What are your must have plants?

[Imicola]

Just wondering which plants you'd always choose to have in your garden, and why?

Mine tend to be self seeders like forget me not (which reminds me i need to sow some!), hardy geraniums for the profusion of flowers, japanese anemones because they look dainty and airy in the border, and lots of herbs for cooking. For a bit of evergreen shape and winter scent, sweet box. Oh, and fantastic ground cover from woodruff.

What are yours?

Lovely, i am now imagining so many beautiful gardens fully stocked with these delights! Another couple i forgot are heucheras and hellebores!

Agapanthus are my favourite flower. I just love them.

Followed by lupins, but I can’t for the life of me keep the snails away without using pellets, so I don’t know whether I will be able to keep them in the garden anymore.

Salvia. I know not everyone likes the scent, but I really do, and I love how late some of them go into autumn when so many plants have finished. I also love gauras for their flowering period.

Lilacs for their impact and scent. I have a white one and a lilac one and I love them both equally.

Erysimum bowles maybe too, as mine flower all year round.

I’m a massive fan of pretty much all hydrangeas, I can never have too many.

Ferns, always ferns, just love them they're so lush. Also mad about spring flowers, especially tulips and snowdrops.

Everything everyone has said. I have about 95% of them in my little 6m x 24m garden, which also has a patio a greenhouse and a shed. Although some are squeezed in with a shoehorn.

Agapanthus. I live near the sea and it thrives where other plants don't. Also always think it looks classy especially in front gardens. A friend who visited South Africa told me that there, Agapanthus grows wild like a weed by the side of the road.

I love this thread.

I like to have something for every month/season.

Trees that blossom; cherry trees, fruit trees.

Snowdrops, to cure the January blues.

Spring: Camellia, magnolia, tulips. Rhododendron, bluebells

Summer: Roses, Hydrangea, clematis, phlox, geraniums, buddleia (for the butterflies) Echinacea, delphiniums, Peonies, anemones

Autumn: Most of the above are still holding on. Trees are at their most beautiful

Winter: Daphne.

Evergreens like Red Robin, Hebes.

I would love Lavender (I've always thought our weather was too wet) and dream about wisteria.

@WellTidy did you know that astrantia aka melancholy gentlemen deters slugs? I’ve got a big load next to my lupins and they (the lupins) have faired okay so far!

Most of what I have has been mentioned already, apart from Comfrey which is fantastic as the bees love the flowers and the leaves make amazing plant food. I also planted strawberries and raspberries last year and I think every garden should have them.

@cheezy that’s great to know. I have my lupins sorted around two beds, so I may have to dig them up and keep them in a cluster with astrantia. I have lots of astrantia dotted around other beds, so I may have to rethink!

@cheezy my astrantia never made it beyond a stub in the border as the slugs and snails ate it! I don't know what kind of slugs and snails we have but they are brutal.

My all time favourites are thalcitrum which are just about to peak in my garden. Verbena bonariensis which stands above everything and flowers forever. My favourite shrub is Abelia which flowers from August through to November and the bees love it.

Persicaria
Gunnera
Alliums
Roses (we've planted 60+ here 😉)
Peonies
Oriental poppies
Phlomis
Euphorbia
Irises
Digitalis
Primroses
Geums
Acers (we inherited a 10' specimen that we didn't spot when viewing the house 😃)
Lavender
Wisteria
Ilex Crenata
Verbena bonariensis
Acanthus

Cyclamen! I forgot cyclamen from my list.

@CastaColdEye imagine roads lined with agapanthus (agapanthodes?agapanthi?)
Heavenly!

Magnolia
Lilac
Daffodils and tulips
Bleeding hearts
Foxgloves
Hollyhocks
Perennial geraniums
Old fashioned roses
Dahlias

I love hellebores and agapanthus. I have them and I forgot about a clump of echinops that’s about to flower. I love how dramatic it looks.

We have a Judas tree which usually gives the most amazing pink blossoms but didn’t do much this spring as it was so wet I think.

I love Acers but we can’t grow them for some reason and two expensive deaths have put me off!

@haba

Cyclamen! I forgot cyclamen from my list.

@CastaColdEye imagine roads lined with agapanthus (agapanthodes?agapanthi?)
Heavenly!

I know! It would be amazing to see.

I have a Forest Pansy tree that was a little sickly when I first bought it but last year it really perked up and in the autumn the colour on the leaves was just glorious.

Following with interest.

My main must haves are herbs
Sage
Thyme
Rosemary
Bay
Mint

I could also not be without
Acanthus Mollis
Stachys byzantina
And Wisteria
All of which grow like weeds here.