planting a new borders a complete beginner

Think of the shape of the flowers - if they're daisy shaped, then you need some upright spear-shaped leaved plants, and some 'frothy' ones as well, of different heights. How about some grasses? There are lovely ones to be found. Look on the GOYpedia pages under 'G' for grasses. (links at the bottom of this page).

How about a yellow Clematis 'Bill MacKenzie' to train onto the fence? I staple bean netting to the fence and then the clematis can attach itself to this without the need for you to keep tying it in. It flowers all summer and then has fluffy seed heads that are very attractive over winter.

I agree with Volunteer as my 'Bill McKenzie' is the best 'fence cover' in my garden. The yellow bell shaped flowers are followed by silky seed heads, took me a while to find the plant though !

Thank you

There's Clematis tangutica or C. orientalis which are pretty similar if you can't find 'Bill McKenzie' It is a very vigorous clematis, though - you do need to keep it under control and cut it HARD back every spring.