Planting Advice for Newly Landscaped Garden (Horley, UK)

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some planting advice for a newly designed garden in Horley, Surrey (UK). I’ve attached the garden layout plan, showing five beds (A–E) that I’m starting to plan.

I’m aiming for a low‑maintenance garden, with economical initial planting, allowing everything to mature and fill out over time. The soil is reasonably rich clay, and the garden has a mix of full sun and partial shade.

Beds A & B (Mirrored Pair)

• Size: Each 2.3m x 2.3m (4 sqm)
• Aspect: South‑facing, full sun
• Brief: Close to the house, where I can give more attention. I’m leaning towards a symmetrical or mirror‑image feel — not necessarily identical plants, but a balanced, coordinated look across the two beds.
• Looking for:
  • Long‑flowering perennials
  • Compact shrubs or small focal points
  • Colour and interest through the seasons
  • Plants that respond well to clay soil and strong sun
  • Ideas for mirrored layout (e.g., matching structural plants, complementary colour themes, paired shapes)

Bed C

• Size: 12m x 2m (approx 24 sqm)
• Aspect: Partial shade from hedges and trees
• Brief: Long raised bed with rocks along the front edge; needs to be low maintenance with medium‑sized plants.
• Looking for:
  • Hardy perennials
  • Woodland‑edge shrubs
  • Evergreens for structure
  • Plants that don’t demand frequent dividing or pruning

Bed D (around Atlas Ball fountain)

• Size: 3.2m diameter (approx 7 sqm)
• Aspect: Partial shade
• Brief: Very low‑maintenance, ideally a simple composition of low‑lying evergreens or groundcovers to keep the feature looking tidy year‑round.
• Looking for:
  • Evergreen carpets
  • Small mounds or cushions
  • Subtle textures that won’t compete visually with the fountain

Bed E

• Size: 6m x 6m (approx 20 sqm)
• Aspect: Partial shade
• Brief: Bed with a few large feature rocks; low maintenance with larger plants at the back, moving to lower perennials at the front.
• Looking for:
  • Structural shrubs
  • Easy‑care perennials
  • Layered planting that will eventually fill out
  • Non‑invasive species suitable for clay soil

General goals:

• A garden that develops character over time without constant upkeep
• A mix of evergreens and perennials for year‑round appeal
• Happy to plant small and let things grow
• Prefer wildlife‑friendly choices where possible
• Keen to keep costs sensible

I’d be very grateful for plant suggestions, combinations, or full planting schemes for any (or all!) of these beds.
Thanks in advance for your ideas — looking forward to hearing your recommendations!

 

If you go to this DEFRA sponsored website -
LandIS - Land Information System - Soilscapes soil types viewer
enter your postcode and it will give info about your soil type.

For Horley, Surrey in general it gives -

 

Welcome @Andrew Funnell !

Your plan looks great and your general goals resonate with me- I could have written this list when starting on my new garden a year ago.

General goals:

• A garden that develops character over time without constant upkeep
• A mix of evergreens and perennials for year‑round appeal
• Happy to plant small and let things grow
• Prefer wildlife‑friendly choices where possible
• Keen to keep costs sensible

A couple of learnings from my journey so far:

Buying small plants ang growing them on is very economical and often the plants settle in better than more mature ones. However, you will need to first pot them up in about 20-30cm pots and keep in a sheltered place before they are ready to go in.

So you will need pots, compost, watering, and a sheltered place to keep them (a patio?).

Many perennials can be grown from seed and now is the perfect time to start them on a windowsill. Grasses in particular are easy and quick. I have Heucheras just germinating

If you have a sheltered place to overwinter small plants, look for perennial/ evergreen plug plants next autumn. I bought quite a lot from JParkers wholesale side and kept them in my greenhouse over the first winter.


You may wish to consider annual filler plants (from seed) for this summer to give you a feel of a garden. Cosmos is always welcome, and something like Nigella and cornflowers are easy to grow, sowing seeds every couple of weeks into a plastic fruit tray (or pots) should give you flowers all summer.

Arbutus unedo is a great evergreen shrub/ tree, with always something going on. Google it, it might be a good choice as a pair for your beds A. "Compacta" is, well, compact

Supermarkets can be treasure groves. I bought perhaps 12 climbers (Clematis, Lonicera etc) from Morrisons £2 each, all have taken well. Take a look what your local shops have in offer.

Preparing the ground well is the key. Clay is great, but does need a lot of organic matter and grit/ sand dug in to make it plant friendly. Take a good look at your soil to define what you need to do.


I hope this gives some food for thought.

Please do keep us posted on the progress, plenty of photos are always great.

 

I lived in Horley when I was a child!

Gosh, that's a pretty big ask and it will probably be quite expensive. Is there a nursery near you that sells plants cheaper than garden centres? Have a look on line too, but some are better than others. Hardy's Cottage Garden Plants, Dorset Perennials and Clare Austin sell good plants. Crocus is good but can be pricey. Their websites give a lot of information. I think you will need to do quite a bit of looking up and research.

You can also grow plants from seed or buy plug plants but seed growing takes a bit of time and care and preferably a greenhouse.

When planning my gardens I went to garden centres at different times of year to see what I liked and what was in flower.

Hardy geraniums are easy, there are masses of different ones, some for sun, some for shade and some do well in both.

Some perennials for sunny beds, Erysimum (perennial wallflowers), especially Bowle's Mauve, echinacea, salvia nemorosa, rudbeckia, achillea, veronicas, asters, sedums, campanulas and lots more.

Dahlias are lovely and colourful but some aren't very hardy. I have found a pink one called Park Princess is hardy and not as tall as some. I leave it in the ground all winter.

A lot of shrubs are good with partial shade, some are quite tall. I have Weigela, Philadelphus, Sambuccus Black Lace, Vibernum, Spireas, Abelia, Exochorda "The Bride", Deutzia, Dwarf Lilac.

Evergreen shrubs, Choisya, there are different sorts, the classic big one, Choisya Ternata, the golden one, Sundance, shorter one, Aztec Pearl etc. Myrtles, hollies and many others but evergreen shrubs aren't really my strong point! I'm nuts about roses and perennials. A word of warning about box - it makes good architectural focal points and is good for low hedging but it has suffered a lot in recent years from box blight and box moth.

Some people here like grasses, not my favourites but it depends on taste. I think @Plantminded is a bit of an expert and could advise you.

For an evergreen carpet Periwinkle is good but it can be invasive if it has access to other beds.

Small mounds for edging beds try aubretia, phlox subulata, erigeron karvinskianos, low growing campanulas, thyme.

For woodland fairly shady beds, ferns, especially dryopteris if your soil is on the dry side are lovely. There are a lot of plants that like woodland shade, hostas, brunnera, aquilegias, hellebores, to name a few.

You can make it as low maintenance as possible but all gardens need some maintenance, weeding, pruning etc. Don't forget to leave a place for compost and general garden rubbish, bonfire etc. Covering all the beds with a compost mulch will help to keep weeds down, feed the soil, keep in moisture and look good. You discover that you enjoy it. It's very satisfying when everything flowers and looks beautiful. Good luck!

 

Thank you for the mention @Busy-Lizzie, even though you don't like grasses .

Grasses generally prefer well draining, sandy soil but there are some like Miscanthus and Panicum varieties that are said to tolerate clay soil, provided it doesn't get waterlogged.

I've never experienced clay soil so can't really offer any further thoughts, but good luck with your mission @Andrew Funnell, it does look like an exciting project.

 

Buy some roses. I love them. But watch out some are pretty just for show whilst others have lovely scents. Sounds obvious but read the label. Maybe some fruit trees but do not let them grow any higher than you can reach. Never had any luck with ferns our snails and slugs seem to like them.

 

Hi

sounds exciting already, around the pool low growing thyme.

 

@Andrew Funnell are you coming back?