What to do with this border?

[Katie656]

Hi! This will be our second summer in our new house. Last year we left the garden to see what grew. Turns out there was just a lot of weeds

So this year I’ve started clearing the border down the side of the front garden and I am hoping to make it pretty. The problem is I’m not a gardener and have no idea what will work.

Our front garden is North-East facing so gets the sun in the morning, and we live in the West Midlands.

I want something that works with the rocks, and that is fairly low maintenance. If there are any suitable plants are bee and butterfly friendly that would make me very happy.

Sorry the photos aren’t great, and Ive still got a fair bit of clearing to do. The border probably hasn’t been touched for years, the soil is rock solid, and it’s been hard going

 

[Sean Regan]

I'm probably the wrong person to give advice, as I like a bit of uniformity.

I'm not so sure about the rocks. I'd use them to make a proper rockery.
The lawn edge looks a bit scruffy and needs tidying up.
I laid block paving bricks to form a permanent edge, so no "border creep" and my Flymo runs over them as they are flush with the lawn.

I don't look for work in the garden, so in this border, we've no bedding plants, just rhodos, azaleas, a camelia, bluebells, fuchsias, lilies and quince and clematis on the fence. Our garden is south facing but with the party fence, this border gets little sun.
The azaleas and rhodos see a lot of bee and occasional butterfly attention.

 

[Katie656]

Thanks for your reply. The edge of the border is messy because the weeds were growing into the lawn. I’m hoping that now the weeds are gone the grass will grow back up to the rocks and the rocks will be the border boundary.

Your border looks amazing!

 

[Sabina515]

There are ALOT of flowers you can plant that will attract them.. Milkweed is popular, but beware this spreads like crazy. Not sure if your neighbors will appreciate it. My opinion, try pintrest. There are so many beautiful butterfly and bee gardens out there. Some places on pinterest will take you to the link where the person tells you what they planted. I have knock out roses all along my fence. They are a hardy rose and don't require much The bees and butterflies visit them. I do like the rocks and I would leave them and think it would look gorgeous with a bee/butterfly garden. You can move them around but don't throw them out, those are expensive. My opinion.