Jennifer Carroll asked 15 years ago
We have a new garden we have just finished clearing out (it was in a landfill state when we bought it) and have finally started to plant. Can you advise on what flowers and plants would be good for the less formal /wild flower look. Also there is a corner at the back which gets pretty much no sun at all, is there any sort of tree /shrub that could be grown in this spot to cover the fence?
Gerry Daly Staff answered 6 years ago
Use traditional cottage garden flowers in borders … foxgloves, nasturtiums, dame’s violet, wall flowers, candytuft, californian poppy, honesty, oriental poppies, Shasta daisy, montbretia, aubrieta, lady’s mantle, sweet william and lots of spring bulbs and summer lilies.
Many of these self-sow freely and come up in different places. In the informal look, you must let plants do some of the planning.
