Can anyone suggest some low maintenance plants?

[novicegardener2]

I have two large flowerbeds in my garden that both get the sun for about half the day. The rest of the time they’re in shade. The soil type is clay.

Things that do well here are salvia, roses, hebe, lavender and fuchsia. I like all of these plants as they look lovely, are very low maintenance and just seem to do their thing each year!

Can anyone recommend any other plants like these that will just come back year after year looking nice with minimum maintenance required?

Also, when is the best time to plant them - will I have to wait until spring? I have some big gaps in the flower beds that I’m hoping to fill.

Thanks!

Hostas are beautiful but can need an awful lot of maintenance if your garden is overrun with slugs and snails.

Day lilies

I think I am the only person who wishes their alchemilla would run amok! I have one small clump & would be happy if it self-seeded elsewhere!

I’ve found ceanothus, choisya and fatsia easy to grown. Valerian & verbena are tall perennials that don’t need much care other than staking

I think I am the only person who wishes their alchemilla would run amok! I have one small clump & would be happy if it self-seeded elsewhere!

No, that's me as well. I keep trying and it just won't grow. People keep saying how easy it is.

I also manage to kill off mint.

Winter flowering hellebores give lovely colour early in the year and have green leaves at this stage of the year. Also can fill in gaps with some annuals until everything comes together.

I also can’t get forget-me-not to grown in this garden though it flourished in my old house...

For annuals, snapdragons last really well here. Slugs don’t go near them & they usually come back for a few years (maybe they are really perennials?!)

Hi @ProperVexed, no it won't mind at all! That's what I meant by my disappearing comment. You can barely make out my azaleas at this time of year. They're there, they're fine, but other stuff has come up and filled up the bed all around it. When that taller perennial stuff is cut back/dies off, the azalea is still there and stays green all winter, ready to pop in the spring.

I actually think it's a perfect plant! I really love the way they grow and the shape they take on. It's also remarkably well behaved. Great value for money!

@DonLewis . Brilliant! Thanks. I was going to move them and now I don't have to!

Blueberry shrubs are great for year-round interest, and low maintenance if your soil is reasonably acidic.
Spring- lovely flowers like pieris blooms
Summer- fruit obvs
Autumn- colourful leaves
Winter- the stems look nice, like dogwood

As long as you're not too fussed about birds getting some of the fruit, you can just let it do its thing. You'll need more than one to get a decent crop though as they cross-pollinate.

Otherwise a corkscrew hazel or dwarf witch hazel is a good statement shrub for a flowerbed without needing tending.

Shrub roses are lovely, make sure you get a repeat flowering variety. They do flower better if you dead head them though. Rose rugosa grow into a big clump and don't require dead heading.
Try growing clematis through your shrubs. I've currently got a blue flowering hebe with pink and purple clematis growing through it, which is pretty eye catching.

Viburnum bodnantese dawn? Maintenance free, grows quite quickly, pretty bronze green leaves in spring and summer and then very fragrant pink flowers on the bare branches all through the winter. I love it.

For the PP who suggested rosa rugosa - be careful! I have it and it's a total thug, has taken over an entire bed. It's stunning in summer and has amazing rosehips in the autumn, but looks dreadful all winter - incredibly thorny and like a thicket out of Sleeping Beauty. Suckers pop up everywhere too, I tried to tame it by pruning hard this spring and it's come back with a vengeance.

I adore Rosa rugosa - in roadside planting or in other people's large gardens!