Maybe also Hebes for evergreen foliage. Many are variegated with reddish/purple and/or cream, some have silver-grey foliage, many have purple or white flowers. https://www.crocus.co.uk/search/_/search.hebe/
A splash of white will make colours sing so white bleeding hearts for spring and any colour or mixed colour aquilegia. These would give height in spring allowing bulbs to grow through, also aquilegia are self seeding so only dead heading to do, and the hearts die back and grow again next year. Will also be ok if it gets a little windy. Would you like a small bush/tree or three as you can get low growing types like a red maple( not sure of the variety name but your plantsman should be able to help) that grow more horizontally than vertically . Hope these give you some ideas.😁
thank you so much purplerallim I'm trying to gathering all info and googling all image to make a picture in my mind, sorting out which one goes best in front of my house, never thought of it would so hard create a perfect picture in your mind, thanks a lot again, it was really helpful as I'm a real novice in gardening
Maybe also Hebes for evergreen foliage. Many are variegated with reddish/purple and/or cream, some have silver-grey foliage, many have purple or white flowers. https://www.crocus.co.uk/search/_/search.hebe/
Ok Priti, no worries of extremes of drought or severe minus temps in Wales then 👍. Having only flowers can be tricky if you want it looking good all year round. You need to plant lots of stuff that will bloom in succession, one after the other.
Think of it like this... Early spring: snowdrops, crocus, narcissi etc. Late spring: daffodils, tulips, dicentra, etc. Early summer: peonies, hardy geraniums etc. Mid summer: the world is your oyster at this time 😊 Late summer: same as above 😉 Early autumn: dahlias etc. Late autumn: physalis etc. Winter: this is the most tricky one, most gardeners (like their plants) are hibernating and planning for spring.
To be honest, I'm still learning how to get the balance right and I've been gardening for a few years. My west facing front garden has a mix of evergreen and deciduous shrubs (some flowering, some not), spring and summer flowering bulbs, perennial plants (that come back year after year) and I grow annuals from seed to fill in any gaps.
I think you need to decide how much time and effort to are able to put in before you go shopping for plants. For now though, choosing some spring bulbs would be a good start as planting season is almost upon us.
I hope my long rambling post has given you some food for thought. Maybe take a peek at the forums "Garden Gallery" thread for some inspiration and ideas.
Dear Kitty 2 Talking to all of you was really eye-opening and educational for me! I came here more than 15 years ago from Bangladesh, but still to date I had fear of cold! This year my first agenda would be to get rid of the fear of cold, start working with my garden, your info will be very helpful for me to choose the plant by month, thank you so much ketty2
Agree completely re hebes - gorgeous shrubs, some smaller some larger, ranging from the most glorious silvery greens with white flowers in late spring, to purple leaves varieties like Pascal (one of my favourites).
It's very true that a lot also depends on how much time you have to garden and to invest in it.
Low maintenance for beginners isn't a bad idea, neither is choosing tougher plants, self seeders and those that are cheaper and more easily replaced if it goes wrong - which it still does with me and I've a bit if experience now (though not half as much as the real experts on here like pansyface, verdun, dovefromabove, and so many more who gave helped and inspired me
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Maybe also Hebes for evergreen foliage. Many are variegated with reddish/purple and/or cream, some have silver-grey foliage, many have purple or white flowers. https://www.crocus.co.uk/search/_/search.hebe/
The more robust rockery plants like aubretia https://www.sundaygardener.co.uk/growing_aubrieta.html or white arabis https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/arabis-caucasica-snowcap/t63870TM?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3P2Q5bOh3QIVqZPtCh1_AwUKEAMYASAAEgKUc_D_BwE would also trail over the edges of the sleepers and give spring colour.
With good soil, a decent amount of rainfall (most years anyway!) and a West-facing aspect, you have lots of choice .
Agree completely re hebes - gorgeous shrubs, some smaller some larger, ranging from the most glorious silvery greens with white flowers in late spring, to purple leaves varieties like Pascal (one of my favourites).
It's very true that a lot also depends on how much time you have to garden and to invest in it.
Low maintenance for beginners isn't a bad idea, neither is choosing tougher plants, self seeders and those that are cheaper and more easily replaced if it goes wrong - which it still does with me and I've a bit if experience now (though not half as much as the real experts on here like pansyface, verdun, dovefromabove, and so many more who gave helped and inspired me
(hebe Pascal)
Also agree that a splash of white brings out the best in your purples.
Too much purple can look melancholic as well.
When I was a total novice, I found it helped to look at gardening websites, magazines, books to see what I liked the look of.
Some even show you how to sketch out a basic plan for your garden, so you can play around with plant use as.