Show me your borders!!

[NCTDN]

Full disclosure - I know nothing about gardening!! Just moved house and our lawn has borders all the way round about 50cm out from the fences. There’s some bushes dotted around the edge. I think the previous owners put in lots of bedding plants but I really would prefer something that, once planted, provides colour year after year.
So I’m going to invest in some perennials or annuals ( I don’t know the difference). In my mind I’d like the shrubs to all eventually sort of merge so you can’t see the soil in the border. Is that right ? Is that what established gardens have?

My borders run all the way round the house and are planted differently depending on the light/shade available. How much sun does your border get and where in the country are you? My east coast of Scotland border will be very different to that of someone in the south of England.

Near Liverpool. They get sun in the morning but two sides are more shaded from midday onwards.

Anyone else ?

Sorry I forgot to come back. I'm not actually that knowledgeable about actual plants and I was hoping others would come and help you with this. A lot of the things we have in our shady borders like hosta, ferns and hydrangeas die away over winter. Are you looking for all year round interest or just the summer?

I would love it if it was all year round but even if it wasn’t, it’s the idea that colour reappears every year without having to go round with bedding plants.

I just don’t know what they’re meant to look like. Should they have gaps or should all the soil ideally be hidden ?

I have gaps. I'll take some pictures. We have big borders though.

Shady border. Still a lot of things to come through

Sunny bed with things that would work in a border. Nothing flowering yet.

They look lovely. I like how it’sa mix of all different shrubs rather than the same.

Have a look at companies like borders on a roll https://www.gardenonaroll.com/collections/our-borders?srsltid=AfmBOopVKnHf6IkvHsrzwMBiofa7H83L2n6RhD6JHo4tCG6N99qF28v0

You don't have to buy from them but it gives an idea.

A mix or perennials, that die down in winter and come back in the spring, and evergreen (like pittisporum or box) is a good idea - so you have some interest in the winter. You can also plant spring bulbs (you plant them in autumn) and they'll come up every year to give some interest before your perennials spring into life.

Thank you. For some reason this isn’t showing on my ‘I’m on’ list.

Perennials are what you want if you're after plants that come back year after year. Annuals only last one year.

If you're looking for plants that will do well in shade, geraniums (Geranium rozanne flowers for ages, june to sept and is the RHS plant of the Centenary, so the best of the best), Astrantia, Astilbe, Acanthus mollis, Brunnera macrophylla. Digitalis purpurea (Foxglove) is a biennial but it self seeds so you'd hopefully get flowers every year from new plants popping up. I think hydrangeas are also okay in partial shade. Ferns love shade also.

Thank you. What are biennial plants then ?

I have three borders. One is shadier than the others. It has cordelines, a big rhododendron which gives a huge show of bright pink every year, a pink azelia, and in the shadiest corner, a huge fern which takes no effort at all.

The sunniest has lavender, hydrangea, japonica, camellia and a big lilac tree.i tend to bung some annuals in there too.

The last one us very small and a gnarled old dwarf conifer, a rose and a rhododendron and they all weave together and grow through each other.

If i was starting from scratch, I think I'd get one of the packs you can get with a design printed on a big piece of paper and a pack of plants all ready to go.

Oh and I have honeysuckle climbing on the fences too.

What do you mean by a pack ? Is it seeds ready to plant to produce the plants on an image ?

Like this

https://www.gardenonaroll.com/products/sunny-border

My top tip is to look at websites that sell shrubs for hedges, they have some flowering options and evergreens with attractive leaves and are often cheap as chips compared to garden centre shrubs. Also the plants tend to be pretty tough and fine with being chopped back. They may have a 'hedges for shade' option too.

So you could stick a few of those shrubs in and maybe look in your local big supermarket for other affordable options, e.g. clematis to climb up the fence, gladioli bulbs are super cheery (though may need holding up with some bamboo sticks and string against heavy rain when they're grown). Plus a few bedding plants for colour close to the house.

Basically I think if you're not sure what you're doing, don't spend too much money to start with. In the autumn, buy plenty of spring bulbs, with a mixture of early ones (e.g. Tete a Tete daffodils and Iris reticulata) and later flowering daffodils. Tulips are pretty but often don't come back the following year.

I'd second the recommendation of Geranium Rozanne which is lovely and keeps flowering for ages. And a nice rose bush would be the other thing I might invest in - some are ok in shade too. Look for 'repeat flowering' which means they keep going all summer, and generally disease-resistant/easy to grow.

Oh just to add, with the hedging plants, some are shrubs and some are actual trees, so do look them up to be sure what you're getting if you don't think you'll be on top of the pruning!

What a great idea! Thank you to everyone for their suggestions - I’m researching them all now.

So I’ve started ! Got a few plants to start including this beautiful hydrangea that’s apparently a new generation from the more traditional ones.

That's lovely!!

Go to a National Trust or local open garden and get ideas from their borders. I think lots of people say borders should be planted in clumps of colour and drifts with repeating plants if it’s a long one so it takes your eye around. Some have a colour scheme like blues mauves pinks and whites or hot colours.

You need a mixture of leaf shapes and sizes and heights for variety. Also need to think about seasonal succession so eg hellebores, spring bulbs, bleeding hearts in spring, roses, hollyhocks, foxgloves, larkspur, lavenders in summer and sunflowers salvias verbena bonariensis (self seeder not perennial) in-late summer. Can use shrubs for more structure but 50cm not that wide.

It’s definitely worth making a plan and then having the fun of finding all the plants OP.

I planted up some new borders a couple of years ago. I knew nothing about gardening so ordered some second hand garden design books and looked online for garden border planting schemes.

Mine is probably twice the depth of yours but I do love it (even though it's gone a bit crazy) and it's a mix of shrubs, grasses and perennials.