New Plants for Flowerbeds

Pinky123

Hi all,
I am looking for some suggestions for plants to use in my new flowerbeds. I will be planting a bare root hedge around the border for shelter in October but I would like to get started with some plants now. My budget for this run is about €100, a drop in the ocean but sure you have to start somewhere..... My preference is for plants that will give lots of colour during their flowering season and I defo don't want any " decorative grass", we have enough of that green stuff:)

looksee

That is looking good! There are endless varieties of flowers that you could put in, I suggest you think in terms of things that will flower at different times of the year, to give you year round colour. Put something tall in the back right-hand corner - possibly a medium sized shrub, then radiate out with taller herbaceous plants down to small plants round the edge (in groups, I don't mean a single row). Where are you putting the hedge, not in the flower beds?

Pinky123

Hiya, I was in B&Q yesterday and there was good value on hydrangea and dahlias. If I plant them now will they come on in the spring again?
The hedging is also going in the 3 beds at the back wall, plan is for a 3 ft box style hedge as the prevailing wind will flatten any taller plants if we don't put in some shelter. Can you suggest any other plants that are currently available that will grow to a good size
Thanks

Pinky123

This is the third planting area

pwurple

Hydrangeas may get a bit large for that area, depending on the one you saw.

Dahlias... Will come back, but they need to be lifted and stored indoors over winter.


I suggest getting yourself over to the Mr Middleton sale this weekend and picking up some bulbs if you are in dublin.

how windy is it there? Are you exposed or in a valley? I would have said maybe an acer in there as a focal point. But they cannot take wind.

If you bring your photo to the local garden center (not b&q), they will be well able to recommend some lovely things they have in stock.


Long flowering blasts of colour for me, would be the perennial geraniums (not the bedding type), maybe in a pink colour, and then three or four penstemons behind them with a bit more height. A flowering tree would be beautiful above those, cherry blossom maybe, something with an interesting shape over winter.

You will get most impact in a small bed not from loads of different plants, but by block planting a lot of the same thing. So don't buy one small plant, buy five, or ten.

I'd suggest getting one specimen tree or tall plant.
Some very tough fellows then to fill the rest of the place, a few penstemon and some geranium... include some bulbs as well. Keep it simple for at least the first year.

I've gone with pink here just because of the cherry... But any colour scheme would do. Two colours max for bigger impact.

pwurple

For the third planting area, have you any interest in herbs?

Bay in the center, surrounded by chives (purple flowers) some thyme (pale pink) and maybe some prostrate rosemary (blue flowers, great shape plant) over the sides?

It's like a herb wheel shape already.

Pinky123

Love the idea of the trees, the beds are about 2ft deep - what type of trees would work. We are a fairly high elevation so they would have to be very sturdy. We have a communion next May so I am hoping to do planting that will give colour then - any suggestions?

pwurple

Pinky123 wrote: »

Love the idea of the trees, the beds are about 2ft deep - what type of trees would work. We are a fairly high elevation so they would have to be very sturdy. We have a communion next May so I am hoping to do planting that will give colour then - any suggestions?

Is there not bare earth below the beds?

You've a much bigger problem without drainage if that's the case.

Anyway, ask your local garden center about a small tree and show them the pics. There are around 600 varieties of cherry alone. nowhere stocks them all. see what they have in stock. I would wait until autumn to plant any tree for better result... Get it when you do the hedging maybe (and buy rootballed or bareroot rather than potted) . Check max expected height of the tree carefully... maybe a dwarf weeping one.

May communion? Tulips. Pack them absolutely full of tulips. Tulips are a bit of a one hit wonder, best the first year, but It will be stunning.
With elevation, pick ones with early or mid flowering times. Lates will probably flower in june for you. Tulips under flowering tree would be fab too, but unless you spend big money on an older specimen tree, the tree will be quite young-looking for the first few years.

looksee

I think if you put a 3ft box hedge in the beds there will not be a lot of space for plants, and the plants will not be very happy either. Could you not put the hedge in the green area behind the planters?

Pinky123

Thanks for all the advice.
Bed sizes are at widest points - bed 1 6mt x 10mt, bed 2 6mt x 12mt, bed 3 3mt x 6 mt. They are built on the hardcore that was put down around the house when we built so drainage is defo not an issue. They were empty for about 12 months and they didn't hold any water even during the worst of the rain. The back wall to the grass has a drop of about 1.8 meters and there are sheep grazing there so it would be a long time before I would get enough height to create any shelter.
My thoughts on the box hedge ( maybe a privet) would be to let it get to 600mm/750mm high and 400mm wide, planting the bare root about 100mm/150mm away from the back retaining wall. Am I doing the right thing?.

Love the idea of tulips for May

pwurple

Just on the tulips, 60 bulbs per sq metre should give you good coverage.

If you contact beechhill bulbs, they do a bulk and wholesale list. I think i got 1000 tulips from them before for about 200 euro.

On your hedging, can i advise you go for a native hedge? You will get best performance from it because they are adapted very well to irish conditions, and of course also better for local birds etc. Beech or hornbeam would be what I would go for if you want to retain the leaves in winter for privacy. Hazel is fab though, so if you could live without leaves in winter, i'm a huge fan of hazel. So beautiful.

You could do a mix as well, something like a wild rose hedge with holly, oak or beech through it for stability and to knit.


Box hedge is usually seen in small sheltered gardens because it really suffers from wind burn.

LurkerNo1

If you want a good planting you should concentrate on form and texture over colour. All the colour in the world can still make a planting look flat. I wouldn't be avoiding grasses, sure you see mainly the same old grasses planted over and over again by most landscapers but there is a huge amount to choose from and they will cope with your windy conditions very well.

looksee

There is hardly space for a box hedge, much less a native hedge. If shelter is needed why not put some posts in the back of the planter, put some windproof fabric across the back and some trellis across the front. It would serve the same purpose and be a lot less obtrusive. You could grow sweet peas or similar in the summer.

pwurple

looksee wrote: »

There is hardly space for a box hedge, much less a native hedge. If shelter is needed why not put some posts in the back of the planter, put some windproof fabric across the back and some trellis across the front. It would serve the same purpose and be a lot less obtrusive. You could grow sweet peas or similar in the summer.

I mean on the boundary? Have i got that wrong? Not in the beds!

looksee

No, I queried that and the hedge is to go in the beds.

Pinky123

Pinky123 wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice.
Bed sizes are at widest points - bed 1 6mt x 10mt, bed 2 6mt x 12mt, bed 3 3mt x 6 mt. They are built on the hardcore that was put down around the house when we built so drainage is defo not an issue. They were empty for about 12 months and they didn't hold any water even during the worst of the rain. The back wall to the grass has a drop of about 1.8 meters and there are sheep grazing there so it would be a long time before I would get enough height to create any shelter.
My thoughts on the box hedge ( maybe a privet) would be to let it get to 600mm/750mm high and 400mm wide, planting the bare root about 100mm/150mm away from the back retaining wall. Am I doing the right thing?.

Love the idea of tulips for May

I am not too concerned about box hedge as the dimensions listed above will give me enough planting space for the colour I am hoping for. There is another .4 of an acre lawn to design and plant with large flowering herbeceous plants and trees so I can go wild with that space.