Most border plants may be moved as many times as you need to get the combination you like.

We just allow the plant to grow to a size whereby they fill the border. Then Bulba removes a chunk!

What plants go well together and will also grow well and be happy in your garden with your soil and weather conditions? Now that's the challenge we all have and are constantly trying to meet. There's no simple answer. Trial and error. And your local garden centre will love you as you try and try and try again !!!

I'm forever moving things around - in my minds eye they will look good - once they are up and flowering that's a different matter :)

I buy too many plants and they keep growing! I have made the school boy error of buying and planting too much but I love the luxurient growth -the wife prefers to see soil, but bah humbug to that. I have plants in pots to fill in any spots so it looks good till the frosts of winter.

It does not happen over night, so dont worry, if there is a look you like you will get there mostly by trial and error.

I've never understodd the need to " see soil" Why have soil which attracts weeds when you can have plants covering the ground,stopping weeds and looking nice

I'm currently learning from trial and error, had planted loads of different things as want a really voluptuous border with height colour and texture, but have spent this evening lifting over half of them and the rest will be out within the week, as hadn't done enough prep work, not dug over to a good enough depth or added anywhere near enough compost to give almost anything green half a chance of doing me proud!! X have fun creating your new border but make sure you prepare ground and read up on what will grow in your garden, amount of sun, soil type etc before you start planting, sounds dull and irritating when you just want to get stuck in and see things thrive, But I've learned the hard way....... I'm also looking closely at nice gardens nearby and learning the names of what I see and like that is doing well, if it can grow 6 doors up, good chance will do well in my garden :) well I've rambled enough lol x have fun x

My goodness, Magna, you really have been bitten by the gardening bug!
As you can see, Lb, there's an awful lot of trial and error to this - it's a full time job, but great fun, and you can divide plants and collect seed to fill the gaps if you have the patience. Planting several of the same kind of thing, (I'm not talking shrubs here) and not just with annuals, is quite a reasonable idea, but it all takes time. Patience!

Cheers guys, planting a fair few shrubs at weekend, definately going for the no soil on show look! Will just add a few more each payday and see how they grow, like you say i can always move them to a different position if need be, so pleased im finally started:-) thanks

I just cram the plants in and don't worry about what goes well together. I find a mixture of colours and textures more pleasing.

I would say busy/full borders just take time and trial and error. Parts of my herbaceous border get out of hand. Or some plant or other gets too big for its boots, and starts to dominate and I have to take action. For a while soil can be seen but not for long. In the big gardens like RHS there are volunteers who clear hunky plants and maybe split and replant them. I have done some of that.....hard work. Some plants suit one garden better than another too. Self seeding and huge clumps are border bothers.....otherwise great fun.

My borders have taken years to satisfy me! And, like Hywel, my beds are a result of a little planning but mainly happenstance - I move anything that gets overshadowed or doesn't seem happy. The main thing is just to do it. Even now, I think sometimes that I should clear out loads of things and start again. (I doubt if I shall though.) That's part of the fun - I never feel as if I'm finished, it's always a work in progress. I hope you will get loads of enjoyment from developing your garden - it sounds as if you will! Best of luck!

I have the same ideas as Hywel, I like very full cottagey looking very deep borders. A never ending pleasure.

Keep taking cuttings and fill in empty spaces with the new plants when they're ready to go out - you'll soom fill up the borders. :o)

The trouble with just taking cuttings is you end up with a lot of the same. So I take cuttings to replace an old or failed plant, but I like to put something different in the spaces.
Keep an eye out in the early spring and autumn Lbsnoop76 as we often offer or exchange our seedlings/cuttings. I have done this a lot on here and have exchanged some real treasures.

Ah, but the trick is, Drc, to exchange your cuttings with neighbours - then you get what they've got and they get what you've got. Then be matey with neighbours' visitors and give them a cutting or two - next time they pop round there'll be different cuttings for you. And on it goes ...... ad infinitum. ;o)

Aren't gardeners a cunning - sorry, sensible - lot! :-)

Goes with the territory! Only sensible people make good gardeners, and we are all utterly brilliant.

Well said!

Do be careful though, empty soil does not mean there is space for a plant. Remember the one along side the 'hole' will grow.

what I have done this year is ignore the planting advice for spread on the labels and I have planted 8 plants together of the same type and so on and so on with different plants instead of plant one, leave a gap, plant another etc..... It has worked well for me and I am thrilled with the result, I may have to split and divide but it it is worth it to see my garden so full and lush on another note I love the mingling look so I may just leave them to all to it!!

Oh yes, Owdboggy - there is the voice of experience! And hear, hear, Gattina! Bet your border will look great, Marion!

Oooh grow grow grow! Hurry up

Thanks guys, good wee chat

Mind you do and up sometimes, like me wandering round with a plant in hand trying to shoe-horn it in. I bought another Iris sibirica for just the right spot. Trouble is when I went to plant it.............I had already filled the spot with..................an Iris sibirica.

I often wonder about this plant in 3's, 5's, 7's even 11's malarky. Do these folks live in the real world? If I had planted in even 3's the plants I put in yesterday it would have cost me £180 plus. In fact it would have been impossible to do, as 1. Not enough spaces, 2. The people selling the plants only had one of each of most of them. 3. I like variety any way.

Whatever suits you - you're the boss after all!

IF I just let things go a bit I would have a garden full of Verbena Bonariensis and Corydalis Lutea not to say the odd hardy geranium running amok. Still I like my crowded borders but also my pots on the patio. So it can be hard work at times trying to keep the 'casually crowded 'look.

"Casual" in the garden is just about the most difficult thing I know! I only have to think how well everything is going together when something needs to be moved, or cut back or weeded out. Still - that's what keeps it interesting! Crowded borders and pots on the patio is my chosen method, Dorjac!