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Plant ideas for new raised beds please!

BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
in Plants
We had two additional raised beds built in autumn to try and help with our water issues. Unfortunately, they remained soaking wet so we've just had them doubled in height with another drainage pipe added at one side (see around manhole) and lots of gravel mixed in. I've been waiting until spring to plant in them, and the conditions aren't fantastic so I'm looking for ideas on what to plant there. Conditions are:

- partial sun at the top of the beds, almost always full shade at the bottom
- still damp but no longer waterlogged soil
- roots can't go too deep because there will still be water sitting further down (natural earth is clay)

Would rather not plant anything edible as that's what the top bed is for because it gets full sun year round. Looking for plants that will grow no higher than the fence, but bigger than the tiny heucheras I have in one that are barely visible. Open to ideas, would love to create a visually pretty, insect and bird friendly garden. One bed is roughly 3m and the other 4m long.


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  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    I have Astrantias in a very wet bed,  north facing,  never gets sun and take roof water from an overflow pipe.  Bergenia is another but it’s not tall.  Foxgloves will take any conditions. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
    Thank you. Will anything taller be suitable for those conditions, or any shrubs? Perennials are preferable. Plants that grow taller rather than spread along the ground are also preferable. The heucheras I have are good for the conditions, but seem almost pointless because I can't see them! 
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Sanguisorbas would be worth trying. Actaea racemosa. Thalictrums. Eupatorium 'Baby Joe' (you HAVE to get that one!)
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    Ligularias, Filipendula and Astilbes would cope but not sure that bed is wide enough. The 'tiny' Heucheras seem to take up most of the space, as far as I can see, and most bog garden type plants grow big!
  • BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
    Thank you all for these suggestions. I'm still completely undecided on what to put in them, and it largely depends what the local garden centre has in - are there decent suppliers online? I like to choose plants in person because some can be grotty, so have avoided buying online before. The same with food shopping!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Lots of good online suppliers. Decide on the plants you want to have, and we can help with the suppliers.
    A lot of the plants already mentioned are readily available though, but quality online suppliers will have a bigger range of varieties than most GCs.  :)

    Burncoose, Claire Austin, Woottens, Ballyrobert  etc. All very good growers/suppliers of all sorts of perennials and shrubs  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
    Brilliant, thank you. We'll go to the garden centre today and see what they have in the plants mentioned above. The heucheras I already have - although in the photo it looks like they take up a lot of the bed, it's just the perspective and they don't. What I wondered though is that they're currently planted lined up - can they be grouped closer together? I want to fill the beds and they currently have a lot of wasted space in front of and behind them, and from what I gather don't grow very large or last that many years.
  • BouncingBackBouncingBack Posts: 142
    Additionally, is that sarcococca going to grow much bigger? Its label said about 30cm tall, which it almost is already and it's a skinny little thing. I wanted something bushier and taller, but it's what the man at the garden centre recommended for the conditions. 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It depends on the variety and how well they thrive. They tend to make about fifteen inches in spread - or they do here anyway. In a container [which is essentially what you have] you may find they stay smaller, so you could probably group them together a bit more to save having that 'all in a line' look.
    If necessary you can lift and split them anyway, should they get a bit too big.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • Cambridgerose12Cambridgerose12 Posts: 1,134
    Claire Austin are good for mail order. Beth Chatto's have a section devoted to damp-loving plants. Quite a number of plants will be fine if the damp is not around the top of the plant. Some ideas for the narrower beds are: Cirsium rivulare, Hosta, Astilbe, Lysimachia, Rodgersia, Dryopteris, Carex, many hellebores.  
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