If you move things around you will then have those beds bare? I too found this difficult when I first started. I bought all my plants in one visit then wondered why I only had flowers in one season? I soon realized one way was to go to a Garden centres/Nurseries each month and see what was flowering and purchase what I liked. This takes a year but it worked for me, till I learnt more. Dont forget to include summer bulbs and corms. Also local plant sales can be a good cheap way of filling beds. This year you can also fill your gaps with summer flowering annuals. Rudbekias will give you late summer colour this year as will Asters. You will get some more ideas from other members too but I hope this helps?

Thankyou!

I had never heard of corms before! Are they essential? Our flowers seemed to do fine without them last winter! And no one else has mentioned them!

I have just filled my bare beds with lots of wild seeds and summer bulbs and the spring beds are so full I don't see how there can be room for me to plant other things with them, especially the daffs out the front, unless I move a few, will they die if I do this?

Corms are just another way plants can over winter. bulbs corms and tubers are all in the same 'category'. Drc726 is spot on. Keep an eye open and if you like a plant by all means buy it, but dont be tempted by big showy plants that might need a lot of care initially. eg If your neighbours /street dont have Rhododendrons growing then it suggests the soil type isnt suitable so avoid them until you have more confidence. If they grow it then your garden can.

Chat to people in their gardens. Most of us are always willing to chat especially with the flattery in first. Many people will offer you pieces too. I got some lovely Asters from a gent in the village. As I was walking past he was binning bits he had dug up. I asked if I could be cheeky and have some. He gave me that and invited me to rummage through other bits he had removed. He was also invited back to have a look at what I was removing. That was 10 rs ago and we still swap plants.

The daffs will die down and I usually plant later flowering plants just to the side of them. as they grow they take over the space the daffs have vaccated.

Hi Sophiem. Corms are of the same family as bulbs or tubers, circular in shape usually with a little hollow in the top which you place upwards when planting. I am trying to grow begonia corms in pots on my window sill ready to plant up in hanging baskets, without much success at the moment. Happy gardening...:o)

You won't get flowers all year round, but the crucial thing, if you want your garden to look interesting all year, is to add a "skeleton" or framework of shrubs - some evergreen, some not -these provide interest during the winter, when other herbaceous plants have died back, and all your annual summer flowers are dead. Some shrubs do flower in winter - Sarcococca varieties, which are evergreen and not too large, have fragrant flowers very early in the year, for instance.

some plants like dog wood for instance have realy stunning red shoots as aposed to flowers even the there not evergreen.you can get a varigated one that also looks lovley in summer but completly different.there are quite a few plants like that.i would look through a lot of the blogs on here as there are lots of ideas for colour all year round on here.take care and good luck.

Thanks!

your welcome xx.