Restarting Flowerbed!

Good afternoon everyone
I'm new to these forums having recently wanted to start getting some areas of my garden up and running, and looking great. I'm an amateur gardener and as you can see from the pictures i'll put at the bottom here, the particular flowerbed i'm looking to change is quite a bit overgrown and i'm wanting to know the best way to reset this. The soil here is quite thick and in that particular bed has small to medium sized stones. I also have an overwhelming amount of blue flowers (i'm honestly not sure what they're called any help would be appreciated.) growing in there. From the picture you can probably gather i've tried my best with the tools I have, although it's pretty hard work.

My main question is.. Is it going to be easier to simply grind all of these flowers out, or would I be able to cut any corners using weed fabric or anything like that? They keep reappearing and are overwhelming the whole flower bed each year now. The ground in some areas is pretty hard due to the cherry tree roots and even putting a fork in I struggle with. Also - any flower/bush recommendations would be appreciated as i'm not certain what exactly to put here. The area gets a good amount of light and can be watered/damp regularly.

Thanks for everyones help! Looking forward to being apart of the gardeners corner community :]

 

Hi Josh, welcome! The blue flowers look like Spanish bluebells. You'll need to dig them out, bulb included. They spread very easily. You'll need to watch the roots of the cherry tree if you intend to keep it.

You say you get a good bit of light does this mean full sun or is it partly shaded during the day? Soil, is it clay? Is there a lawn behind that border? Do you want to see the lawn (if you got kiddies playing on it) or block it out? Roses spring to mind but it depends on what kind of look your going for and what you like. Someone with more knowledge will prob be along sooner or later and can help you out a bit more. All the best

 

Before you destroy those bluebell type flowers I would let them flower so we can identify them properly for you as they might just might be the native bluebell and even if they are not they will provide valuable food for the bees.Once they are in flower if you take another photo,possibly a close up one then we can see what shape the flowers are for a positive identification.

You are probably hitting as you say on cherry roots as we have two cherries and are now regretting buying them as they send runners up all over the place so you might find the same thing in your garden.

It will depend on whether you want to attract bees and butterflies to your garden as to what will be best as there is a wide range of plants that will be suitable.By the looks of the photos all that green stuff can be pulled out and dumped but as I said if you leave the bluebells for the time being you will either be able to dig them up and chuck them away if they are the Spanish type or you can leave a few behind if they are the English type

I have just looked at your photos again and you have a Red/White bleeding heart behind the cherry tree in your last photo and I can see a Peony that is just coming into flower so that can be kept as well but the very low weedy stuff can be got out...

 

Thank you very much for both replies! I will get rid of the green stuff around the edges and wait for the blue flowers to flower so I can identify them properly. I don't mind them - but they're literally getting EVERYWHERE. The area has direct sunlight most of the day until around 4-5pm in the summer, the soil is particularly sticky so I would guess clay, and there's no kids running around so any large/colourful varieties would be nice, particularly for bees and butterflys I'm not too keen on roses honestly, I would prefer a more colourful wildflower type look to it. The only issue i'm having is getting a fork or a spade into the area so I may just have to get on my hands and knees and pick out the green stuff myself!

 

@Josh if you could answer some of Linz's questions with photos to show us the size of your garden and whether you have a lawn etc it would help us all to give you advice as we can see if the border has a lot of shade cast on it

When you add photos there should be a bit that says either thumbnail or full image,if you click on full image it will display the photos on this page in a larger version which will be easier for people to see and answer your questions

If you do have heavy clay then if you can add compost or wood ash to the soil and mix that in it will help it a lot and will help get the soil into good condition.

The tall type Sedums are good for bees and butterflies as are the smaller versions.Honesty is also good in the spring for attracting insects as are Wall flowers Primroses and Cowslips.For summer you can buy the hardy geraniums which will grow each year,and shrubs like Hebes are also a magnet for insects.

 

Ah @Kandy I think he did kind of answer them

And when you says it's hard to get a fork it does sound like clay, last week or so has been really nice, the sun has dried out my soil so it's kind of like a cement and gets cracks in it but as soon as the rain comes it gets back to the sticky state.

Kandy has given some nice suggestions, here's a few others for you digitalis( fox gloves) they come in a load of different colours and forms not just the pinky/purple colour, delphiniums , hollyhocks, verbena bonariensis, verbascum, cornflowers and poppies (perennial and annual). You could try some bulbs/tubers such as dahlias (which will need pulling up after first frost), lillies (martagon and tiger are particularly wild looking) you could put a few different coloured cordylines or phormiums in for a bit of a tropical look or different colored heucheras which are evergreen and will look colourful in winter too.. even acers!?

I like a jumble of plants, cottage/wild/tropical I just plant what I like.. a good thing to do is just visit a garden centre, find some plants you like, whip your phone out and get on google to see what conditions it likes because sometimes the labels can be quite confusing. Whatever yo do just have fun with it

 

Welcome to the forum Josh.

I thought the blue flowers look like Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) but it has been a lifetime since I was in the UK. No doubt we will discover all with more photographs.

I agree with @Kandy's comment on putting the photos up full size for ease in identifying.

 

If they are English bluebells and you don't want them, you may be able give some away. If they turn out to be Spanish, getting rid would benefit the native bluebell population

The weedy stuff looks like mostly Wood Avens/Herb Bennett (Geum urbanum) and a bit of Speedwell or possibly Ivy leaved toadlfax (can't zoom in with enough detail). They are relatively easy to dig out with a fork but you'll get them returning in the future when past years seeds germinate. Best to hoe 'em down while young but too late now.

The grass in the border may be a bigger problem. If there's couch grass (has endless roots running under soil) it may save a lot of time by weedkilling as much of it as possible (and the other weeds if digging out is tough). It will come back but as long as it's kept under constant contol, it will succumb... eventually