I would definitely make it wider than two feet it will look a little
squashed in.And plant on mass 3,5 & 7 if poss.It will look far better with
blocks of plants than singles dotted here & there.Like someone else has said
mix winter fragrant shrubs possibly some evergreens for background then
plant spring bulbs between all the plants.
Perennial borders alone are great if you have the space for other sections
of interest throughout the garden,but if this is all you have to look at
then the mixed border will be best,as with the perennial border by late
autumn that will be it ,over till spring.

--
Thanks Keith,England,UK.
"Martin Sykes" wrote in message
...
"Lynda Thornton" wrote in message
...
Hello all

We have a large north-north-west facing lawned garden with high beech
hedges and woodland shrubs around and I would like to add some colour
and variety with a long perennial border running along a wooden picket
3ft fence we recently put up. I have already removed 2ft of the turf
and am about to prepare the soil by digging in some organic matter and
adding some more topsoil as much of it went with the grass.

I have been thinking about plants which would be OK in this situation.
It isn't shady and does get sun but it can get windy and cold too. It
gets some sun first thing and then a bit more in late afternoon, from
the other side. I would like some taller plants for added interest and
hopefully the fence will provide some shelter and support. I have
already ordered some plants from Thompson&Morgan below:

2 hybrid tea roses, 3-4ft max
acanthus mollis
asiatic lilies
verbena bonariensis

Some plants I am still thinking about a

lilium regale
primula vialli
phlox paniculata
bell flowers (like canterbury bells I think)
aquilegia mixed
monarda mixed
hellebores
verbascum phoeniculum
dicentra pregrina alba (only grows 30-40cm).

Does anyone have any comments or suggestions and are any of these plants
completely wrong for the situation? I am not super keen on orange or
bright yellow so have avoided those colours mostly.

Any other ideas would be welcome - I am really looking forward to
sitting in the garden this summer with a view of a colourful flower
border hopefully!!

Thanks
Lynda

Hi Lynda,

The plants sound nice but I think most of what you have there will die
down
in the winter ( apart from the hellebores which will provide good
structure ) so some extra winter interest would be a good idea. The
lillies
might need staking if it's very windy. If you want more height, I'd
consider widening your border at some points so you don't have to squash
your tall plants in at the back. I'd add a couple of asters to your list
because they're extremely colourful and you'll get lots of butterflies on
them to add a bit of movement to the border.

--
Martin & Anna Sykes
( Remove x's when replying )
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~sykesm