cheers me up and we do have flowers but they tend to be short lasting. I understand now is the best time to plant?

1. what plants can I plant now that will give me flowers or colour in the winter, spring the summer and autum?

2. what are colourful shrubs and can I plant them now as well?

So there's two things that'll take you away from the green; more and varied and longer lasting flowers, and foliage that's not green or only partially green.
Tackling the second first, have a look at acers, heucheras, euonymus, pieris. Just to kick you off!
As for when to plant things, if it's at the garden centre now, plant it now - general rule of thumb. So get into the habit of visiting the garden centre. Certainly lots of things can go in now - shrubs and bushes and trees. It's such a vast subject! Once you think you might like a particular plant you can look up the specifics of when to plant and what conditions it needs.

thanks so much @giletrouge thats good advise

If you have a huge garden you could plant fruit trees. Holly trees are lovely too.

In October you can plant bulbs: daffodils, tulips, narcissi and these will come up in the spring and give you colour. Tips can be red, pink, purple or orange. Obviously daffodils are yellow so you could mass plant and grow a rainbow. Bulbs are perennial so come up every year. That makes them good value.

Over winter cyclamen are colourful, red and pink and last well over the winter. Pansy's are cheap and colourful too.

Summer bedding looks spectacular but it only lasts one season. Impatiens (Buzzy Lizzie's), fushia, tagetes, are small and look at the front of s bed try delphiniums, dahlias, to add height at the back.

Your garden should be a riot of colour next year. You might have to put slug pellets down or plants get eaten.

thank you @caringcarer. Much appreciates

I’ve just done a list of flowers in my new garden for the whole year. The stars have been Geraniums (pelargonium, the common one), violas and fushias. All of them were flowering for months on end. Not as showy as some of the roses, bulbs etc but very consistent.

I always plant some pots of marigold (calendula) and poppies and then move them to bare parts of the flower beds to keep it colourful.

Try doing in what you can now, then keeping a diary say once a month. If an area looks bare then you can fill it with temporary plants this year and replace with bulbs, perennials or shrubs next autumn.

Thank you @peakotter

My current garden star are these Dahlia. Tthey are called Bishops Children and I grew them from seed (Sarah Raven seeds). They form tubers which you can lift, but so far I have left them in the ground over winter with some extra compost on top, and they have been flowering like mad bastards since July. Wonderful things. Snapdragons in front of them.

We just bought this hebe for a new bed, which is also rather splendid.

My favourites flowering shrubs are hydrangeas (there are loads of different varieties), Philadelphus, buddleia, virbinums, roses. Herbaceous plants die down over winter but will flower for ages, good ones are geraniums, penstemon, phlox, rudbeckia, asters (for autumn). Then bulbs will pop up every year. You can then fill in gaps with annuals that only live for one year. Cosmos and sunflowers are great!

I have a big garden and find it useful to focus on a smaller area each year in terms of planning and planting. It's actually s good time to plant in the autumn because plants have time to establish over the winter. I also have a few seasonal pots on the patio when the garden is looking more boring.

I love salvias and penstemons for colour, such rich vibrant colours available. they both last for ages, my salvias are still bright and bold. Don't forget wallflowers, the Bowles is the one that is supposed to be perennial, and it has colour for months, I don't dig my others up if they look ok and I have some coming into their seventh year.

Sharp acid colours like euphorbias can look great against darker green foliage , but be warned, they seed everywhere, and some people react badly to the sap, so if you have small children I would give them a miss.

Some great tips here. What type of garden do you have? Formal, informal? Cottage? Romantic? Do you have anything in your garden that you already love that you can emphasise or plant more of?

Off the top of my head I'd suggest some dogwood. They have bright red stems and will look good in winter with the sun behind them.

The right tree, such as a; paper bark maple, crab apple, silver birch or acer can add seasonal interest and give the garden a focal point.

You can also try to grow a climber such as a clematis through an existing tree or shrub to extend its period of interest. I think this would add a fair bit to the maintenance of the shrub though.

Re tulip bulb recommendations. Most of the new fancy ones are best off treated as annuals. If you search species tulips you'll find ones that will natralise and come back.

A really good idea is to go to a nursery every month and buy something that is looking good and flowery!

Or look it up and see what it does the rest of the year.

Plant blubs now for spring. There's nothing more cheerful than some tulips, naricissus and knowing that you've got alliums on the way too.

Bowles Mauve Perennial Wallflower is a great tip.

Geums are my current favourite. I plant mostly orange ones - tangerine dream - and they are lovely and airy and go on forever. Go well with purple alliums.

Oh, and scattering seeds does work. Calendula, cornflower, poppies - little flashes of colour.

I’m another salvia and penstemon fan! i also have lots of geraniums (Roxanne v good), Erigeron, roses, heucheras. Some larger shrubs too. Depends on position- I’ve got lots of ferns and heucheras in our shady parts