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border plants to plant now
man in a shed
Posts: 93
in Talkback
Hi , I've just cleared out a border for a friend , ripped everything out , it's about 2ft wide 20ft square surrounding a lawn , he's asked me if I can plant anything now to brighten it up because it's too bare . I'm trying to tell him to leave it over winter , maybe plant some bulbs for spring. What do you think ? he wont want to spend too much so any ideas . thx.
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If it's bright he wants then he will have to buy full grown plants, so there isn't really a cheap option. Any good garden centre will have displays of later flowering plants, like michaelmas daisies, dahlias, rudbeckias, some kniphofias etc and many grasses look their best later in the year. Maybe a shrub ot two would break up the bareness, but a 2 foot border is rather narrow for anything substantial - perhaps in the corners? Is there somewhere he could put a couple of tubs so he could have something cheery to look at?
It would certainly be better value to wait as you say but plant some bulbs, and then buy young plants in the spring, or even bare roots if he is prepared to give them some initial cosseting to get them off to a good start.
It's certainly not the ideal time to get new plants as they will require a lot of watering until they settle in. I am in the same situation of needing things to break up the bareness and give a bit of interest. A couple of crocosmia will definitely give me some colour and a miscanthus for a bit of additional height where I'm digging out a bamboo.
thx, agree no point planting now,i'll put some spring bulbs in October, is that right for daffs,crocus etc tulips in November ?
If annuals then garden centres will have loads of pansies and maybe some ornamental cabbages which will give some colour until spring bulbs.