New giant flower beds - plant suggestions

[GherkinsOnToast]

We have, finally 5 years after moving in, got around to sorting our garden. We have had some lovely landscapers put in new glower beds and now I need to fill them! The are both corners beds, the biggest is 5m wide and 3m at it's deepest point. it gets all the afternoon sun and is very well sheltered as we're in a dip. The smaller bed is 3m long and 2m at its deepest point. I love purples, blues and whites, I'd love lots of greens too. Thinking of acers in the furthest corners, I love dahlias and peonies but otherwise stumped for perennials and year round cover.

Any suggestions?

If you are in a dip, is it a frost pocket? What sort of soil are you on?

Agapanthus (blue and white)
phlox (perennial)
ferns (greenery)
If the soil is ericaceous, azaleas and camelias, will give year round green
Huchera (green, plum, marmalade colours)
Asters (late flowering perennial)
verbenas (will self seed everywhere - purple)
hydrangea,
grasses (pony tails (short), calamagrostis Karl Forster (tall), foxtail barley (short) sedum late summer perennial
penstemons, roses, scabious, geum, day-lillies, daisies, allium (early summer), geranium, dogwood (great winter colour from the stems in reds, greens and oranges).

Plan it properly, give everything more space than you think it might need, they fill in fairly quickly

Choisya is great year round green and lovely fragrant flowers for a lot of spring/summer

Agapantus and ferns as PP has suggested.

I have a balcony in my apartment and I have both. Gives me so much pleasure.

For purples, salvia amistad is hard to beat. They grow massively and have a long flowering season. Verbena bonariensis is lovely too, as it’s very airy, so can be mixed up with other flowers and just float on top.

Peonies are lovely but have a short season of interest.

Alliums (eg purple sensation) would work well too for springtime.

Since you have a lot of space to fill, you could consider adding some topiary blobs to give structure to your beds.

Many acers (the Japanese kinds, not Norwegian/Canadian) do not like afternoon sun, so choose carefully.

I would also recommend Musa basjoo (Ethiopian banana), they have amazing leaves and grow so quickly - but they die back completely in winter so you will need something else for year round interest. Palm trees are good for year round interest - look for trachycarpus fortuneii and chamaerops humilis which are both very hardy.

As your borders are very deep, make sure you don’t plant anything that requires deadheading at the back ☺️

Thank you all,

I've spend the afternoon wandering around local garden centres buying up 'end of season' bargains, now just to plan and see what happens!