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Plant suggestions please

KarenDKarenD Posts: 21
in Plants
Hi everyone, I'm after some ideas for a section of a narrow border.

There's a large patch of pink hyacinths which look and smell great in the spring (April) but once the leaves finally die back or get cleared, there's nothing else and the soil is bare or fills with weeds. What would like to share the space? Is there something which is late summer flowering that would be happy?

Clay soil with a good amount of sunshine, this section is approx 2ft deep x 5ft wide.

Many thanks for your thoughts and suggestions

Photo from April 2018 -

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Posts

  • fidgetbonesfidgetbones Posts: 17,618
    You could sprinkle some poppy seeds . They come up like weeds but are much prettier.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Penstemon Garnet would probably do well - the red one in the pic.
    Mine started flowering at the end of May and goes on until the frosts then dies back over winter and pops back in the spring.
    Cuttings are plentiful and easy and within a year grow into full size plants, and even where stems touch the soil roots often appear.



    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    All but the lowest-growing plants in that situation will do what the hyacinths are doing, lean away from the wall looking for more light, and eventually flop over.  You might want to screw in some vine eyes and string some wire or Gripple cord between them.  Then you can tie your taller plants to it to keep them upright.
  • Fran IOMFran IOM Posts: 2,872
    Just ordered some Penstemon Garnet online after seeing yours @Pete8 :)
  • Mary370Mary370 Posts: 2,003
    Phlox is lovely and will give some height.......gladioli would look good also
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Hope you're as pleased with them as I am @Fran IOM


    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • floraltipsfloraltips Posts: 89
    @Pete8 those penstemon are lovely. Can i ask how many plants you used to get that nice clump. I always aim for but never seem to manage to get nice clumps of any of my plants.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Hi @floraltips - I usually have the same problem, but not with penstemon.
    I bought 1 2L plant from Sarah Raven 2 years ago in Spring. It was so bushy on arrival I took cuttings which rooted in no time and now have about 15 dotted here an there (as do the neighbours). The cuttings grew into big plants within 1 year. I think there's 3 in that clump. When a stem touches the ground, it roots, so there are quite a few plants there now.
    The blue one in front is P.Serrulatus which also spreads rapidly.
    I also have P.Raven, White Bedder, Hidcote Pink and Sour Grapes.
    All easy to grow, and cuttings are easy, but I've had less success with cuttings from P. White Bedder for some reason.
    Garnet and P.Serrulatus seem to be the fastest growing and the most floiferous of all.
    They all burst into flower in May/June - then take a break for about 3 weeks in July, then they're off again until the frosts. Excellent plants

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • Hostafan1Hostafan1 Posts: 34,889
    "Garnet" is a great plant, but THEY have renamed it so you might find it listed as;
    https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/46091/Penstemon-Andenken-an-Friedrich-Hahn/Details 
    Devon.
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    :) I know, but Garnet is a lot easy to write (and spell)

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
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