If you were planting a bed out now, what would you plant?

[ClaudiaWankleman]

I’ve got 3 metres of 70cm deep bed that I want to fill relatively inexpensively to see us through the rest of the summer and autumn.

The bed is in full sun most of the day with the potential to add trellis up the back. There’s a very small existing olive tree and that is it. We’re hoping to redo the garden next year or through the winter so I don’t want to get anything that won’t be moved easily.

If you were going to fill it, how would you?

Climbing rose, couple of evergreens & lavender just to fill the holes

Agree climbing rose, lavendar, then add rosemary, mint (buried in a pot of course!), thyme, lemon thyme, lemon balm and Tesco currently have standard bay trees for £15. Creates a nice theme to go with your olive tree and all relatively inexpensive and movable.

Dahlias - will flower until the first frosts, then chop them off and mulch them thick for the winter (unless you’re somewhere particularly cold/wet). The ones with dark foliage are lovely in a border if you can get them, although choice is likely to be limited now.

I wouldn't tbh, trying to keep anything recently planted alive is hard work in this weather, especially in full sun.

Thanks for the suggestions. I appreciate it's hard work keeping anything alive but the garden is so depressing at the moment it needs a lift. I'm keen on a lavender and lemon thyme/ lemon balm and maybe a bay tree - nice and simple.

I had to repot a load of lavenders a week ago (shitty timing!) and they've been fine. All my mediterranean stuff is loving the heat, I think they're probably the best sort of thing to plant in this sort of weather?

Don't put lemon balm in the ground, you'll never contain it. And I wouldn't recommend the mint-in-a-pot-in-the-ground thing either, mine had thrown roots out the bottom of a two foot deep pot and through a layer of gravel to try and spread. It's an absolute thug. All my mint and lemon balm pots stand on concrete now!

Agree with this. I'm constantly pulling out lemon balm and mint from my borders. I mistakenly planted some over ten years ago. Still finding it everywhere. I now plant in pots on concrete only.

In this weather? Succulents and cacti.

Oops , seems like others have had bad experiences of my 'bury it in a pot' method. It has worked for me but there are no holes in the bottom of the pots and I lined them too just to be safe. I planted them last spring and easily lifted the pots straight out to re-site them this year but yes, please heed the warnings of others, I would hate to be the source of a gardening problem for you OP!

Point taken about the mint and lemon balm, although given that the bed is to be re-landscaped at some point in the nearish future I'm not too worried fortunately. I'm currently challenged by a passion flower vine which has thrown out a shoot from the bottom of the pot and rooted in a broken bit of concrete which doesn't actually have any earth exposed - it's quite incredible.

God I can't wait until I can afford to get the whole thing redone.