Which flowers for my garden?

BabysCoffee

Can anyone recommend what flowers I should plant in my garden?

Looking for some low maintenance flowers that grow quite tall. Can anyone suggest what fits this bill?

Also, I don't want to grow flowers from scratch. Can i buy some already grown ones and just plant them?

Sorry for all of the questions - I'm a complete novice, obviously.

What is in your garden already? Is it sunny or shady? How tall would you like them to be? Will they be in a sheltered or exposed place?

If you like pink I like hemp agrimony it grows to 1.5m

Purple options: Russia sage, delphinium, veronica

various colours: lupins

All of the above are low maintenance and pollinator friendly options.

Some shrub roses are a nice height.

A good place to start your search is using the RHS plant finder

https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/search-form

BabysCoffee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118551171#Comment_118551171

Hi Snowy, my garden is North West facing (more West than North). I want to grow the flowers up against railings in order to give a little bit of privacy. I pulled out bushes/shrubs that I had as a border and now I feel very exposed and open to my neighbours.

I googled Hemp Agrimony and it looks nice - I also like that it is bee friendly.

Thanks for the tip about the RHS plant finder

If you pick something very tall like hemp agrimony consider planting a ‘mid storey’ layer in front of them as cover as their stalks are not very attractive. I think purple cone flowers, autumn joy, New England asters and oregano work well with it.

Another stunning very tall purple flower is verbena bonariensis, stunning grown en masse.

The only thing about all those options are that they are perennials and will die back to ground level in winter so not great for winter screening I suppose.

macraignil

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058230392/which-flowers-for-my-garden

Some of the tallest flowering plants would be trees but the biggest of these would not fit in the average garden. Some flowering trees can also take a number of years to reach maturity and start flowering. A big horse chestnut tree can be very nice to look at when in flower but one I planted took about seven years to have its first flower last year and I have seen some of this type of tree bigger than a house. Buying flowering plants for the garden is handy as a short cut but growing from seed is much cheaper if you have the patience and have the time to care for the young plants. I have posted some videos of flowers in my own garden based on what is in bloom in particular months.

Happy gardening!

Thelonious Monk

what are good flowery plants for an area that doesn't get that much sunlight?

goldenmick

Triffids grow quite tall, as you request, with the added benefit that they look after themselves.

They would add to the ambience, don't you think?

Daisy 55

I had to look up hemp agrimony. Turns out I have it in my garden. I don't love it, so i moved it to the back. Will be covered in all sorts of bees and butterflies in the summer

Daisy 55

looksee

The verbena bonariensis is a great flower but it needs to be cut down at the end of the season and allowed to grow from the base again - it will gain full height every year, or it will make a scruffy and untidy heap. It will self seed quite willingly.

I am very fond of snapdragons - you can get small ones and tall ones, the taller ones seem to be hardier and will also seed themselves. They are easy to grow from seed.

Wallflowers are also easy and give a lovely show and scent - mine are still in flower from last summer.

Alstromarias have lovely flowers and last well. They prefer a more sunny spot.

The tall campanulas are easy and flower enthusiastically. You can also grow the short ones as ground cover.

If you have dry sandy soil in a sunny area lavender is great for the summer.

Heucheras have less showy flowers but lovely leaves in different colours that will sit all year giving you easy winter interest.

looksee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118551300#Comment_118551300

Apart from the Alstromarias the plants I have listed are fairly easy about lack of bright light. If it is very gloomy consider also Berginias, violets, foxgloves, pansies, some roses.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118551356#Comment_118551356

I second wallflowers! Love them, I have planted one years ago and has lasted the test of time. It has such a long flowering season, I think mine is actually showing flower buds already and goes on to late November in my garden. A good choice as it holds its leaves in winter, but mine isn’t very tall?

Thelonious Monk

Dont mean to hijack the thread OP but i just made raised beds and want lots of flowery things. Is it too late to plant bulbs or can I get these flowery plants in Woodies etc and just put them down?

BabysCoffee

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118551311#Comment_118551311

Oh boy!!!!

BabysCoffee

Thanks for all the replies - lots to think about and mull over here!

I'm limited for space. It's literally a strip/border in front of the railings. The rest of the garden is gravel and slabs (reused from inside the house - about 150yrs old).

For further info, I don't need privacy screening for the Winter as I only sit in the garden in the Summer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118551413#Comment_118551413

You can buy bulbs ‘in the green’ now which means they’ve already been started in a pot, it’s a more expensive option than bulbs themselves. Technically it’s supposed to be too late spring flowering bulbs but I planted some a few weeks ago as I forgot about them, don’t know how they’ll fair though.

As for shade loving flowers I grow some varieties of Japanese anemones, astilbe and astrantia and they seem to like the shade/partial shade.