Please help. Full sun flower bed.

[Paranoidandroidmarvin]

I’m new to all of this. And have an empty garden. But we are slowly getting there in terms of patios , pergolas etc.

I’m still learning flowers etc. but struggling a bit so any advice would be great.

I have been learning about full sun plants. As I will have a full sun flower bed.
But I’m going round in circles. Some websites say certain flowers like full sun then others say they don’t.

Can anyone recommend me some full sun plants / flowers etc. not worried when I can plant them. I just want a plan in my brain if what I can do.
Then I can learn more in terms of planting caring etc. Any help to get me started would be so helpful.

Lots of plants! If it gets very hot in the summer then ‘drought tolerant’ is a good term to search. But most plants like sun.
Ones that have done well for me include lavender (Hidcote, a nice dark purple and more compact), perennial wallflowers Bowles Mauve, Salvia (mine is a small one, microphylla or Greggii, there are some lovely colours out there).
Try and make sure you have plants in flower through spring - early summer - late summer - autumn. Have a look at your neighbours’ gardens if you can and see what thrives.

Hello! Lovely that you're getting into gardening. I'm no expert, but I'd think about this in a number of ways.
Setting aside the sun issue you need to think whether you want an overall structure of shrubs - semi-permanent plants that continue to grow over years, with a frame that stays above ground - with some perennials - plants that die back every year and then regrow - and then the plants you regularly replace and so can chop and change with like annuals and biennials.

Then you need to ask what will grow in your particular soil and part of the country - if you are far south for instance you can grow things that you can't grow in the north.
You need to consider the colour and time of year that plants flower too and the shapes they will make together.

How big is the bed? Is it against a wall or fence or is it central? If it gets no shade at it all sounds like it's central.

There's so much to say but you need to consider these kind of basic issues first before you start to choose anything. It's very easy to spend a lot on plants and get disappointed when they all die or even flower when you don't really want them to!

Great tip from PurpleParrotfish to look at your neighbours gardens too!

There’s a great book called Brilliant and Wild that I think would really help you. It’s aimed at sunny sites. And has lovely planting ideas. Lots of movement and tall wafty and scented borders. It helps to know what kind of soil you’ve got, clay, chalk etc….but not vital at this stage.

I live in a bungalow. So can’t see any of my neighbours ( just moved in last year )
I have had a peek through some of the gaps but they don’t seem to be Gardner 🤷🏻‍♀️ Thanks for the ideas so far

The crocus website is quite good for inspiration (you don’t have to buy there) and you can search by sun level or look at the combinations in the ready made borders and identify the style you like to narrow it down.

Soil and your location are big factors too of course but roses (look at David Austin for suggestions as to which) like sun, lavender and Mediterranean shrubs and herbs, bearded iris, salvias, echinacea…

Perovskia is a lovely one. Beautiful blue purple spires, bees go mad for it. I have Perovskia Blue Spires, which goes quite tall, or you can get P little spires, which is smaller.

Perovskia goes well with rudbeckia, (many kinds and sizes) which are yellow sun loving black centered daisy style flowers.

Those are both plants which come back each year.

You could also try osteospermum, I like Purple sun, blue eyed serenity, and rose serenity, these are not hardy, so if you have space indoors, you could order a bunch as plug plants, pot them up and keep them somewhere cool and bright until the frosts are done, then plant out : much cheaper than buying when they are bigger.

By late April May you should be fine to raid the garden centre for annual bedding plants, I am particularly fond of antirrhinum (snapdragons)

You could try seeding direct, of course, poppies and nigella are v easy, but they don't half self-seed!

big or small? shrubs or flowery things? any particular colours you like, or styles?

Lots of excellent advice above.

Avoid a one-of-everything approach if you can, having a bit of repetition always looks good and it doesn't have to be exactly the same thing - eg 3 roses, different colours. Or hardy geraniums which are roughly the same shape but come in loads of different colours and slightly different flower shapes and slightly different leaf shapes.

If you post a picture we will all be delighted to help.

I have written down in my notebook everything u guys have said. Thanks for the help!!!!!