What would you plant in a window height bed?

[User952539]

We have just had an extension on the kitchen and the back lawn is now at more or less the same level as the bottom of the kitchen window. The kitchen window is big (3m wide). What would you plant in the bed that runs along the window? It needs to be low or very airy so that I can see through it and ideally very scented since I have the window open all day and sit right next to it to work so everything will be at eye level and the scent will come wafting through.

Ideas?

I might not have explained very well. The kitchen is sunken so the window is effectively at ground level.

I'd do basic lavender and keep it well trimmed!

Yes lavender was my first thought. One has a habit of going leggy but that’s probably my poor trimming

mine has a habit

Snap dragons, petunia, lavender, dahlia- a mixture maybe.

Yes, me too! I've got one horrendously leggy lavender it's about 2 foot high 😂 the others are much more sensible.

I would plant rock plants which trail a bit.
Sedum, saxifrage, campanula, aubretia etc and some crocus bulbs for spring. But they don't have perfume. Maybe patio roses - some have perfume.

I would do thyme. It's lower than lavender, hugs the ground really and smells lovely.

Herbs. All of the Herbs.

You can use them for cooking, in hot weather, you'll get the scent of them, great for pollinators and they look great. Start with smaller plants (thyme, Marjoram, that kind of thing) at the front, going back with chives to parsley, sage and then rosemary, fennel, etc, at the back.

I'd also put spring flowering bulbs in pots along there (obviously not for eating) - it'll feel lovely on a dull morning in late winter to see the start of new life as you're doing the washing up.

When the bulbs are fading, you could plant a couple of courgette plants and Nasturtiums to cascade down.

Campanula?

have you actually grown bamboo?

Non scented
Grows 10 feet in a season
sends runners and grows feet away from its origins
A few airy willowy plants will quickly form a dense hedge.

Bonkers if i may comment?

Nemesia you can get vanilla & plums & custard scented & it's small.

Rock roses are lovely and flower so well but smell revolting. I often wonder what it is im smelling and its my lovely pink rock rose!

I'd say an herbacious border for ease of care, with a few annuals for all season colour. Lavender lasts around 6 years before going over and getting leggy, but most perennials are not massively long lived. I suggest going to your local nursery and look at plants flowering now and asking for some advice. There are so many lovely plants and you need spring/early summer flowering into autumn plants so it will look good all season. maybe a section for herbs for your cooking?

Dianthus (pinks), sweet williams, heliotrope, purple petunias (they are usually strongly perfumed, night scented stocks, wallflowers

All the above are perfumed