Which plant should I use?

[MrsL123]

Looking for some ideas please. We've had a new patio laid and I'm going to dig a small border along the front edge which I want to fill with some low-level (1-2 feet) flowering shrubs, preferably evergreen, and something easy to look after and readily available in most garden centres. Our soil is quite heavy clay, but I can dig it out no problem as it's only a small area. I'm hoping to get something that will flower for most of the summer.

Thanks

I'd recommend a low-maintenance, largely evergreen planting combination that I saw in a narrow bed beside a path. It's been working very well throughout winter and spring, and I assume does equally well in summer - rosemary, lavender, pheasant-eye narcissus, phlomis russeliana and perovskia 'blue spires'. I saw it in Cambridge, which has heavy clay, though I assume the the bed had had plenty of organic matter dug in to lighten it.

Thanks very much GrendelsMum - I never thought of using rosemary outside of a herb garden, and with the lavender it would smell lovely when we're sitting on the patio - just off to google the rest!

What a lovely combination. All of those plants are aromatic too.

On similar lines Catmint flowers for ages and is tough as old boots, but the neighbi=ourhood cats might lie on it.

SOunds lovely G'sMum, I agree that nepeta woudl work really well with the other plants, it's often used in combination with lavender to give a longer flowering time.