Planting ideas for front borders

To help you visualise the planting design for your front borders, your GardenAdvice MyGardenTeam gardener has created these notes for you. Next with your input we will create a planting plan

The brief for the rear side border 

To create a classical English summer flowering herbaceous border with a modern twist of lots of drifts of different colours, mainly using plants such as agapanthus and salvia, possibly some drifts of Echinacea and later in the year Aster’s.

Normally with herbaceous perennial border, we would add some feature shrubs for structure, but I was thinking this time we would mainly stick to herbaceous perennials or perennial plants and just have a few feature shrubs such as some red and yellow cornus stem plants at the rear to add some interest in the winter plus a few helleborus at the front to provide some later winter flowering.

Style and example pictures 

The style is very much a modern English or Scottish herbaceous border with some roses and clematis obelisk to gain height and add some colour from clematis and roses later in the year.

Possible plant list

Agapanthus africanus Albus 

Agapanthus africanus Big Blue 

Agapanthus Dr Brouwer 

Campanula lactiflora alba 

Campanula lact. Prichard’s Var

Echinops ritro Veitchs Blue 

Epimedium versicolour sulphureum 

Euphorbia wulfenii

Helleborus niger  red 

Hosta Canadian Blue 

Hosta siebolidana Elegans

Iris pumila Lily White 

Iris pumila Pogo 2 Litre

Nepeta Dawn to Dusk 2 Litre 3  

Penstemon Hewell’s Pink 

Penstemon White Bedder 

Perovskia atriplicifolia Blue Spire 

Persicaria microcephala Red Dragon 

Phlox carolina Bill Baker 

Phlox paniculata Blue Paradise 

Phlox paniculata Flame Coral

Polystichum Plumosomultilobum Densu

Rheum palmatum tanguticum 5 Litre 1 5

Thalictrum delavayii Splendide 3 Litre 2 

Verbena rigida 2 Litre 3 

salvia caradonna

rudbeckia goldsturm

Roses clematis

Clematis on frames