Garden for the seasons?
Hello! Very much a beginner gardener, and due to move into a new build home in January. The rear garden will be South East facing, and a complete blank canvas.
I'd really like to add some colourful seasonal and evergreen plants, so the garden looks nice all year round. Will have a mixture of beds and some patio pots. I do love the look of traditional English gardens, and want to get plants that are bee and butterfly friendly where we can. Also beginner friendly would be good!
Any advice on which plants to have, what to look for, or even how you layer up seasonal plants in beds, would be appreciated! Thank you
I'd really like to add some colourful seasonal and evergreen plants, so the garden looks nice all year round. Will have a mixture of beds and some patio pots. I do love the look of traditional English gardens, and want to get plants that are bee and butterfly friendly where we can. Also beginner friendly would be good!
Any advice on which plants to have, what to look for, or even how you layer up seasonal plants in beds, would be appreciated! Thank you

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I am not much of a fan of evergreen plants. Too often they’re monotonous slabs of dark green with little to attract wildlife and no visual variation from month to month. I would suggest doing nothing with the garden until Spring at the very earliest. Meanwhile keep thinking, keep reading, and post pictures when you move in.
Andy McIndoe's book "The Creative Shrub Garden" could be useful as it helps you identify suitable plants and then lists others that could associate with it, giving structure and interest.
You choice of plants will really be driven by the site and soil conditions, how big you plan to make the borders, etc., so post again (with a photo) when you are moved in and I'm sure a whole host of plants will be suggested. It also allows us to see what "borrowed landscape" you may have i.e. what's over the fence/in view from your plot.
The first year common advice is to watch uour garden and learn about it; where the sunlight is in the different seasons, where is dry, where is wet, what type of soil you have (and if there is builders rubble underneath) and so on. Then make big decisions in year two 🙂
In January I would just start with a few winter pots; primrose, crocus, that sort of thing. Maybe try getting some snow drops “in the green” to put in the ground near an existing tree. Winter is mostly about structure than colour but you’ll need to wait a while.
For your first spring it could be worth sticking with planters and patio pots so you can move things around; Daffodils and tulips are easy if short lived, maybe some small evergreen trees. I started gardening four years ago and Im still deciding where I want to sit and what I want to see at different times of the year.
In summer you can get experiment with annuals and perennials if you buy them in bloom, or maybe set a few seed trays up in a minigreenhouse in spring? A trip to the local garden centre or nursery wont hurt. I use begonias, dahlias, rudbeckia, roses, and geraniums - but everyone is different.
For autumn, my rudbeckia and roses die back but leave their shape and seedheads, and the autumn colour comes into my shrubs; cotoneaster, berberis, cherry trees.
For winter, the red berries of the cotoneaster plus some planted winter cherry (orange) and dogwoods (red and orange) against a white fence give me some colour.
Spend some time over the next few months doing sketches, checking the aspects for where the sun and shade are, drawing rough ideas of where you want to make borders etc, and most importantly, make a list of the things you need in the garden, and the things you don't need, and be realistic about how much time you have to maintain everything. If it's a windy site, you'll need some shelter if you want to grow certain plants for instance.
Read, watch programmes - even those much maligned makeover shows, and look at the various gardens here on the forum for ideas - the Garden Gallery thread is a good place to start.
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1034639/garden-gallery-2020/p1
Write down plants you like, and check if they suit your climate and conditions. Very important
The only thing I wouldn't rush is preparing the soil, more often it's compacted poor quality top soil onto top of clay with what is a fitted carpet of grass.
We have a couple of walls round our garden and 4 ins down was a solid layer of motar so once you decide where your borders will be get digging and adding top soil and soil improver
For me personally I would get something planted early on just to give you the satisfaction of seeing something other than bare soil or grass.
I envy you as for me planning and planting is the best bit of gardening having done around 8 from scratch.
Will definitely check out some of your suggestions in the meantime.