Best flowers for dense, abundant summer colour in beds? Perennial if poss

[franch]

Most of the stuff in our beds seems to produce a lot more foliage than flower (they are dominated by 3 Japanese anemones which are lovely but take up a lot of room) - which means our garden is very green and leafy, but I want more colour than leaf.

We have a shady side and a sunny side, and I need tall flowers as well as low ones. And they need to be relatively low-maintenance! So far I've been filling in the gaps with busy lizzies and was thinking of geraniums, but would prefer something that I don't have to plant anew every year.

Lavender is good. Lots of colour, lovely scent and perennial. Just cut it back at the end of the summer, but not too far otherwise it won't come back.

Hmm, thanks Mummy - got some lavender actually - I wonder if it's a bit old, or just the wrong type, as it's not very colourful!

We've also got a fuschia which is absolutely stunning in late summer. I don't do anything to that at all at it comes back year after year.

How about antirrhinums (or snapdragons):

here

franch, you are probably thinking of the type of geraniums commonly seen in the Med and often in pots and hanging baskets here. They are in fact pelargoniums. The true geraniums are perennial. They have smaller flowers, but once they are well established they form enormous domed clumps, sometimes reaching 3 ft across. They are a much loved cottage garden plant, frost hardy, and it seems, slug resistant. They are in various pinks, mauves and blue. Also can cope with shade.

Or how about pinks? They are not all pink! There is a white one Dianthus Mrs Sinkins which has a beautiful scent.

What about different coloured foliage, variegated leaved shrubs such as aucuba or holly (green/yellow), both are evergreen. Or smoke bush, deep red/brown leaves Latin name escapes me for the moment. These are on our less sunny side of our garden, but not deep shade. Coloured foliage can give you interest all year round, and provide texture and variety.

Smoke bush is cotinus coggyria. Fab plant.

Other possibilities

clematis and honeysuckle for colour and fragrance - could cover a fence or a wigwam. Both perennial.

sweet peas - annuals but well worth the effort for their colour and scent

nasturtiums, stocks and godetias are annuals - very easy to grow from seed. A good project for the children?

verbena bonariensis - tall wafty plant, widely available

lilies (short-lived flowers but if you grow several varieties you can get weeks of colour and fragrance)

cannas and dahlias - can be left in the ground over winter in sheltered gardens

Aquilegias, poppies, foxgloves -- all self seed easily.
Alchemilla Mollis flowers all summer in my garden.
Purple salvias, red-hot pokers.
Some varieties of roses flower all summer long if you keep deadheading.
Cosmos.
By the way, all green was top trend at Chelsea Flower Show this year.

What wonderful lists. Thank you one and all

I have Sweet Williams in pots at the moment and they look great - planted them last summer and forgot about them so even nicer as it's a surprise!

Salvia have beautiful foliage and purple spires of flowers which bees love.

Perennial geraniums are good value too.

Wargrave is a good perennial geranium. Nice bright pink, vigorous without taking over, good in sun and light shade. Easy to find and easy to divide.

Agree with geraniums, also salvia, verbena, cosmos (flower forever), poppies, acillea (yarrow), astrantia (masterwort), scabies, campanula, Californian poppies (annuals but self seed), pinks and perennial wallflower, whcih is evergreen and flowers all summer and is very unfussy when it comes to soil.

nemesia seems to flower longer than anything else in our garden from april to autumn. get a fragrant one and it's very strong scent especially in evening. they may not be hardy if you live oop north but of the two i bought last year one survived and thrived and came back in spring and one snuffed it. (tho that may be me rather than it). thrives in our garden in a bed that gets a few hours of sun but mostly shady

How about perennials with tall flower spikes like lupins, delphiniums, digitalis (foxgloves), hollyhocks or verbascum? These are all pretty, cottagey type plants. For ground level flowers, gazanias (sp?) usually survive well for a few years. Day lilies have fab flowers in loads of colours, but the pollen is a pain as it can stain clothing if you brush past a plant.

Thanks all. missingwine, I tried lupins etc last year from seed - no luck. Does everything on your list have to be grown from seed? We just have too much wildlife that munches all our seeds I think - or I'm just not greenfingered enough.

Am starting a shopping list from the above

Hi franch. You don't have to grow from seed and indeed I'm rubbish at germinating seeds and nurturing tiny plants! All of the plants I listed are pretty popular and most can be bought locally (and inexpensively) from markets, local plant sales, supermarkets etc as well as garden centres or places like B&Q, Woolies or Focus DIY

fab - thanks missing

Johnsons blue geraniums are fantastic, and grow into big clumps that don't need you to do anything,
catmint
scabious
lavender
geums
sweet williams are brilliant, and come back each year, you can get lovely dark leaved ones and bright pink too
foxgloves are great for early summer
and roses too.
clumps and groups of things look good, and keeping it quite simple.

Thanks northern.

I was frightened off foxgloves as a child - are they ok in a garden with young kids?

Well, mine are still alive, but they are meant to be quite poisonous.we spent hours as children putting them on our fingers too! I've a feeling, but not positive, it's the leaves that are poisonous, not the petals...

lilies are great, i cheat and grow thm in pots.When there's a gao in the border, I plonk a few poys in and they look great. Same with geraniums.