Dear All,

Just come back from my elderly parents-in-law who are living near Liverpool.
As my father-in-law has cancer and cannot help my mother-in-law with the
housework, she has no time for gardening. Each time we visit them, we would
help them with gardening and heavy housework.

It will be their Diamond wedding anniversary in late May. When we were
considering what type of present we should give them, my mother-in-law said
she would like us to put some annual in her bedding and pots in the
east-facing front garden, to bring it back in colour.

There is a 4' evergreen hedge to define the front garden from the pavement.
Inside, a number of Lily-of-the -valley have settled themselves very well.
There is also a small evergreen tree at the corner while there is a 7' wall
with climber on the south. There is a 15" wide raised bedding running from
NE to SW joining the two ends of the hedge and the wall, where is the place
we were asked to design the planting. There are already some graph
hyacinth, tulips and daffodil which were planted on 1st Jan 2004. However,
there is still a length of 6' which is rather bare.

The location is dapped to partial shaded, can be a bit windy. The soil is
mainly loam, well-drained. My mother-in-law would like to have some annual
bedding plants. We also need to plant a hanging basket handing outside the
front door, east-facing of course. There is now a pot of naturism from last
year next to the door with a trellis hanging on the wall. There are also
three pots with the size about 12" on the path walking from the front gate
to the front door. As my parents-in-law are in their 80s. It would be
better if I can get them some low-maintenance bedding/container plants which
will flower from mid-May onwards.

I had tried to search the RHS database but only six plants were shown and
only one has fragrance. It seems that Borage is one of the choices. Could
anyone suggest some other bedding plant which will flower in late May?

Is it too late to sow seeds now? Should I order some plug plants?

Any suggestion will be read with appreciation.

With regards,
CK from Aberystwyth