How about a kitchen garden? So handy and beautiful for all the things you want to cook with!

https://www.houzz.com/photos/query/kitchan-garden/nqrwns/p/60?oq=kitchan%20garden&redirectoq=kitchan%20garden

The hydrangea is doing well. Currently you have a few roses and a few ferns and some of this and some of that. It would look better if you narrowed down your plant selections. I'd plant a small ornamental tree surrounded by hydrangeas.

Perhaps the bed doesn't need to be that large so that it becomes more manageable as you learn about gardening. You can always expand it later. I would bring the border in where you have plants that can be easily moved, like the hosta on the far left. Keep the mophead hydrangea where it is a focal point.

I would remove the vinca, heather, and ferns. I just dug up my old heather and it came up easily. They have a center stem and fibrous roots that dig up with little effort. I would move the lacecap hydrangea to a different part of the bed or to a different bed--maybe to replace the heather. The lacecap doesn't show well jammed up against the mophead. A photo from the right side of that garden would be helpful. I want to see how that bed relates to the narrower bed that seems to curve along the walkway.

Then I'd go to a nursery and ask for help in selecting small shrubs and conifers in a variety of colors and texture. You need some evergreens to anchor the beds and then you can fill in with deciduous shrubs and perennials. Some nurseries offer a design service.

Are you in the Pacific Northwest?

Quite right about the Lacecap Hydrangea not showing up. I hadn’t even noticed it!

You are in the UK so what grows here is not a good selection maybe for you. I think the idea of a small raised bed kitchen garden near the house and then a nice perennial bed for the rest and IMO the way to get taht is to talk to your garden center pro. They know what grows and how to arrange a well thought out garden. I happen to love English type gardens but they do need some thought as to the plants and the layout.

"You are in the UK so what grows here is not a good selection maybe for you."

And this was determined how, exactly? The OP has provided no insight yet on their location, so we have only speculation on what plants may or may not work in this situation.

I think she’s talking to me, gg. 😉

Patricia, we do not know where the OP is located so there is no knowing where ’here’ is. However, every plant in the picture is very familiar to me and gives a good indication of the gardening and climate conditions, especially that large thriving blue hydrangea which speaks of acid soil, a mild winter and ample moisture. I’m sticking to my opinions and suggestions.

Pretty pictures of potager style gardens show them in peak production. They do not show them in early spring when there are only tiny plants and bare ground, in winter when they are mostly empty, in autumn after half the stuff has been harvested, when they are littered with netting, row covers, cloches and other necessary clutter, or when they’ve been ravaged by the weather at any time of year. They also require a lot of work to keep half way tidy. I am very keen on vegetable growing, but I do not think this is a suitable spot given its location In full view of the windows and the seating area.

I am in seattle area. i have an evergreen (pic below), some peonies and an edgeworthia that i would like to move here. plants in the bed are just whatever was already there or just this and that that i planted.

i would really like a dahlia and bulb and annual bed somewhere in this set.

not sure if this is too much but would a spiral shape look nice here? I have space to move plants that dont fit in this bed.

Thanks!

The bed on the side is a mishmash of roses, japanese anemone, lavender, bluberries blueberries, fig and some annuals. ill clean this up as i get time. after cleanup, itll be a low bed, not too much height on the planting along the windows.

For the folks that suggested a vege bed, i have a short growing season and lot of pests, so veges have to be behind bunny and deer fence.

Your conifer (evergreen) is a weeping tree with the potential to grow much too large for the bed by your patio. And putting the metal corkscrew next to it will not make it into spiral. When I mentioned evergreens I did not mean conifers in particular. My suggestions of Rhododendrons and Camellias are both evergreens. Another nice one for your soil type is Kalmia.

As for Dahlias, bulbs and annuals, they are seasonal and can be planted in amongst the shrubs and perennials which would form the permanent structure of your garden. They do not need dedicated beds, which would look empty for much of the year.

I think you are trying to cram a collection of individually attractive plants into the space without thinking of the overall design. It’s like shopping for your home by just grabbing random items you like the look of without considering any kind of colour scheme or arrangement or whether they fit in your room. Your bed doesn't need single plants of lots of pretty kinds. It needs fewer kinds, in multiples if small, arranged with an eye on their colours, shapes, growth habits, size and period of interest.

I think you could take what you have here and add a semicircular low hedge of boxwood along the brown edge of the mulch, just inside from the ground covers, and running from the right side of the hydrangea in the picture, in front of the bird bath but out a bit and then ending inside the fern on the left. Sorry I don't have a tool to draw this on the photograph, but imagine it as a curving ")" shape. You might have to move one of the ferns. Then, fill in the outside border with more of the groundcovers you are already using. This way you can take advantage of the plants you already have, and add some year round interest and structure. You may have room to add some lower growing flowers around the birdbath.

I recognized the evergreeens as being the PNW. Your property reminds me of my in-laws' home in Bremerton. She had extensive planting beds with a creek running through them. Her bridal veil viburnum was the focal point in one very large bed and it was gorgeous in the spring. She grew a lot of different hosta, ferns, astilbe and other shade plants.

That heather is dead inside, like mine was. You'll be happy to be rid of it! I bought a lonicera nitida 'Lemon Beauty' yesterday to replace it. I have lonicera 'Edmee Gold' and "Twiggy', a dwarf variety, in my backyard. They are carefree and evergreen and look nice with perennials, like heuchera and hellebores. I would also suggest a small Japanese maple as a focal point in one of your beds.

I don’t see that the heather is dead in the centre.

Well, not dead but woody, with the growth at the ends of the stems. That's how they look over time when they're not pruned every year. They can easily be replaced for $10 at any garden center.

The heather is about to flower. Once it is done it could be given a good haircut and it will be compact again. It would take a several new plants and quite a while to replicate that size patch.

Not in my experience. You'd be cutting into bare wood. Maybe if you kept up with pruning it annually it could be reshaped.

That type flowers in February here in the PNW. They are not a special plant. They put them in as a cheap way to landscape new builds. It doesn't deserve such a prominent spot in their garden.