Advice for planning borders/my garden (with pics)

[gardenNC]

Hello, I have NC’ed as I’m sharing garden pics but was hoping for some advice please.

The garden is north east facing, the pics were taken at midday last weekend (21/2) mid garden tidy up.

It’s our 3rd year here and hoping to get the garden in better shape for a party we are having in mid May, and the rest of the summer. Would love to have it looking better with some lovely colourful things flowering… can you advise what I can plant and where, to achieve this?

The soil is quite clayish but I’ve churned it up and added loads of compost the last 2 years so it’s a lot better than it was.

The boarder across the back mostly gets full sun in spring and summer. It currently has a struggling rhododendron in there because my naughty dog keeps weeing on it! The reed looking things on the left hand side are the bane of my life but will be going next month which will give more room.

The boarder on the right of the pic gets partial shade up at the top end. The first big bush is laurel I think, not sure what is next to it but it gets white flowers. The shoots popping up in the middle are lovely orange Lillies that flower in Summer, then there’s a bay tree, rosemary that needs cutting back and I’m not sure what the closest shrub is. The end closest to the house is pretty much full shade even in Summer. What will flower in full shade?

We also have a semi circle bed that gets good sun on the other side of the garden, I have a ceanothus in there with gravel, but there’s room for bedding plants under it.

We also have a good amount of pots to fill.

I’m not sure if this is the kind of info you need to help advise me? I don’t know where to start! Any ideas welcome

Hate to say it but chatgpt is brilliant at this.

What sort of gardens do you like? Cottage gardens, jungle gardens, seaside ones, modern structured stuff?
I think adding a couple of small trees or larger shrubs at the bottom or maybe one half way down would make the garden seem loads bigger and give you more privacy.

@GeneticsbunnyI like flowery gardens! I suppose cottagey? Not overly fussed about privacy.

thanks for the advice. Will add some more pics of previous summers incase that helps.

These two are August time

First one is the end closest to the house which isn’t actually as shady as I remember. And the second pic is the corner where both boarders meet.

Full shade is tricky for flowers, I have this problem. Geraniums seem to be the best, I have annuals in pots and perennials (pale bluish)in the bed . Plus light coloured ferns that are suitable for dry or damp depending what you have, will lighten it up.
You might need to have some pots of flowers that you move into the shaded areas for a party!

Do you like gardening or want something reasonably low maintainence?

There a couple of things that have done very well in my clay based new build garden, that turns into swampland in the winter...

Choisya, or mexican orange blossom. Pretty little white flowers twice a year, is happily thriving on benign neglect.
I have a miniture climbing rose that had flowers for months last year and is trying to take over the world, it would need a support or trellis on the fence. Heather seems to like it. This year I'm going to put a load of ferns in as it should suit them.

Sweet peas grow very quickly and have loads of flowers so I would start some off, and put them in the back of the borders with canes. they seem to be alright with some sun.

Its worth playing about on the RHS website, you can filter by lots of things and there are very thorough notes about what the plants like.

Jetwash your terrace for a start! It's a great terrace.

I would make the right hand bed wider, and "wibble wobble" it to give it some interest - ie not straight, but curved in and out.

Wiser gardening heads than mine will tell you about plants!

And plant some evergreen trees, such as Red Robin, along the back fence - at least four - for interest and privacy.

I would try some hydrangeas where it is fairly shady, they tend to do well there. Also camellias are evergreen and flower at this time of year. You could also look at things with colourful leaves, like Japanese maples, or attractive berries. Do you know whether your soil is acid or alkaline?

I would focus on shrubs that will hide the fencing, as I find that having a green screen is much more attractive than a fence. But I would also try to find room for a small tree or two to mix up the heights. Amelanchier are beautiful in most seasons and don't grow too big. You can also have ornamental cherries growing on dwarfing rootstock that will stay quite small.

I’d suggest maybe some Cronus midwinter or some ornamental grasses along the fence to add some interest year round and then you can add whatever you like along the sunny border to brighten it up - maybe nepeta, hardy geraniums, black-eyes Susans, coneflowers/echinacea

Hydrangeas are also nice and low-effort! And they really fill up a space.

Oooh some great ideas thank you all! I have a baby hydrangea that I’ve grown from a cutting in 2024. It’s been a labour of love. We have fought a holiday induced draught and fungus knats together. It’s still a scrappy little thing but I see new growth this year already! I wont give up on her, she can go in the ground this year I think and hopefully will grow well.

got lots of googling to do now!

And in response, I quite like gardening and don’t mind doing maintenance. I work full time but will be on mat leave this summer so will be home more.

And yes to sweet peas! I’ve already got them on my list.

Shrubs are brilliant then. Easy to look after and if you choose cleverly you can have flowers all year round.
I would pop to the garden centre each month this year and buy one or two shrubs that you like which are in flower. Stick them in, water and bobs your uncle.

Just buy some pre-grown ones and pop them in. Instant hydrangeas! Your scrappy little one can have pride of place in front of them 😄

There were hydrangeas in the middle of Lidl today (in Devon) -- well, outside the main door.

Experienced gardeners are better.

@gardenNC Your party is in mid-May, so hydrangeas and sweet peas won't be in flower yet, nor will things like roses. It will probably be a bit early for summer bedding (petunias, pelargoniums etc) to be ready. My suggestions for party time would be:

Jet wash the patio (as a pp suggests) and remove any stubborn weeds.

Fill the gaps between patio slabs with grit.

Mow the lawn and go round the entire thing with a half-moon edging tool, it is amazing how much better a garden looks with a neat lawn.

Weed the flower beds.

Go to the garden centre a week or so before and buy a couple of shrubs that are just coming into flower and put them in pots on the patio. You can then plant them in the garden later on. Choose a few smaller things in flower too, and plant them in the gaps in the flower bed.

Buy a great selection of herbs - rosemary, thyme, basil, mint etc and put them in one large shallow container near the seating area. Get out your jazziest cushions.

Ply everyone with a load of booze and stuff them to bursting with food.

@Yamadoriwonderful advice, thank you

I’d go for easy, reliable plants like salvias, echinacea and rudbeckia in the sunny back border as they’ll add great colour through summer. A few alliums for late spring height would work well too. They usually cope fine with clay and should give you that WOW look by May or June. The part-shade on the right could be softened up by hardy geraniums, foxgloves or heucheras. For the bit closer to the house think hostas, ferns and maybe some white astilbe. White flowers look brilliant in shade imo, it's almost like they glow!

Would loading up the pots with tulips for a party be an option? You can swap to dahlias or petunias later, but big grouped pots make the overall look more stylish. If you're unsure of the layout, you can try gardening design programs (like this one or similar) to make a mockup that'll help you visualize everything.
Thing is, you don’t need loads of different plants. Picking up a few reliable bloomers in pinks, purples and whites and repeating them in drifts would do the trick imo

Do you actually want such a big lawn fence to fence? If you don't need it for kids or pets, and like gardening, then you would be better to widen the borders all round.

I would stick a cane in the middle, tie a piece of string to it, and mark a big circle (or half circle if you want to keep the lawn butting up to the patio).

Then get digging (ust do a section at a time , don't overdo it!). Turn the grass over so the green is buried, and then cover with a layer of bark chip to start with.

Filling the borders with plants will take a while unless you have ££ to spend on plants. For this year, you could do a lot with cheap flower seeds. Wigwams of canes and sweet peas or other climbing annuals will give a bit of height.

Ask around friends and family and neighbours if anyone has plants that they don't want. Spring is a good time for lifting and dividing congested perennials, so gardeners are often giving some away.

Befriend someone with a greenhouse. We get carried away in the spring and tend to sow the whole seed packet and grow more than we need so always have extra plants to give away 😂

For bigger permanent structural plants on the cheap, I would buy a few decent size shrubs, and then take cuttings to get more. Some will grow if just stuck in the ground, although the best time to do that is autumn, otherwise root them in a glass of water then pot up when they have roots.

Oh sorry missed the bit about a party in may. Don't start any major changes then.

As @Yamadori says, go round the edges with a half moon. Then pop to B and Q and get some plants in flower. Top borders with bark (don't do this the day before the party as it smells a bit ...woody...for a couple of days).