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Im a little lost
Early last autumn I made flower beds around the edge of my front lawn (because i'm scared of the strimmer and didn't fancy losing my legs in a horrific strimming related disaster!!). Anyway I've lost my way a bit and need some inspiration to stop me just buying a million things and everything going wrong. The beds are 95cm wide and edged beautifully.....no need for a strimmer haha! The grass is a rectangle one side has a path running up to my front door, the front door faces south. Opposite is the longest flower bed 25ft and gets a fair amount of shade from the fence. The right hand side has a small patio with 3 wheelie bins and a 5x3 shed The left hand side is the smaller bed around 15 ft and gets full sun from around 10am onwards. I have 1 teeny tiny hydrangea and 2 little hebes in this bed Where the two beds meet I have a paved quarter circle with a honeysuckle growing up the fence Both beds currently have spring bulbs in that look good but when they die off I'm back to having pretty much nothing. I like colour and evergreens but it's not essential, what I'd really like is something that will look good most of the year round. I have a fair bit of time to do maintenance and am quite active and can bend, stretch and lift but not cannot kneel. It was in my deeds that I cannot plant trees or anything with roots that will affect water pipes running below my grass...and now flower beds. The soil was clay but I dug a fair amount of sand and compost in when preparing the beds. I live on the Cambridgeshire/Norfolk border so very windy but much milder than the north. Ideas?
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Hi, I used to garden on clay, I'm in the South, and found the following plants particularly happy on my clay (like you I added compost to break it up).
Roses - particularly the old ramblers, you could pick a shady variety for the fence and lookout for ones that repeat flower/have a second flowering season.
Acanthus - tall purple/white spires Jul-Aug
Crocosmia-Red or orange flowers Aug-Sep, and you can divide them to get more in later years.
Photinia red robin-evergreen looking good all year with red leaves through spring/summer (add a bit of grit to help drainage). Particularly nice if you buy the standard type for height whilst allowing under planting.