Flower bed help!

mooreso88

Hello,

I could really do with clear
advice i don’t know a thing about gardening so any help I would really appreciate. I have this highlighted area in the front of my garden which I want to turn into a little flower bed. I’ve looked up what type of plants to use in a flower bed and some that go together so I bought all the seeds in the photos below. Now I don’t think I need all of these in the highlighted space as it’s probably not big enough and will look too cramped, maybe you professional gardeners would disagree. From the seeds I bought what ones would you say I use in the area shown if it was you? Also pretty much all the packets say to grow the seeds inside first, is there now way I can just put them into the ground once it’s a bit warmer or do I just try and buy the plants ready made from a garden centre? One more question how do you lay the plants out like is there a way to do it with colours and the heights? Please any advice you could give me. 

Thank you 
Emma  

ps.
I have plant pots in my back garden so any that you think I Shouldn’t put in the area I can use them elsewhere) 

Ceres

It would probably be a good idea to just pick a few of the plants rather than trying to stuff in as many varieties as possible. Plants usually look best in groups. They are sun and heat loving plants in the main so I am assuming the area gets a lot of sun during the day. Unless you want the lawn invaded, I'd give the yarrow a wide berth. The black eyed susan is a climber or trailing plant so that would do well in a pot with something to scramble up. The sedums will be very happy next to the path and will crawl over paving slabs to soften the edge of the flower bed.

A mixture of lavender and echinacea could look good but you may have to be patient as they won't fill the space for a while. If you want something more instant, then use the fairy lupins to fill the space this year while you grow on the lavenders and echinaceas in pots.

Follow the instructions on the seed packets.....if they advise growing the plants indoors to start with then that is what you should do in order to give the seeds a fighting chance of germinating. Soil temperature is important as is avoiding the danger of frost. The fairy lupins can be sown outdoors once the weather is warmer, and the yarrow (I speak from bitter experience) will germinate anywhere you don't want it to.

I'm sure you will get a lot of advice and different ideas from everyone on the forum but it is your garden so untimately it is up to you what you plant and if you want to put one each of twenty different species in one flower bed, go for it. You probably have an idea of what you want it to look like and you have picked seeds of plants that you find attractive. Gardening is about experimentation and if something doesn't work one season, or everything falls over because the site is too windy, or all of your seeds refuse to grow for some reason that nobody can fathom, then have another go next season. Over the seasons you will find out what does well in your garden and what to avoid and with a bit of luck, you will get so hooked that you keep growing new plants even when you have no space left for them.

Oh, and it's tall plants at the back of the bed and short ones at the front but with a quarter circle, it's anyone's guess.

K67

Without looking up your seeds I suspect a lot of them wouldn't flower in their first season.
The area you show is very small you would be better off buying small 9cm pots of flowers in the spring. 
I have had some good plants from B & M as well as garden centres.
Even a small plant will grow away and flower 
Plant in groups of 3, if you plant for example 3 pupils will each spread around 50cm so will take up at least 1m if you plant them in corner area.
Have a look at Crocus website as they give spread and height information and offer suggestions for planting schemes.

Posy

Hi, Emma. You are at the beginning of a lot of learning and, I hope, enjoyment. Most of us are not professional gardeners, just enthusiasts, some with more experience than others. You don't need to start a study programme but a bit of background reading or You-tube watching could give you ideas about what you like and how to achieve it. You have chosen some lovely seeds but too many for your space and some, planted this year, won't flower till next year.
 Hardy annuals are the easiest, you pop the seeds in the soil in March and they flower most of the summer and then die, often shedding their seeds for next year. Another good way is to buy young plants in a garden centre or supermarket, round about April to May. You can see exactly what you are getting and the label will tell you how big they will get and how to plant them. You won't need many because your space is quite small - perhaps you will make it larger in future!
Good luck. Enjoy!

K67

Just reread my comment I meant lupins not pupils!

mooreso88

Thank you everyone. My fav seeds I bought are definitely the green twister and the pink fairy lupins. I think I will definitely try the lupins in the flower bed with maybe a few little flowers. I think because I saw this on google I wanted to re create something like this but had no idea what to get where to start and obviously on a smaller scale 

mooreso88

Ceres said:

It would probably be a good idea to just pick a few of the plants rather than trying to stuff in as many varieties as possible. Plants usually look best in groups. They are sun and heat loving plants in the main so I am assuming the area gets a lot of sun during the day. Unless you want the lawn invaded, I'd give the yarrow a wide berth. The black eyed susan is a climber or trailing plant so that would do well in a pot with something to scramble up. The sedums will be very happy next to the path and will crawl over paving slabs to soften the edge of the flower bed.

A mixture of lavender and echinacea could look good but you may have to be patient as they won't fill the space for a while. If you want something more instant, then use the fairy lupins to fill the space this year while you grow on the lavenders and echinaceas in pots.

Follow the instructions on the seed packets.....if they advise growing the plants indoors to start with then that is what you should do in order to give the seeds a fighting chance of germinating. Soil temperature is important as is avoiding the danger of frost. The fairy lupins can be sown outdoors once the weather is warmer, and the yarrow (I speak from bitter experience) will germinate anywhere you don't want it to.

I'm sure you will get a lot of advice and different ideas from everyone on the forum but it is your garden so untimately it is up to you what you plant and if you want to put one each of twenty different species in one flower bed, go for it. You probably have an idea of what you want it to look like and you have picked seeds of plants that you find attractive. Gardening is about experimentation and if something doesn't work one season, or everything falls over because the site is too windy, or all of your seeds refuse to grow for some reason that nobody can fathom, then have another go next season. Over the seasons you will find out what does well in your garden and what to avoid and with a bit of luck, you will get so hooked that you keep growing new plants even when you have no space left for them.

Oh, and it's tall plants at the back of the bed and short ones at the front but with a quarter circle, it's anyone's guess.

Thank you very much can I just ask things like petunia for a hanging basket or already in a hanging basket would they be available in garden centres etc around the same time as other flowers you suggested so around April time ? I have 2 hooks for hanging baskets by front door and would really like to put petunias in there but wasn’t sure if many places would sell them already flowered. I have seen you can buy the plug plants but it says to only put 3
plug plants into a basket but then some hanging baskets you see full of different colours/types of flowers. Do some flowers not work if there’s more than 1 type in a hanging basket ? Just would have liked to put 2-3 different petunias into both baskets for colour variation but would that not work? 

Perki

Yes Petunia can be bought in April , if you want trailing petunia for baskets try Surfinia ( technically a petunia just a different name ) You could possibly get hold of surfinia now or very soon, they are not a plant hard to get hold of. 

Regarding the seed list above you have for to many and it will probably cost you more in the long run than just buy small plants . One Russell Lupin will almost fill that bed on its own and the slugs decimate young plants , I've grown quite a few varieties of Echinacea and they usually need a good year to get big enough to plant out otherwise the slugs make light work of them as well . Cerces has mentioned the Yarrow which I agree with, a good sub is Ammi vasnaga / majus and others . Lavender plants are relatively cheap early in the season lidl do packets of 6 good size plant for about £4 -£5 another plant grown from seed which will require quite a bit of TLC before planting out . I don't mean to discourage you from growing from seed, but I think you may be a bit dishearten this year growing that set of plants from seeds. The Lupin - echinacea - Lavender can all be bought from the GCentre and B&M 3 for £5 . 

The last picture most of them are bedding plants ( annuals ) - Pinks - Marigolds - Lobelia - Begonia - Pansy - gazania - cineraria . One lavender ( shrub ) and they are probably Lupin gallery series ( perennial ) looking at their size.  All the Annuals are quite easy from seed but require a windowsill before planting out around late May .

mooreso88

Perki said:

Yes Petunia can be bought in April , if you want trailing petunia for baskets try Surfinia ( technically a petunia just a different name ) You could possibly get hold of surfinia now or very soon, they are not a plant hard to get hold of. 

Regarding the seed list above you have for to many and it will probably cost you more in the long run than just buy small plants . One Russell Lupin will almost fill that bed on its own and the slugs decimate young plants , I've grown quite a few varieties of Echinacea and they usually need a good year to get big enough to plant out otherwise the slugs make light work of them as well . Cerces has mentioned the Yarrow which I agree with, a good sub is Ammi vasnaga / majus and others . Lavender plants are relatively cheap early in the season lidl do packets of 6 good size plant for about £4 -£5 another plant grown from seed which will require quite a bit of TLC before planting out . I don't mean to discourage you from growing from seed, but I think you may be a bit dishearten this year growing that set of plants from seeds. The Lupin - echinacea - Lavender can all be bought from the GCentre and B&M 3 for £5 . 

The last picture most of them are bedding plants ( annuals ) - Pinks - Marigolds - Lobelia - Begonia - Pansy - gazania - cineraria . One lavender ( shrub ) and they are probably Lupin gallery series ( perennial ) looking at their size.  All the Annuals are quite easy from seed but require a windowsill before planting out around late May .

Aw I appreciate the honesty! I might invest in a propagator so I can do it properly with the seeds for next year but I might just buy ready made bedding plants for this year. 

Loxley

For the scale of the bed you're only talking about three 'main plants' - e.g. the lupins, and then a few low/edging plants, so it makes sense to just buy them. How about three yellow lupins and a tray or two of dark blue lobelia? The only problem with lupins is they don't flower massively long and then they look pretty poor as they go over.

One of my neighbours has a few Anemone 'Wild Swan' and they give a massively long flowering season and come back every year.