New garden bed - suggestions invited

[brianw]

I am about to create a new garden, but 1 area I am very undecided on planting. It will be seen by everyone arriving/leaving and us from a facing kitchen window, but 10 metres away across a raised gravel drive. Low maintenance would be good.

It is a 1 x ~10 metres long raised bed against the bottom of a low (~1 metre) wall. It runs N-S (i.e. faces W, the front edge 1 railway/road sleeper/tie high fronting the drive and slopes up a little to the wall. There is a risk of frost draining over one end of the wall and across it in winter but as the ground slopes gently away should otherwise should be quite warm. A single story brick building is behind the wall.

The current soil is whatever has been “recovered” from the garden, a mix of top and sub soil, a stoney/gritty alkaline, medium heavy loam. I.e. varies from light and crumbly to sets like stone clay. I would prefer not to modify it too much other than adding organic content and mulching. I will have other rock banks and or sand bed/scree elsewhere in the garden. Climbers on wires or poles possible.

Suggestions invited. Anything considered.

[Ezeiza]

Knipofia, dwarf hybrids
Hemerocallis 'Kwanso'
Tradescantia X andersoniana, several colors
Dianthus, garden pinks, many cultivars
Origanums
Hostas
Solidago
Arctotis
Argyranthemum
Erysimum
Alyssum/Aurinia
Centranthus ruber
Geraniums
daffodils
Lilium
Papaver orientale
Cerastium tomentosum
Nepeta, several
Lamiums, several
Salvia, rosette types (sclarea, Aethiopis, transsylvanica, austriaca, etc.)
Euphorbia, a number of them
artichoke
Acanthus, several
Helleborus, many
dwarf conifers
dwarf shrubs
Dieramas

to start with

[Margaret]

A few more mostly thinking about hanging over the edge -
some pale yellow
Hypericum olympicum citrinum
Chrysanthemum hosmariense
Cytisus kewensis
with some blue
Nepeta Walkers Low
Salvia candelabrum
Lavender

[Lesley Cox]

If you want it low maintenance, you could go with a total ground cover of wide, low plants, like phloxes, dianthus, some campanulas and there are many, many more. They'd make a colourful carpet  especially if you chose for variable flower times and of course you would under plant with masses of easy bulbs, some crocuses, low daffodils, whatever.