What 3 plants would you say are must haves in your garden?

That's a difficult one Jen. Sounds like a small garden! If so if I can only have three perhaps a Pieris, a Fuchsia and a Potentilla to cover the whole year. But that excludes the essential Euonymus & the small red Berberis... and if its a shady garden swap the potentilla for the euonymus. Oh dear this is much too hard...

Lol, Sue. That's how I feel when Tim gets to the stage and says no more this year. I then start a wish list for the following year. I must admit, I then also sneak a few in when I go grocery shopping 😀

My pink Wisteria floribunda Rosea, the Sisyrinchium striatum and the Gunnera. I have them all but if I moved house I would rebuy them.
I would need a big garden for the Gunnera!!!!!
The Wisteria and the Sisyrinchium need a sunny position and the Gunnera a wet position.
If it was just one plant it would be the Wisteria.

Skimmia and the self fertile one so I could have berries or would you allow a male and female plant as it is just one species??

Snowdrops and the rose New dawn. all 3 are from my childhood home and favourites of my late mum.

I would have Malus ‘Evereste’ because I’d have to have a tree and this one is a stunner almost all year around. I’d have my beautiful little Pine ‘Bonny Bergman’ to admire all year and put fairy lights on at Christmas, it doesn’t grow above 6feet and is a beautiful blue and green on the same needle, with bright red flowers in spring and green pine cones. And to plant underneath them I’d take Geranium nodosum ‘Blueberry Ice’ because its not too big, not too small, has exquisite blue and white flowers all summer long and doesn’t need to be dead-headed to keep it going. Boy, that’s tough....but I would have to sneak a few pots of bulbs in after!

Sanguisorba hakusanensis, Sanguisorba tenuifolia, Sanguisorba officinalis, Phlox maculata natascha, Phlox paniculata, Phlox stolonifera, Phlox subulata, Lupins, Lythrum, Astilbe, Prunus kojo no mai, Prunus triloba, Abelia, Hibiscus Blue Bird, Penstemon, Cyclamen coum, Hardy Fuchsias, Pulmonaria, Tamarix …

Well that's my three ! but I'm sure I could make it more ;)

Linda, can totally understand about your Gunners. Love the look of yours but my garden is very Sandy and dry :-( and love my wisteria that I inherited with the house. Seems to flower twice and still has a few flowers on it now.

Seaburngirl. What a really lovely reason for your 3 and since it's not Tim's blog I would let you have whatever you wanted lol 😀

Karen, I love your choice and to have interest all year and what a bonus with the geraniums not needing dead heading. Love that you would sneak a few pots in 😀

Hywel, your list made me laugh. It is SO hard to choose just 3 😀.

Lol Hywel, sure we all know how you feel...

I would always have rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'. It starts flowering in the second half of Agugust and goes on for at least two months

Can I have the same three as Hywel please!

lol !!

To be serious, I would choose a shrub Ilex Golden King, a herbaceous perennial Phlox paniculata, and a ground cover plant one of the Hardy Geraniums.

Andrewr, I am with you on those, grew from seed some Rudbeckia, one of the ways I sneak more plants when Tim says no more lol. He was only saying the other day how much he loves them lol.

Thornyside, that did give me a giggle 😂

Hywel, was surprised that you didn't choose any Fuchsias, but still love your 1st list 😂

Thank you. I wouldn't know which variety to choose so I left them all out lol

Hywel I'm glad you chose the Ilex - have always admired yours!

Thanks Sue, it's one plant in my garden that I could not live without :)

Rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas for my husband and it's his garden!

I love "little" plants like nemesias and lily of the valley (which won't grow in our garden) and Acers.

It is a tough one but out of what I have at the moment I think it would Stipa Gigantea, my silver birch, alstromeria Indian Summer and daylily Canadian Border Patrol :-))

Eirlys those are some of Tim's favourites too. When I asked him, also added primrose as his 1st choice. I love Lily of the valley as well, I had them in my last garden and I has the problem that they took over lol.

Daylily, funny I was thinking that I really should put up a list myself and Alstromeria Indian Summer would be on my list . Fell in love with it from that photo you posted a couple of years ago 😀. SO glad you sent me that message last year about it being on sale last year so i now have one !!!! 😀😀😀

Was thinking I really should do my 3 lol. Not that my knowledge about plant as is that great but here goes

1, Rudbecķia. As it is a hard worker and give so much colour.

2. Alstromeria Indian summer, for the same reason as above and I have lusted after owning one since I 1st saw it on Daylily's photos

3. Primrose for Tim as they are his favourite

1) Day lilies

2) Rudbeckias

3) Azaleas

Love my rudbeckia too, my hubby chose the daylily, good to see your 3, there are sooo many lovelies 😀

An acer of some kind..I love them all. The way they change with the seasons.
Daylilies, so many stunners in this family
Fuchsia... so I could fill my baskets to overflowing in summer.
Oh, and like Karen ,I'd have to sneak in a few spring bulbs, especially snow drops.

Daylily, it is hard to choose. When Tim says, right that is enough spent on the garden this year, I then try to start my wish list for the next year. Have to really think hard what to put on it. I do cheat, like this year I then went out and got a packet of cornflowers to fill up a big gap lol.

Bathgate, I like your choice. If I had asked Tim a couple of years ago he would have said Azaleas every time. In fact it was the 1st plant we bought for this garden. Primrose would still have been on his list.

Waddy, now you have me thinking, my last 3 gardens have always had an Acer. 2 of them I added and then inherited one here. I do love the colour of them. As for sneaking, is it really sneaking as the question never said bulbs, only to name 3 Shrubs and perennials so in my book, adding bulbs is fine lol 😀. Comes from learning how to bend the rules when Tim says no more 😂

I got the Autumn Twist Encore Azalea. It's in bloom now for the 3rd time this year.

Bathgate, I saw that on your photos earlier today and "Liked it" 😀

Jen: You mention lily of the valley taking over. It won't grow in our garden! :O( We've tried everything and I cherish a 5 inch pot with two stems that have survived.
Everyone seems to think this is "funny" but it isn't as far as I am concerned as I love the flowers. Friends throw clumps my way and they all die!

Eirlys, funny isn't it, ours got ignored and just took over. By the time we moved it was even coming up between the paving slabs down near our pond. Sorry it won't grow for you, and you loving it so much.

What a wonderful blog Jen - saving it in favourites!

I adore my Viburnum 'mariesii', Acer 'osakazuki' and Campanula lactiflora Prichard's variety. If I had acid soil I would sneak in Cornus kousa 'china girl'.

Thank you Sheliabub, that is such a lovely comment. What with both you and Waddy saying about Acers I am now torn between letting Tim have his primrose as my third choice or an Acer for me lol. Has got me thinking lol. You of course have had this recently in planning your new lovely garden and down sizing if I remember rightly.

You’re right Jen, and it’s been enormous fun. Not difficult either when you’ve been gardening for over 40 years!

Eirlys, just wondering if you are too kind to your lily of the valley? Ours seem to flourish in an inhospitable north facing and draughty spot. My mother had some in a narrow dry little bed right against the house wall. Try a bit of tough love!
Jen is it the wild primrose Tim wants? If so send me your address. They self seed freely round here and I have them to spare.

Thank you so much Sue but one of the things Tim loved about this garden was that it had more of the wild primroses then anything else lol. They were everywhere. Our last garden, he was always wanting to add more 😀. They are the main plant Tim wants in any garden. 😀