Starting from scratch

[barkypup]

Got our garden landscaped 3 years ago and since then I've planted loads of pretty bedding plants in the summer. The garden looks lovely, hanging baskets etc. But come winter there isn't a single living thing in the garden bar the grass. Looking for advice on what i should plant (and when) so that there's greenery all year round. I have a wooden fence that i wouldn't mind something trailing up but not sure if that's a good idea.

I need really basic advice please!

Go to the garden centre and buy shrubs and perennials instead of annuals. If you look around every few weeks, there will always be something new in season or in flower. You can then choose plants that look their best at different times of year. Some flower in the spring and then the leaves turn a lovely colour in the autumn for instance, or have colourful berries.

I’m definitely no expert, but as above, you need perennials, not annuals. Shrubs are also good, but you need to be careful re size of shrub vs size of your garden.

What you can plant and where depends on which way your garden faces and how much sun/rain different areas of the garden get.

A climber for the fence sounds a good idea, but what will grow there depends on which way the fence faces. Personally I’d choose something like a rose/clematis/Jasmine.

Re something for different seasons: for now you mainly want bulbs eg crocus, daffodils, snowdrops. Hellebores and polyanthus also flower in the winter.

Late spring/summer is easier as loads of things flower then. I like lavender, lupins, delphiniums (you can get a dwarf version), salvia nemorosa, agapanthus and roses.

For autumn, some of the summer flowering plants will flower into autumn (I still had flowers on my delphiniums in November), I also like cyclamen in the autumn.

Viburnum Tinus and ceanothus are nice evergreen shrubs in my opinion.

I’d advise against planting anything which self seeds like hell (unless you’re more diligent than I am about deadheading plants after flowering!) or anything which spreads out of control!

I’m not sure whether this is the sort of advice you’re after?

The gardeners world website has good advice about different plants for different seasons and the RHS website is really useful for finding out more about individual species of plant.

Thank you both so much for taking the time to reply.

@Thefirsttime I'm literally just going to write a list of the plant names you've suggested and when garden centers open again I'll go on a shopping spree.

My garden is south west facing so decent sun but a few areas that are almost always in shade..

It's so hard to know what should go in a pot and what should go in the ground.

Maybe if i plant my whole garden with perennials and shrubs then do summer bedding plants in pots and hanging baskets.

Presumably daffodils and other bulbs get planted much deeper than bedding plants if they're to come back every year?

I was worried growing things up my fence would cause it to fall down with the weight (in years to come) but all i could think of was ivy so good to have other possibilities.

A good place to start is the Royal Horticultural Society web site. There is a lot of advice and guidance on plants for seasonal interest. You don't have to be a member to access the info, it's free advice from experts.

Good advice regarding the RHS website. Why not draw a simple plan of your garden noting down where the sun fall morning and afternoon.
Then as you research and choose plants you can plot the best for them to go before you buy them.

Hebe are lovely evergreen shrubs, and come in a good variety of sizes and colours. I am particularly delighted by this

www.thompson-morgan.com/p/hebe-midnight-sky/WKB5070TM?source=google-prodex&gclid=Cj0KCQiApsiBBhCKARIsAN8o_4ibb-UwTc3LGM9jz6Uta0JHVsjIirTGPPoWFNJxeTJhOAEwldDCzSwaArf5EALw_wcB

It has looked gorgeous all winter, glossy and rich. When you plant, consider putting different colours and textures of leaves together for contrast.

It is really important to read and believe what your plant label says its ultimate size will be. Our predecessors here clearly didn't so we had a garden full of poorly placed plants that had to go.

Another vote for ceanothus, we have Ceanothus Dark Star. Very nice evergreen foliage. Ceanothus grow large and fast, it could work well trained against your fence (rather than a climber). There are all kinds of ceanothus, really worth deciding which one suits you best, for size, colour, flowering time, before you buy.

Choisya is also worth a look, again, lots of varieties to pick from, but a lovely evergreen shrub with great leaf shapes.

Daphne are also a good winter/spring flowering shrub. Many of them are ever green and small shrubs. You need to choose which species carefully though as the don’t like being moved or pruned (or more bluntly this will probably kill it).

Daffodils and other bulbs are planted about 3 times the size of the bulb deep so daffodils are planted deeper than crocus, snowdrops and narcissi. They just disappear underground after flowering. Similarly some of the summer flowering plants I suggested eg lupins and delphiniums disappear over the winter (the roots stay underground and the leaves die off in the winter and new shoots start appearing in the spring), so they and bulbs can quite happily live together in the same area as they’re not trying to flower at the same time).

I’d be careful with ivy (I’m slightly biased as I hate it) as it grows fast and can easily get out of control. I think on a fence it’s nicer to have something which flowers and if you’re after something evergreen you can get evergreen clematis and jasmine.

I’m a lazy gardener so personally I’d only put things in pots which don’t require much water otherwise you’ve got to be watering things all the time!

As well as what you suggest re annuals, they’re also useful for filling in space while your perennials are growing as some take several years to reach their full size.

Hell yes, ivy is an absolute beast. I have decades worth of it. It kills everything it covers.

Camelias are gorgeous too, but in the right spot. They hate morning sun, and need acid soil. Although my dad is on chalk and they seem to cope with a bit of ericaceous compost thrown at them. Lovely glossy foliage all winter and luscious blooms early spring.

Ok so I'll avoid ivy and I'll have to google a lot of the plant names used to get an idea of what they look like. I must admit i often don't read the advice on the plant labels - to my detriment.

The poster who suggested i draw a plan of my garden and the sun etc - great idea. Thank you.

So presumably i can plant daffodils in my flower beds and because they're gone by summer i just plant the summer bedding plants on top?

I'll check out the RHS website too. I think in the past I've just gone to the garden centre and bought pretty things rather than giving thought to the seasonal cycles of the garden.

I had an empty garden last winter/spring too and gradually filled it last year. My favourites that stayed filling the beds over winter are salvia, hebe, thyme & rosemary. I loved my campanula, osteospermum and dahlia (but I'm not sure if the tuber I lovingly dug up and packed away will have survived the freezing temperatures in the shed over winter).

I mostly just kept going to the garden centre and googled things I liked, checking for what conditions they need and tried to mostly go for evergreens and perennials.

I'll check out the RHS website too. I think in the past I've just gone to the garden centre and bought pretty things rather than giving thought to the seasonal cycles of the garden. Most people do. And because a lot of people hit the garden centres in may at the start of the good weather, a lot of English gardens look good in may and June and less interesting the rest of the year. Yamadori’s advice to go every few weeks is good - that way you start buying things that look good at different times of year

It may be worth getting a number of plants that are the same if you like them too. So instead of having one of everything, buying a few of the same plants and getting a bit of repetition going.

Viburnum Tinus is lovely this time of year, as is Daphne. Both smell wonderful too!

Colour schemes are important too. It can make a garden look thoughtful and put together. I’m going for mainly greens (foliage), whites and dark purple flowers, with a bit of peach thrown in.

I was in the park today and saw beautiful crocus' everywhere but just seemingly planted in the grass. Do i literally just dig small holes in my lawn and plant them if i want that same effect (affect 🤔)?.

The garden centres here have been closed on and off for months with lockdown but they are selling online so i think I'll make a list and a plan from the above suggestions and order stuff.

Does it matter when you plant? Obviously if i plant daffodil bulbs tomorrow they won't grow this season but hypothetically if you planted them in April or July or October would that make a difference?

There's a tool you can buy for planting bulbs in grass. Apparently for the most natural effect you have to throw them and then plant them wherever they land.

I wouldn't write off having daffodils this year. We moved into our house at the end of February a few years ago and I took this photo on 7th April. Having never had a garden I bought a bunch of bulbs and shoved them in the planter with no clue what I was doing. We also had a bunch of anemones that had popped up by June.

I’ve moved house last year and have a beautiful garden that I now am responsible for caring for. I have previously gardened, but not to the extent that this garden needs, I really don’t know what should go in when, when stuff should be pruned etc.
However I bought ‘First Time Gardener’ by Kim Wilde (yes the actual Kim Wilde) and it is helping me a lot and the RHS website.
I’m even making my own excel spreadsheet of all the plants I’ve got and what I have to do with each one.

@barkypup

I was in the park today and saw beautiful crocus' everywhere but just seemingly planted in the grass. Do i literally just dig small holes in my lawn and plant them if i want that same effect (affect 🤔)?.

The garden centres here have been closed on and off for months with lockdown but they are selling online so i think I'll make a list and a plan from the above suggestions and order stuff.

Does it matter when you plant? Obviously if i plant daffodil bulbs tomorrow they won't grow this season but hypothetically if you planted them in April or July or October would that make a difference?

You will need to plant daffodils, crocus, tulips etc in the autumn for them to grow /flower the following spring, most people leave them in for years. I also plant them in pots for a display on the patio. I'd say to buy a basic gardening book to guide you. You generally make a 'framework' of shrubs, climbers, trees etc then plant perennials and annuals in the gaps so to speak. Look for a mixture of evergreen and deciduous plants and shrubs. Enjoy your garden.