Ideas what flowers I can plant on either side please

[Rosemaryandlavender1]

Good evening all.
I should give a word of warning that I am a beginner gardener. I inherited this rather large rosemary bush/plant when I purchased the house. However I would like to add some colour, something that's easy to maintain and grows easily that will ideally bloom for most of the year. The left side doesn't get as much sunlight but the right side to the rosemary does. Any ideas and tips please?

Trial and error is great, and pretty much what all gardening is, you just get more informed about the likelihood of what you are trialling working.

Imo, you really need to cut in a bed if you want to make it look intentional. Just get a spade and cut out the turf in a shape your like. You could go long and rectangular along the edge of your garden (like a border) or a wide circle around the rosemary. Or even a wiggly border.

Chuck the turf in your green bin (I'm assuming you don't compost), and dig into the soil you've uncovered to break it up a bit. Remove any big stones etc. You can look at doing some soil improvements here if needs be, but I'd be tempted to just work with what you have for now unless it's awful.

Then, plan your space a bit. Big stuff at the back, small at the front. When you buy plants check how big they are going to grow and give them space to mature into. Your bed will look a bit gappy for a couple of years, that's ok.

Alternatively, have a look at something like garden on a roll or border in a box (I've never used them, I think b&q also have similar), that will give you a plan and the plants in one go. A bit pricey, but trial and error can also get very pricey too!

It's normal for all flowers to lose their petals eventually, then new buds will open up and you will have more flowers.

If you cut the spent flowers off (called deadheading), many plants will produce more flowers, though I've never bothered with japanese anemones.

Yes,your anemone is normal. If you look at your close-up photo, you can count at least 5 more buds waiting to take over. Remember your aims are different from the plant’s. You want flowers; for the plant, the flowers are just a step on the way to making seeds. That’s why we dead-head - the plant is frustrated in its attempt to make seeds, so has another go, with more flowers. (You don’t have to dead head everything, a lot of plants just go on producing flowers regardless, some won’t produce any more flowers even if you dead-head, and some produce such attractive seed pods or berries that you don’t want to dead-head).

You’ll need to clear a bed for the wild flower seeds. They won’t compete with grass.

I’d suggest just getting hold of lots of plants from wherever you can get them cheaply, and learn by trial and error. You’ll lose things, but you’ll learn a lot.

Thanks alot. How often do you water them? I water every second day. Should i be doing more or less? We have had rain a few days too

Initially it's a good idea to water to get them established, a good soaking less often is better than a little every day, as it encourages the roots to grow deeper and therefore eventually need less watering, as the soil deeper remains moister for longer.

I personally don't water at all unless the plants look like they are starting to get stressed (not helpful, I know), but that is because I learnt most of my gardening in a water constrained environment, they will grow lusher if you water them more than I am prone to doing.

Thank you.
I just recieved my copy of the RHS what to plant when book, so looking forward to getting more familiar with different plants.
I have started to notice more at what people have planted in their front gardens and what looks good together. Spotted the most beautiful hydrangeas today!
I don't know if I will be successful but i will definitely give it a go.

@CatherinedeBourgh I have never watered my rosemary or lavender either and they have both grown enormous and are thriving. But it might be because they are planted in the ground and not in pots.
This is my Lavender last month during the heatwave

Yes, rosemary and lavender are mediterranean plants, evolved to survive the mediterranean summer where there can be up to 5 months without rain.

Other plants that do well in similar circumstances are silver leaved plants, like lamb's ears, santolina, bellota, phormium...look up Beth Chatto's dry garden for a large selection of plants which will do well with little to no watering in places where rosemary and lavender thrive.

Initially it's a good idea to water to get them established, a good soaking less often is better than a little every day, as it encourages the roots to grow deeper and therefore eventually need less watering, as the soil deeper remains moister for longer.

This is really good advice for plants you have newly planted in the ground. Once they’re established, they’ll be able to look after their water needs for themselves most of the time. If they’re in pots, and you’re using peat free compost, little and often is better. But you shouldn’t water to a formula. Put your finger a couple of cm in the soil, see if it’s wet down there, if it is, don’t water. If the leaves are wilting and the soil is dry on top, water. (If the soil is wet and the leaves are wilting, it’s likely you’ve overwatered - let it dry out). Get used to how heavy the pots are when wet and dry (works with plastic pots, not so easy with pottery).

You may want to prune your lavender now or in the spring, to stop it getting too woody and leggy. Keep your cuts where there are green leaves, it won’t shoot back from old wood.

Best gardening advice is to watch your plants, see what’s going on, how they react.

Thanks alot for that really helpful advice. I did the finger test as you mentioned and it's sort of damp.
There's white marks on the leaves though that I noticed. I'm not sure if that is an indication for anything

“Sort of damp” is good for most plants

Thank you
I did plant them all into the ground then

You can get a soil moisture sensor (about a fiver) to test your pots. Too much water is as bad as too little. Beechgrove garden on iplayer is a useful watch. It is smaller scale than gardener's world and has useful simple guidance for the beginner.

I have this other area at the front of the garden that I have just cleared out. It looks like it was a former flower bed with the previous owners. It gets partial shade and I was thinking of planting a few hydrangeas. Is now a good time to plant them or should I wait for spring?

This is the area in question. The soil seems quite soft and moist here.

I thnk if you plant them now they'll have the autumn to get established. One hydrangea will probably fill it to be honest and you could put some seeds down of annuals till it gets established.

@BigDahliaFan thank you for answering.
Will they be ok in the frost do you think?

If it helps I just measured the area and it is approx 6ft in length and just over 1.5ft in width.

Yes they are fairly bombproof really, they lose their leaves in winter, but some varieties keep their dead flowerheads and can look rather lovely covered in frost and you keep the dead flowerheads to protect the new buds . the gardeners world website has some advice.