Home » Plants & Animals » English Country Gardening » Beef Up Your Borders

Beef Up Your Borders

© Jane Hollis

So you have finished planting your carefully prepared border, with all your plants at the properly prescribed distances. It looks terribly empty and bare, so the temptation is to plant them more closely together, but then the plants will be too crowded when they reach maturity. The answer is to employ short term planting, that is expendable plants that can be used to fill the gaps between permanent plants, whilst waiting for them to mature.

Short term planting may also be necessary on a new site to fill a space before the permanent planting is decided upon. What plants are suitable for short term planting? Well, because they will be dispensed with when the permanent plants have matured, they need to be cheap to buy or easy to propagate. They also need to be quick growing, but not so vigorous that they swamp the permanent planting.

Hardy annuals: These are a good way to fill out a border temporarily being cheap and easy to grow from seed without artificial heat and covering a wide variety of colours, forms and heights. The disadvantage of hardy annuals is that, sown at the normal time in early spring, they flower in early summer and look a mess for the rest of the season. I find it better to sow them later, say at the beginning of the summer, so their fresh new foliage looks attractive between your young plants before flowering at the end of the summer.

For low growing plants try Lobularia maritima (sweet alyssum) and Nemophila menzieii. For medium size plants use Clarkia elegans, Centaura cyanus (cornflower), Iberis umbellata (candytuft), Calendula officinalis (pot marigold), Nigella damascena (love-in-a-mist), Eschscholzia calfornica (Californian poppy), Echium lycopsis, Lavatera trimestris (mallow). Climbers add much needed height to a young border so try Lathyrus odoratus (sweet pea) and Tropaeolum majus (nasturtium). For the ultimate in height use Helianthus annuus (annual sunflower). If you appreciate the subtle charms of grasses then you can grow annual versions, such as Briza maxima and Agrostis nebulosa.

Half-hardy annuals: These plants are a little more difficult to grow than half-hardy annuals because, as they originate from warmer climates, they need heat to germinate and require protection from frost. This means growing them in a heated greenhouse or on a sunny windowledge. However, the advantage is that they usually have a longer flowering period than hardy annuals. If you are using them to fill out a herbaceous or mixed border try to use the more natural looking varieties, rather than very showy plants like petunias, begonias and pelargoniums. Good choices are Cleome spinata (spider flower), Cosmos bipinnatus (which has the added attraction of feathery foliage), Nicotiana alata (tobacco plant) and Salvia farinacea.