Under-bench planting

Hello! We have a new garden bench, which we've placed "in" a border by our lawn. We are looking for ideas with respect to what to plant below and around it.
We are trying to establish cottage garden style planting, and are keen on wildlife gardening, as well as productive/kitchen-gardening. The bench (if you're sitting on it) faces approx south-west, and the soil neutral and is heavy clay, which dries hard in the summer as it is also relatively sheltered from the neighbouring trees.
Any ideas with respect to planting ideas, particularly for underneath, but also for the sides and behind (possibly climbers for the fence), would be much appreciated! Many thanks!
We are trying to establish cottage garden style planting, and are keen on wildlife gardening, as well as productive/kitchen-gardening. The bench (if you're sitting on it) faces approx south-west, and the soil neutral and is heavy clay, which dries hard in the summer as it is also relatively sheltered from the neighbouring trees.
Any ideas with respect to planting ideas, particularly for underneath, but also for the sides and behind (possibly climbers for the fence), would be much appreciated! Many thanks!

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As for your bench, you'll have to look for anything that likes some shade. Lots of ferns will be fine, Heucheras/Tiarellas'Heucherellas, and also things like Ajuga, although that spread quite quickly so you may need to do a bit of 'hoiking out' now and again
None of those will get too tall [although you may need to check with some ferns, as they vary enormously] so you can avoid them appearing through the slats. You'd probably find some hardy geraniums will be ok too, but you may need to experiment a little. They would certainly be fine round about the area, especially the base of the climber if you put one in. Some of the little saxifrages on the edges would also work well.
There's a good site which specialises in shade plants, so take a look and see what might do well https://www.plantsforshade.co.uk/
Hope that's of some use.
I suppose you need to consider whether you want to attract bees to under your seat.😖
@raisingirl I have some erigeron growing to try to plant between some paving cracks, so that might link nicely! I have some creeping thyme between some other paving, so I could transplant a bit of that too perhaps!
@Buttercupdays and @bertrand-mabel I do love bulbs generally, so I think I really should explore that further!
@Dovefromabove Oooh, the idea of things that smell good with a bit of roughing up is great! I never even considered that but it makes a lot of good sense!
And thanks @Fairygirl. I think some wires on the fence would be a good idea. I might try and find a couple of clematis that flower at different times perhaps, to provide some prolonged interest. Good to have some recommendations of suppliers though - I hate being let down by the internet!
Thanks again so much! I'll try and repost when I have some plants established