What plants are your best "doers" in your garden?

Germanshepherdsmum

The penstemons which have worked best for me are Garnet and White Bedder.

I had a very pretty one called Apple Blossom but it seems to have disappeared this year.

That garden bed really needs a good sort out but I can't do it at the moment apart from a bit of satisfying deadheading.

Should have said, I garden on clay soil which I've improved hugely with home made compost. The garden is sunny all day long.

Good long flowering plants in my garden are Verbena bonariensis. It's been flowering since may, very tall and doesn't need staking. Lovely to plant anywhere in the border as it's ethereal nature means you can see through it to other plants. Freely self seeds.

Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve'. Just flowers on and on with a little dead heading.

Nepeta 'Walkers Low'. Flowered from April to late July when I cut it back hard and now it's flowering again as well as it did the first time. Always covered with bees during the day and moths in the evening.

The penstemons which have worked best for me are Garnet and White Bedder.

I've lost some more unusual penstemons but the pink ones just keep going (and spreading).

No idea what Gaura are, will have a Google.

Plants that do well in mine are early flowering or deep rooted, we have sandy soil, all shallow rooted summer plants struggle, even with watering

I should have mentioned sedums too. Drought tolerant and loved by bees. Red Cauli is my favourite.

If you trim penstemon back early in the spring they will shoot up again, nice and bushy Alice, even if they’ve got leggy.
I have found Gaura do much better in the ground than in pots J52. Those I put in containers died. No idea why. I’m in Norfolk, free draining soil. I trim them back when they’ve finished flowering in late autumn.

I did type Gaura!

Interesting comment about Gautama, Germanshepherdsmun, our local nursery has loads and we’re selling them at £4.99 yesterday.
I suppose it depends whereabouts in the country you are. They don’t do well in my garden, which is a shame as I do like them.

I'm reading this whilst making a list of plants to investigate. Thanks everyone! Germanshepherdsmum I used to have some penstemons but they got a bit tired and leggy. You've reminded me that I must replace them, such great plants for flowers all summer and into autumn.

Hardy geraniums are great do-ers, as are penstemons, Aster Frikartii Monch (lovely blue flowers July to Sept), crocosmia especially Star of the East, achillea, stachys (lambs ears), and if I could have only one rose it would be Old Blush China which has pink flowers almost all year. Gaura are very pretty and long flowering. If you can get them, Alcalthaea are shrubby members of the hollyhock family which flower from August to November in my garden and don’t have the rust problem that ordinary hollyhocks do. All these plants are drought tolerant, which seems to be the way to go now.

J52

I agree Hardy geraniums such as Johnson’s Blue or Rozanne are very good ‘doers’.
There are many varieties ranging from quite petite ones such as Elkie through to the larger blowsy ones. There are spreading ones and some that have a distinct perfume.
They are easy to propagate by splitting when the plant gets too big and are happy in most situations.

Yes, love them and got so many different colours and heights. I always chop them down after flowering, and they will give us 1 or even 2 more showings.

We seem to have the ideal conditions for camellias and hydrangeas, so we have lots of those. Also several trees which will need sorting in a while.

Thank you AskAlice.
Have to admit I have already planted a whirlygig! But yes looking at the big picture is daunting. Shall start off with a patio, which is currently decking. Sorry I am not a lover of decking so will take it up and make some planters out of it.
There are no shady corners in my garden, so that will affect plant choice too.
I had a pond in my old garden, but eventually the maintenance started to get too much, so maybe just a water feature.

I agree Hardy geraniums such as Johnson’s Blue or Rozanne are very good ‘doers’.
There are many varieties ranging from quite petite ones such as Elkie through to the larger blowsy ones. There are spreading ones and some that have a distinct perfume.
They are easy to propagate by splitting when the plant gets too big and are happy in most situations.

In our garden we have a clematis jackmanii that just keeps giving us glorious blooms. We have a few other varieties, but the flowers are sparser and the leaves turn brown after flowering.

Miniature lilac 'miss kim' is also a great small shrub. It smells divine, and blooms for longer than most lilacs.

I give a shout out to geranium 'Johnson's Blue' for giving a good showing for a long time, and staying tidy and managable.

I absolutely love my Chaenomeles x superba 'Salmon Horizon'. It flowers early, lasts for ages and does well in a shady border. Hydrangeas earn their keep as does the scented climbing jasmine. Lots of favourites -agapanthus, camassia, and not forgetting my absolute favourite- verbena bonariensis.

Yes the large varieties, the ordinary pink, but also darker ones with red stems, and white flowered ones too.

Just when everything is starting to look rather tired, the sedum start to turn colour and they attract butterflies and bees.
They tend to grow anywhere, rather like weeds, but are always a welcome sight in September.
They are the larger variety, not the rockery type.

I garden on chalk, so any of the downland flowers do well.

Scabious, geraniums seed everywhere, thyme is rampant, asters do well, Japanese anemone, phlox, achillea, loads of others.

Actually it isn’t bad gardening on chalk?

Casdon - I looked up Flames of Passion and it is a cracker! Maybe next year?

Fleurpepper I have some phlox which I "Chelsea Chop" so that they last longer. I chop the front ones in in clump in May/June, the back ones flower and die back and the front ones flower later and disguise the scruffy leaves of the back ones (does that make sense?) They are good "doers"! And yes, I have seen several beautiful hummingbird moths this year - aren't they so beautiful!

Meryl in my last house we had a border of Montbretia (I still call it that although I know its name has changed now.) They were called Lucifer and were such a bright, fiery red that they lit up the garden and the neighbours always commented on them. Almost indestructible too, even though they were in the scorching sunlight for most of the summer.

Jalou, how exciting! A whole new garden is something to look forward to but I would say don't try to do it all at once. Work out what the necesseties are first (think Garden Rescue!) and what you would like to use it for - veg growing, patios, aspect, and don't forget drying your washing! I think someone on another thread mentioned that on those TV garden makeovers they never mention washing lines/whirlygigs!! Then take it one bit at a time- if you try to do it all in one go you will get overwhelmed. I decided after many years to concentrate on what was closest to the house as that is what I would look at first, and then work down the garden. Some things depend on what stage of life you are at. For example, we have two young grandchildren who like to run about so a lawn is a necessity but not necessarily what we would choose if we had free rein. We will live with it for now, but when they get older I would like a gravel garden rather than lawn and perhaps a pond (which I had before they were born). The latest addition to the garden is my "Wine Corner" at the far left hand corner, behind the green house where I have had a very tiny pation just large enough for a table and two chairs and a couple of large potted grasses where I can sit in the setting sunshine enjoying a glass (or two!) in the evening. It took 18 years to get there, but I am enjoying it now!

I know there not everyone’s favourite but I do love my Montbretia. They are 5’ tall. I talk to them and stroke them ?
Also my lovely Agapanthus.
For all year round I love Pieris.

It depends at what time of the year- I designed my garden so it keeps changing with the seasons.

At the moment, the champions are different coloured phlox which attract humming bird moths, and several types of sedums, covered with bees., golden rod and several types of autumn asters.