Tile Remover Garden Bed Kit partial shade 4 m² - ORG

There is something magical about the way lady’s mantle holds water droplets. The velvety, fan-shaped leaves hold morning dew like mercury, a sight most gardeners remember. The yellow-green flower plumes that appear in summer are graceful and airy, and combine with almost anything in the border. Lady’s mantle is also one of the most reliable groundcovers you can choose: it grows densely, keeps weeds at bay and requires virtually no maintenance.

As October approaches and most borders look a bit tired, the balsam aster bursts into bloom in shades of purple, pink and blue. A sea of tiny stars on sturdy stems, and above them: bees, bumblebees and butterflies making the most of the last warm days of the year. The balsam aster is one of the most important plants for pollinators in the autumn, as there are few alternatives left by then. Combined with the black-eyed Susan and the Japanese anemone, it ensures that the border ends with a bang, not a whisper.

The columbine is the dancer of the garden. Light, feathery leaves on slender stems, and above them flowers that look as though they were designed by someone who loves exuberance: spurs on the petals in blue, purple, pink or white, depending on the variety. Columbine flowers in early spring and is one of the few plants that long-tongued bumblebees really need — only they can reach the nectar deep within the spurs. Afterwards, it kindly self-seeds and surprises you in a slightly different spot every year.

Bright white with a yellow centre. The daisy is one of the most recognisable flowers in existence, and with good reason. It flowers for a long time, looks great in a vase, and attracts insects like a magnet. In a semi-shaded border, it brings light and brightness to the areas where it is most needed. There is also something reassuring about the daisy: it simply does what it always does, year after year, without drama and without demanding attention.

Not to be confused with the pot plant that garden centres put out in the summer. The true cranesbill is a perennial of a completely different order: long-lived, fully hardy, and capable of flowering almost continuously from May to September. The small flowers in blue, pink or purple seem innocent, but provide a reliable source of nectar for bees and bumblebees throughout the growing season. What’s more, it covers the ground in a way that gives weeds no chance — practical and beautiful.

Once summer has passed its peak and most plants have finished flowering, the black-eyed Susan really comes into its own. The bright yellow flowers with their dark, cone-shaped centres appear in August and last well into autumn. Rudbeckia is one of the best late-flowering plants for semi-shaded borders and brings back a sense of warmth at the end of the season. Bumblebees and bees, which are increasingly desperate for food in late summer, gratefully benefit from this.

The Japanese anemone has something unexpected about it. Whilst the garden is slowly winding down, it does the opposite: the slender stems with their graceful pink or white flowers appear in August and continue to bloom until October. The Japanese anemone belongs in a semi-shaded border — it originates from the forest edges of China and Japan, and thrives best in a spot where the sun does not beat down all day. Once planted, it spreads gently and returns slightly larger each year.

Small, sweet and edible, the wild strawberry is the surprise in this pack. The white flowers appear early in spring and attract bees at a time when few other plants are in bloom. These are followed by small, flavourful strawberries that you can pick straight from the plant. Wild strawberries spread gently via runners, forming a dense, cheerful ground cover. Along with the lenten rose, they prove that an organic border can also be edible.

January. In the middle of winter, when the rest of the garden stands bare and still, the lenten rose opens its first flowers. That is no mistake — it is its nature. Helleborus prefers to flower during the cold months, and keeps going well into spring. The deeply cup-shaped flowers in cream, pale pink or purplish tones are elegant and understated, exactly what you want to see on a grey February day. In a semi-shaded border, the Helleborus is the anchor that opens the season, long before the other plants even begin to stir.