Best bedding plants.

I love lemon balm, and once you’ve bought it I don’t think you’ll ever need to again, it comes up everywhere. Another herb I like in pots is rosemary, it has pretty flowers and is perennial, I’ve got some in a pot by my front door, and it smells lovely when you brush against it,

Yes, I have lemon balm all over the place. I’m forever pulling it out. Wretched stuff!

Geraniums, fuschia, million bells, bacopa and the large beautiful bright begonias for me. I’ve now given up on petunias as they look straggly very quickly sadly

A mixture of petunias, calibrochias (mini-petunias!), trailing verbena, busy lizzie (impatiens), geraniums and begonias are my go-tos.

We had straw flowers in pots last summer. They were lovely and flowered right through until the autumn.
What about surfinias, nemesia and fuschias.

Bedding plants are few and far between now at least where I live. Winter pansies, marigolds are about all that seems available. Individual plants will be okay but expensive.

The annual Asters are good because they flower into the Autumn, also Osteospermum are long flowering in a range of colours.

My friend, who knows more about gardening than me, advised me to buy geraniums as they are are good for planting in pots/hanging baskets because they can tolerate not being watered regularly. I have also found this to be the case. I buy the trailing variety.

Creamy white begonias, not the more garish colours. Last year I bought lots of them in trays from a supermarket. They grew large beautiful flowers, didn't mind a bit of neglect, and lasted until October. I grew them in individual pots that hooked over the fence.

Scarlet Ivy-leaved geraniums for me. Plus nicotiana.
I’m off to look up Maybe’s bacopa - never heard of it. Better known as something else.

MayBee70

Not colourful ( mainly because I prefer them in white but they do come in other colours) but Bacopa are my favourite bedding plants. They also survive the winter if it isn’t too harsh. I’ve just been to a garden centre specifically to buy some and they’d sold out: thankfully as I was chatting to someone about cats ( as you do…) they bought another tray out and I bought the lot. I grow some in an old chimney; unfortunately they didn’t survive this winter, but I’m going to put some in smaller puts and move them under cover next winter.

This is the one I’ve been trying to remember, thankyou MayBee! 😊

I grow Rosemary in the back (quite old now), then Lavender,
mixed with bruisewort (takes over well for a covered look), bright pink geraniums (I pot them over for winter) and busy Lizzie's with bright blue lobelia mixed.

I love hanging geraniums and hanging wave petunias.

Marigolds (calendulas) in the veg for insect control.

I actually do more fields than beds, so my beds follow my ways and are a mass -- just slightly more contained and planned.

MayBee70

Not colourful ( mainly because I prefer them in white but they do come in other colours) but Bacopa are my favourite bedding plants. They also survive the winter if it isn’t too harsh. I’ve just been to a garden centre specifically to buy some and they’d sold out: thankfully as I was chatting to someone about cats ( as you do…) they bought another tray out and I bought the lot. I grow some in an old chimney; unfortunately they didn’t survive this winter, but I’m going to put some in smaller puts and move them under cover next winter.

Just got back from my local one. They had plenty of bacopa in the white, pink and lilac/lavender colours. Although I think the colours are pretty, I too go for the white, and the flowers always seem larger. They are brilliant for pots, hanging baskets and even just to fill a gap at the front of borders, they really lift a planting scheme.

I used to love Petunia Million Bells after seeing a large pot full of them in jewel like colours cascading over the edge but never seemed to have any success growing them even though Petunias should be idiot proof.

I love petunias but so do the slugs and snails!

Bizzie Lizzies can sometimes be trashed by heavy rain, they do come back but make a sorry sight until they revive.

Geraniums (pelargoniums) are drought tolerant, easily deadheaded and very patient.

Begonias can be showy but get very bruised in heavy rain.

Bacopa, Nepetia, Lobelia and Allysum all come in a variety of colours and look good trailing over the side of pots.

Osteospermum are superb!

Nemesias are among my favourites. They come in many different colours and are easy to look after.

Nasturtiums - they are easy to grow and tumble out of pots and grow across gravel and around trees. Sarah Raven does seedlings so you can get ahead of the season.
They also attract aphids off veg plants and roses.