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Flowering plant suggestions...

ObliqueGeekObliqueGeek Posts: 53
in Plants
Hi All, 

My garden is seems a little slow to come to life this year, which I thought is just me being impatient. I've just visited a friends house and their garden seems in full bloom with flowers everywhere and now I'm a little jealous so I'm looking for a few suggestions for next year. 

Garden is north-east facing, but it's a bungalow so there is sun on most of the garden throughout the day, save for a few shady areas. I'm in the south-east and the soil is really chalky, I'm doing my best to improve it over time. 

Currently I've got a selection of Hostas (well, then ones the slugs haven't destroyed...), Ferns, day lilies, asiatic lilies, cannas, musa basjoo, red ensete, verbena bonariensis, few salvias, phormiums, dahlias - so there is a lot of vegetation as things get going and will grow/fill-out and flower later on, but I'm after some suggestions for this early part of the year. I did fill things out early on last year with some snapdragons, but would prefer some perennials. 

So hit me with your suggestions/pictures - vibrant, low-medium level early flowering plants!






Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I have different soil, but have you considered using lots of spring bulbs? You can then add hardy geraniums in with them. That gives a good early display - up until this time of year, depending on choices. Wallflowers are also useful for early colour. Either the biennial or the perennial kind. 
    I grow Pasqueflowers which are in flower around April. I don't know if they like chalky soil, but from memory, I don't think they're fussy. 
    Perhaps you could also ask the friend which plants they could recommend. Our season here starts later, so there might be plenty of things which will flower earlier for you in your location   :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    edited May 2022
    The spring colour in my garden comes mostly from bulbs, biennials that self-sow like honesty and forget-me-nots (as well as shrubs and some alpina clematis but they're all taller), rather than perennials.
    The earliest perennials that I grow are dicentras (almost over now) followed by aquilegia and few thermopsis, then lupins (just starting to flower now). The aquilegia self-sow and are usually best in their first year so unless I get a particularly nice one I tend to treat them as biennials.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited May 2022
    I forgot about Aquilegias. That's a good shout for this time of year. I have W. Guinness which seeds around but comes true - or it has so far    :)
    Yes - Dicentras too. Mine are lovely just now, although I only grow the white one. 
    I just remembered someone asking about Valerian the other day, and I noticed some of the red one when I was out last week. 

    Camassias are about to show, but they need consistently damp soil. Don't know if they like chalk, but probably not, due to the sharper drainage it normally has. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    edited May 2022
    Euphorbia characias wulfenii will light up the garden with its lime green flowers from January until May.  Other early flowerers are Iberis sempervirens, Lithodora Heavenly Blue and Rosmarinus repens - ideal if you have a bank or raised bed.  Pots of Spring bulbs and violas or pansies will also bring instant colour.
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • ObliqueGeekObliqueGeek Posts: 53
    Thanks for the suggestions, I'm going to have a look into these in a bit more detail and get things in place for next year. 

    Bit of a side question, I've got an established Dicentra out front, can you take cuttings from these? 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Easier to divide it  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Apparently you can take basal cuttings in spring when they're just starting to appear, same as for lupins and delphiniums. But division is easier and less constrained in timing.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    Iberis, aubretia, rosemary, rodanthemum are all early flowering. 

    Wall flowers and forgetmenots for pots. Allium, species tulips. There are lots of chalk lovely, early flowering, low growing creepers. 
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