Please help me plan my flower bed!

[JustKeepSlimming]

We moved house a few years ago, and I'm hoping that next Spring (2023) will be when I finally get the front driveway sorted out. It contains a flower bed, which I'm starting to plan out now, but I don't really know what I'm doing.

The bed itself is a quarter circle, where the two straight bits are the garden walls, and then the arc is formed by a low wall. The straight bits (so, the radius) are about 3m long. The whole thing is about 1ft above the ground.

The soil is heavy clay with black plastic on top and then a layer of gravel. It faces south, but is shaded most of the time by the house, only getting a bit of sun on summer evenings.

We're in the north west, so don't tend to get scorching heat, but do have a decent amount of rain.

Currently there's a buddleia which is doing quite well, and then a few random bedding plants. I'd like to fill it with low-maintenance bee-friendly perennials. I don't mind having to trim bushes once a year or so, or doing a bit of weeding every now and then, but I don't want to plant things that need huge amounts of care.

Any suggestions?

Sarcococca
Winter Honeysuckle
Choisia
Crocosmia
Echinacea.

Thank you, I'll add those to the list! Any more suggestions are welcome.

I'd quite like to plant native plants where possible, should have said that too (though happy to mix and match a bit).

Salvia
hardy geranium
fuschia
hebe
wallflower Bowles mauve

Roses, salvias, lavendar, rosemary are my favourites.
I have them all in heavy clay and they are thriving despite most of them supposedly preferring dry/poor soil.

Salvia hot lips is very robust and flowers for ages and the bees like it.

Why native plants? They're no more bee or insect friendly.

not on heavy clay. It might flower all summer but it wouldn't come through the winter.

I'm planning on planting something similar right now. My first thought though, is that that buddleia will probably eventually take all or almost all that bed! If I had a nice centerpiece like that I'd probably just surround with lavenders and leave at that.

Currently my main worry is how to put enough that it doesn't look empty the first few years until the centerpiece shrubs fill out, but not so much that I'll end up having to take half of it out when they do.

Mine has survived a few winters here in the wet north west in clay. I have salvia amethyst lips - like hot lips but purple and white, it’s lovely.

Currently my main worry is how to put enough that it doesn't look empty the first few years until the centerpiece shrubs fill out, but not so much that I'll end up having to take half of it out when they do.
I love mexican fleabane. It's so cheerful! OP could have them tumbling over the wall/arc.
They are cheap so you can have no qualms about pulling them out when they have served their purpose. They self-seed profusely which is great when you are trying to fill a gap but they can be a nuisance when they get carried away - they could start invading the drive.

I have a few different salvia's in S. Yorks. Clay soil (I added grit when planting) and they've all returned 2 years in a row. Still flowering atm.

It rather depends on where in the NW you are. There's quite a lot of difference between, for instance, Stockport and Carlisle. Essentially the west side of the country is mild and wet and it's better in every way to choose plants that enjoy those conditions and flourish rather that things that get by. In fact the range of plants that do well in the NW is much greater and much more interesting than drier parts of the country.
Planting a new bed is a juggling act but here are a few things to take into consideration:

All-season flowering. Everybody has a great garden in late May. This is because everyone goes to the garden centre on Late May Bank Holiday and buys stuff that looks good. By August they're wondering why there's nothing in flower in the garden. So a range of plants going from early spring right through to the first frosts. Ideally at least 3 things in flower at all times.

Matrix plants: Your shrubs or possibly a small tree. Buddlejas are supermarket car park plants in my view. They actually need a fair amount of maintenance to look as good as they're ever going to get. They need properly pruning to shape and then deadheading to stop that awful thing they do where half the flower head goes brown before the top buds are even open. I grow some but then, I've got 6 acres. There are better shrubs for small gardens. On clay the best best is a shrub rose or three. Pruning consists of shearing them over once a year. Go for one of the David Austen roses - 'Lichfield Angel', 'Heritage', 'Darcy Bussell' -plenty to choose from. Another option are easy big shrub roses like 'Buff Beauty' that is always a dream and incredibly trouble-free and generous with its flowers. Consider bit of repetition with your herbaceous plants. It introduces rhythm and means the planting scheme doesn't look fidgety.

Conditions: See above. I'm assuming the bed's in sun and that the soil is acid to neutral. You could do a soil acidity test but it's just as effective to see what everyone else is growing. If things like rhododendrons, azaleas pieris, heathers, most lilies, you've got an acid soil and can plant accordingly. If you're cool and damp you can grow the real stars like meconopsis (Himalayan Blue Poppies).But you have ideal conditions for the majority of the plants in the ranuculaceae - the buttercup group of plants. Things like Thalictrum, clematis, anemones, aquilegia, delphiniums. aconitums. All these love a bit of damp and heavy soil. Hardy geraniums grow anywhere, but avoid the weedier varieties. Don't turn your nose up at hostas. They give a border bit of heft to counteract all the frilly stuff.

Taste: what do you like? What are you favourite colours? What do you want the bed to do? You say you want to major on native plants. perfectly doable but bear in mind it'll look a bit weedy because native plants are....well,...weeds.

Hope you don't find this too much pontificating. I do usually charge a fee!

Thanks everyone, this is all very helpful!

I'm thinking native plants just because I generally find they need a bit less special care than some of the more exotic ones, but I guess a bit of a mixture is probably best.

No they don't really. In fact some of them can be more difficult. I wouldn't limit myself in that way. And the first rule of gardening is that just like us, most plants are preprogrammed to live and thrive. Hardy geraniums come from all over the world, for instance, but are cast iron plants (and lovely). Just have fun with it. It's not as difficult as you think.