new perennial border

[milly2306]

hi
new to flower/shrub borders. can anyone suggest best plants/shrubs for a perennial border approx 4 foot wide by 20 foot long
thanks xxx

[Hans Mum]

is it shaded, part shaded or in full sun, and trees nearby and whats the soil like, different plants like different things

[milly2306]

hi
full sun and soil is pretty neutral and in good condition.no trees nearby but i would love to have a couple in the garden.

[Mike B]

with full sun you will be able to grow most things. depends what you like i guess.

im in the same boat, starting a fresh border this year and gone for a cottage garden kind of theme with hot colours at one end (reds and yellow) moving through to pink and blues.

ive put in summer flowering blubs (crocosisa, sparaxis, lillys), tubers and corms (dalihas, echinops, echineaca) small pots from the garden centre (lupins) and some grown from seed (rudbeka, red hot poker). im filling in the gaps with annuals such as jack flash, cornflowers, poppies, cosmos, sweetpeas, scabious and a few others i cant remember.

im also putting in some dogwood and tiger grass for some structure and winter interest.

just have a go and tweak it next year i you dont like it, thats the fun - it keeps evolving every year.

[kentvegplot]

It's lovely starting with a black canvas. Why don't you start with a colour scheme - even if that scheme is 'every colour' and go from there? If you're interested in picking flowers for the house (or just making sure something is flowering all of the time) a good book is the Notcutt's Book of Plants - it has a section on what is flowering in what month, also some colour-themed information.

[coreopsis]

Some gardening websites have "perennial border" on the offer-they offer you plug plants in bulk which is cheaper than buying them separately.Of course it depends what do you want to plant,your preferences as for colour,height,maintenance etc.

[Nicos]

Mock orange smells yummy in the next few weeks- you can keep it's height down by cutting it back if you wish!