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Help, please. My border is boring

Ruthie_QRuthie_Q Posts: 26
in Garden design
Hi there. 
How do you lovely gardeners keep your borders looking lovely? My border is boring 😱 It was lovely a couple of weeks ago with tulips. I planted alliums they seem to have gone missing this year. Later in the year ill have crocosmia & rudbekias. Now its just green and green and green. How do people have room to have a 3/4 season border? Are you gardeners less shove a plant in than me? This one is chocker. Ive tried so hard over the last few years but it still doesnt look great. I attached a pic.
Any suggestions on how to put a bit of oomph into it. Thank you x 
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  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I'm probably more shove-a-plant-in than you :smile: . My garden is looking a bit bare in places where I've just pulled out the biennials (forget-me-nots and honesty) that have gone over, but it'll soon fill out as the perennials grow. The stars right now are aquilegias and lupins, with oriental poppies, salvias and dianthus just starting and the silver foliage artemisias coming into their own.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • JenniB83JenniB83 Posts: 66
    I just has the same conversation with my work colleague. I had a nice early spring display and some flowers in winter. My alliums didn't come up, I planted my peony to deep so I didn't get any buds this year.  My border will now be a sea of green until the lavender, dahlia, echinacea, and zinnias bloom in summer 😔
  • Ruthie_QRuthie_Q Posts: 26
    @JennyJ @JenniB83  that makes me feel a bit better. Thank you. Every year i say to hubby it looks rubbish & then i go & buy more plants but i feel it still looks boring. I blame Chelsea FS, Alan & Monty for this 🤣 
  • AnniDAnniD Posts: 12,585
    edited May 2022
    There is "a thing" called the June Gap (although to be honest it could be a mid May onwards gap), where there's a break between the Spring flowering bulbs etc. and the Summer plants.
    There's a few ideas here for helping to fill it :) .
    https://hub.suttons.co.uk/blog/wildlife-gardening/the-june-gap#:~:text=June is the month of,either gardeners or bee keepers.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It can be trickier at this time of year to get flowering plants. If it's a reasonably sunny site, in addition to the plants already mentioned, you could try Astrantias, Liatris, Salvias, Lilies, Veronicas, Lychnis  etc, which are good verticals. Wallflowers are really useful too = either the perennial or the bi-ennial.  If it's shadier, Polemoniums, Dicentras and Foxgloves. 
    Your location will dictate the timing of flowering, but those are all easy plants which are mainly summer flowering - some are flowering now. We're a little later here than many areas, so it's just a question of trying various plants to see what works, and bear in mind that even within a plant species, there will be slight differences in their flowering times. I still have narcissus in flower, and the chap along the road still has tulips flowering   :)
    Hardy geraniums are also great for that gap from May until later in June.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    Its good to remember that flowers are there for a short time compared to the leaves of plants. Different texture shape and colour of leaves is important too.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    That's very true @GardenerSuze. I have quite a lot of plants with dark or variegated foliage, which provide interest when there's that slight lull before clematis etc appear.  :)
    Always a little trickier in a more confined space though. 

    Have you thought about putting anything on the fence @Ruthie_Q? I'm assuming it's your fence of course.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Arthur1Arthur1 Posts: 542
    There are some plants which almost flower non stop until they die. These include perennial wallflowers such as Bowles Mauve and Apricot Twister. Salvia Hot Lips is a reliable flowerer.  Fuchsia microphylla has been in full glower for a month.
  • BenCottoBenCotto Posts: 4,718
    We used to have a neighbour in full glower 😉 “My chief moan this week ….” he would say.
    Rutland, England
  • Busy-LizzieBusy-Lizzie Posts: 24,043
    I have Geum "Totally Tangerine, Geranium "Brookside", Foxgloves, Aquilegias, Lupins and Astrantias in flower at the moment. The roses are just starting, oriental poppies have fat buds.

    Your bed looks good, though, because of the different leaf shapes.
    Dordogne and Norfolk. Clay in Dordogne, sandy in Norfolk.
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