[farmvet]

I've cleared an area of "lawn" ( docks weeds etc) in the spring with glycophospate then digging over & occasional weeding as needed. I'm now ready to replant it so looking for ideas.
approx 2-3m wide by 6m long. sheltered on east side of house between building & hedge. gets sun from about 10 till 4. soil pretty good, acidic. Central Scotland so plants need to be frost hardy. I walk past this area all the time so would like year round colour/scent/ texture rather than veggies. The plants do need to be resilent as care will be a bit erratic or nonexistent....oh and then there are dogs chicken & slugs
Thanks! Looking forward to your ideas.

[Fleecewife]

Keep the hens off - they are certain death to a young garden.

The new garden I built recently (in S Scotland) is basically a cottage type garden dedicated to bees, both bumble and honey, butterflies, moths, hover flies, birds ie wildlife.

So I have used mainly hardy herbaceous single flowered perennials and bulbs, with a few annuals such as Rudbeckia and self seeding poppies.  The cottage garden works by crowding plants a bit closer together than ideal, so they eventually, after about 2 or 3 years, close over together so no soil is seen.  Also many plants will self seed if given the chance, so they choose their ideal place.

For my garden I had a vague colour scheme of blues and related colours at one end, morphing into pinks and reds at the other.  However, because our season here is short and compacted compared with the deep south, plants which are not out together down there will be here, so any definite colour scheme is straight out the window.

Another point to consider is your budget and the time you have available to maintain the garden.  With our heavy  rainfall, the weeds are big and lush.  We dug in a lot of gravel for drainage (some came in a lorry, other sizes in tonne bags) and this helps weeding because the roots come out easily.

I didn't put all my plants in at once, so I could see what was out at any one time in other people's gardens, and in the garden centres, so I could have a succession of flowering and colours.  Don't be shy of buying plants from specialist nurseries online.  Prices are good and you can rely on them for good info about their plants.  Also there are a number of specialist nurseries in S Scotland which make for a good day trip.

If your budget is restricted, beg root divisions and cuttings from friends.

If you are wanting actual plant name suggestions, I may be forced to post some pics (which means Mr F has to do it, because I refuse to learn for myself 

[doganjo]

Various colours of spring bulbs, geraniums, lupins, fancy grasses - tall plants (or even trees - silver birch or rowan maybe?) at the back grading down to the front.  As Julia says try to have a succession of colour through the year - http://www.gardenguides.com/90061-use-perennials-create-succession-bloom.html

Plan it on a sheet of paper first. 

[pgkevet]

Blueberries, honeyberries, cranberries, blackcurrants and chuck a few pansies in....

[Scotsdumpy]

Hebes do well in our Aberdeenshire garden they are perfumed and attract insects. Weve also got buddlia which does the same but not as much smell. The other we have is a japonica which has spikes but attracts bees. For fruit, howabout gooseberries - the dessert types are my favourite. For colour you could grow dogwoods which give winter interest also, some willows have coloured stems but would probably grow too high. I would like to grow michaelmas daisy as Ive seen them in autumn covered in bees and butterflies.

[Fleecewife]

Here are a couple of pics of my border.  I can't see the photo and type at the same time unfortunately.  Some of the flowers are; blueberry in autumn reds, antirrhinum  nearly over, echinops in bud, lavender  , rudbeckia  , poppies  - self seeding annuals and giant flowered perennials, catnip, lupins  , forsythia, rambling roses  , honeysuckle  , irises of various types, colours and sizes, day lillies, thymes  - all sorts of sizes, forms and colours, marjoram  , bergamot/monarda  , asters, erigeron, pinks, peonies, briza (grass), lambs lugs, evening primrose, veronica  , salvia  (both blue spikes), scabious  , achillea various  , heuchera, aquilegia  , sunflower  , clematis  , sedum spectabile  , centaurea  , sanguisorba, helianthemum  , echinacea,  etc etc.  For climbers, on a different wall, there is an amazing scented white clematis  which is huge, covers several metres of wall, with rambling roses and other clematis scrambling through it.
Many of the plants I use at the edges are herbs, which smell gorgeous and are loved by the bees, although I can't use them in cooking as I have a dog    well I have two, but only one cocks his leg.

[farmvet]

Thankyou all for your great ideas.  It looks like a bit of planning required. Your garden is lovely FW you must spent hours on it. How many years did it take to establish?  Which online nurserys did you have in mind?  I think i need a plant catalogue as I've not heard of half your list!
Scotsdumpy - I just googled hebe and theres loads of varieties. Are most hardy enough in your area? Also I have dogwood in another bit of garden can i just chop off a bit where the stems rooting into the ground and start a new clump? it would be a good space filler until other things get going.
I like the idea of lots of bee and butterfly friendly plants, my budlelia is just out & starting to hum

[Fleecewife]

That's just a small part of my garden    Much of it is rock and alpine plants, but there are other borders.  Then there's the veg patch.  I suppose nowadays the gardens are my chief joy  .

The pics were taken a year apart, so were 2 or 3 years old.  The first year everything looks very sparse, but the second year it will already be making an impact if you place the plants quite densely.
Most of the herbaceous perennials I've mentioned are quite common, propagate readily from seeds and cuttings, are hardy here in Scotland, smell good and are loved by bees and some by butterflies.  I've marked the ones the bees are especially fond of, but the only flowers bees don't like are the double kind because they can't get in, and pollen free cultivars developed for hay fever sufferers.

For suppliers, either go to a large garden centre several times in a year, beg cuttings from friends, grow from seeds, or explore online specialist nurseries (I can't think of any at this time of night).  Most of the online nurseries I like are for alpines, although they often have many varieties of thymes.  Just google 'hardy perennial nurseries' either near you, or anywhere for mail order. You can pick up good plants at plant sales and shows (Carlisle Rare Breeds sale used to have plant stalls, RHS does)

With that kind of garden you don't plant it up all in one go.  I had a very basic plan then I started sticking plants in as I bought them.  As time has gone on I've found that many plants are in the wrong place or far too big, so I either move them (in the winter) or give them to someone else.  I don't think you need a careful plan for a cottage garden.  I buy a plant then find a gap for it.  The low herbs, pinks, sempervivums, low campanulas and so on are more visible if they are near a path.

For the bed in the picture, I have a path through the middle.  It was built straight, but I have planted spreading, cushiony plants at the edges in such a way that it winds through the beds.  I think that would work with yours, as it's quite wide.

I use very few annuals as they are difficult to place, apart from rudbeckias.  Spring is dominated by bulbs - daffodils, crocus, tulips, snowdrops, aconites, which die down before the main plants are up.  For bulbs, plant them in groups of 5 to 9 of the same variety as they look far more effective.

For learning which plants are which, look online, then haunt the garden centres. ID books never seem to quite have what you want to look up

[farmvet]

Thats brilliant, thankyou fleecewife....now if you were nearer.....

[cloddopper]

I've tried to grade the plants in our beds so that the taller ones are at the back & don't hide the smaller ones. I flipped through as many of the seed catalogues as I could get hold of or had collected throughout he previous gardening year and in the main selected only perennial things or those that would mainly self seed/propagate as annuals & bi annuals  ..this took many hours of serious reading &  garden bed  planning in the dead of winter.
The beds have been added to each year for the last four years .

This year very little new stuff has been added as the beds now seem established .

 There are now well over 2500 perennial  bulbs ,corms & tubers in our flower beds about six different heights of daff  , five different heights of tulip . Tall & short lillium ,big regal gladiola , flag iris & 600 mm tall fresia plus a lot of others that are seen in the seed catalogues but in practice were purchased at a big local  Wilkinsons discount store when ever possible . As this is about the cheapest source for reliable healthy seeds & garden  stock I've ever found in the UK .

 There are giant & dwarf Lupin's of blues pinks & whites as well as some mixed ones.
 I grew these from seeds I'd been given .. I now have around 250 grams of them as mixed seed to give away if your interested in some ( and any one else )
 
I've had a bit of luck with finding a fairly frost hardy fuchsia , but we don't often get the prolonged sub arctic frosts & bad weather that you normally get .

 Towards the front of the beds  I have loads of home grown giant all year round pansies, no end of home grown giant primroses , lots of dwarf french marigolds and several patches of orange and yellow nasturtiums . We also have three specimen peculiar shrubs can't remember what they are called but they grow to about 800 mm tall and have a similar foot print that only surface & flower  bi annually ...  two white and one a delicate pink cant think what they are called.
 We also have various types of Dahlia , they got hammered by slugs  whilst I was recovering from my recent spinal operation and as a result seem they have died out
 There is also two specimen dark blood red petunia placed at individual strategic positions that have been reluctant to give anything worthwhile by way of flowers this year.

 One thing I've discovered over the years is that planting bulbs is best done in a pattern group of seven or more bulbs so that they can be set to canes to give support if needed and the smaller things like tulips & daffs always look much better in  big clusters rather than a single row of yellow or red soldiers bravely standing in the cold winds of early April & May  .
 This year I have propagated a dozen true carnations ( not pinks ) which are now a good 600 mm tall . I've already started to multiply them by pegging them down to make 50 or so slips  for next year . They do tend to get leggy & woody if not chopped back at the end of the year . We don't have any lavender instead I have committed the front bed by the road to growing Bocking 14 Comfrey,  not only for bees but for also making my own high quality dry compost & liquid feeds  as I can get four or five harvests off it each year .

  We often use the strimmer to dead head or give a hair cut the plants near the front of the beds to keep them back off the lawns or paths ..

We have flowers & greenery almost all year round as a result .
 Maintenance is about three hours solid once every two months so making sure that every thing ties in , is closely planted and smothers weeds is something you need to consider if you wan the same result.

[waterbuffalofarmer]

You could have herbs like thyme and lavendar mixed into the border, just a thought.

[Fleecewife]

I think that calls for some pics cloddopper 

[cloddopper]

Front raised bed by the bungalow last year , it's not quite so happy this afternoon ..Alison has been dead heading and weeding it this afternoon  .


same applies to this one plus there are no dahlia in any of the beds sodding slugs .



Give a couple of weeks & two fantastic 3 yr old fuschia shrubs will be almost right across the right hand side of the bungalow house wall bed
!

[waterbuffalofarmer]

I think it looks gorgeous, how did you build it and how long did it take?

[cloddopper]

I'm disabled so once I'd drawn up the designs I had to wait two years for a decent brickie to become free .. There's  plenty of chancers around that always say I can do it tomorrow .
 It has been done in thre stages .. rear veg beds first .. then front beds and the front  parking and finally the rest .  These were the rear beds , horseshoe shaped back walls for the pond , a chiminea stand also in engineering brick & a stand alone smoke cupboard ( two tiers ) in engineering brick .

 One I couldn't afford it all in one go , two I'd been buying in bricks and sand etc for several years prior , to have all the materials at the best prices with no builders mark up's .
 From start build to end  build was three years  ... Actual condensed time was about two weeks of solid quality work . After talking with Paul the brickie and finding I liked him & what he was saying  I decided that it would be best to fit in with him as getting our work done between his big contracted jobs, for he would have been losing valuable work such as  building homes and renovation of businesses etc.


 The back wall of the front bed is 900 mm tall ( 3 feet ) all beds are 900 mm wide and close to 900 mm long as well the rear gardens follow the same principle but there are some lower walls where the asparagus bed & my onion bed is sited .
We live close to Llandybie . ( SA18 3 BZ )
If you ever going to be close by , drop me a PM a week before and we can set up a visit for a looksee , and P&T