Tricky border and rubbish soil

[puginamug]

I have a border in my garden. It's on a slight slope and separates our patio from our lawn.

The soil is quite poor quality as when the previous owners extended, the rubble was just dumped in the garden. I've spent ours digging up lumps of brick! The soil is also acidic and clay.

Everything I plant seems to die or not do very well. I did have rosemary bushes about 50cm high nearest the patio but two of those have died over the winter. There were also lavender bushes but they don't seem to do very well either.

There are two established Pieris bushes, skimmia and a heleboras, as well as some day lillies. But everything feels the wrong height and in the wrong place. I need to fill the gaps or just start again!

Questions

• can I improve the soil other than digging all the rubble out?
• what plants will work well in that soil?
• how to design the border in terms of heights. Do I put the higher plants closer to the lawn (so at the lowest point) with shorter plants at the top next to the patio, or do I try to create a border with tall plants at the top?

I have some pots on the patio too.

Blimey, @puginamug that's great progress! It's looking so much better 😃

We're still working on ours - all the sloping soil (and rubble including bits of stone 18 x 12cm) has been dug out taking it down to the lower ground level (60cm approx), sieved, then the best mixed with compost/manure and put back in.

DH is just working on building the retaining wall at the back with oak sleepers (three high) and we have all the plants ready to go in.

Annoyingly, I can't get pics to post on here from my phone (my only broadband access) so can't add progress shots.

Meant to add, we've bought all plants from new (except for the Solomon's Seal which we've temporarily planted in pots/an old sink and will go in later after some foundations have been dug 🙄).

This is what we've got going in (predominantly white as looking to create an 'inspired by Sissinghurst' bed!) -
Digitalis Pam's Choice
Leucanthemum Crazy Daisy
Pulmonaria Sissinghurst White/Opal
Brunnera mac. Betty Bowring
Bergenia Jelle
Libertia
Iris sibirica (Swans in Flight/Not Quite White)
Spirea Snow Mound
Philadelphus Belle Etoile
Crambe Cordifolia
Hosta
Anemone Sylvestris
Japanese Anemone Honorine Jobert
Papaver Orientale Royal Wedding
Dicentra Spectabilis Alba
Standard bay trees
Plus a load of peacock orchids (actually not orchids at all, lol!)

Apart from the Solomon's Seal, the only other things worth salvaging were the day lillies and daffodils. These are being transplanted elsewhere in the garden.

Wow @Hebeee that's amazing.

I shall be nicking lots of these (not literally obviously!)

Lol @puginamug 😂😂😂 Help yourself!

We succeeded in planting most of the above before the weather returned to wintery mode, although there's a small area
of sleepers to complete at the opposite end.

At the opposite end (nearest our cottage), we're planning to extend our porch slightly so haven't actually planted anything in the ground because we'll be digging foundations at some point. Instead, here we've added pots/an old stone sink and filled with the over spill of white plants 😉

@Hebeee that sounds stunning. Did you get the plants from a nursery or online?

Thanks @MsAnnFrope 😃

A mixture really - we got some of the perennials online from Kelway's, Claire Austin Hardy Plants and a couple of eBay sellers. The rest - including the two shrubs and one of the bay trees (we already had two in pots) - came from local independent nurseries/garden centres and Carmarthen Garden Centre (formerly Wyevale)......

Sorry I can’t help OP! But I’m curious what caused so many to lose rosemary bushes this past winter? We have a massive one that we’ve inherited and I’d love to reclaim the space but it keeps thriving.

@Hebeee thanks for the recommendations! Are Claire Austin good? I’m hankering after some astrantia and verbena to fill in the middle level of my borders and nursery stock up here is limited right now!

This was my first purchase from Claire Austin @MsAnnFrope - the plants (in 9cm pots, so not huge) arrived really well-packaged and healthy, faster than expected too. They are now planted and seem to be thriving! So, based on that one experience I'd definitely recommend, yes 😃

@Hebeee thanks, that’s good to hear. I’ll give them a try! Hope you can post some pics of your white border, it sounds wonderful.