What to Plant in a Bed You Know You Will Neglect

Every garden has one — the bed that is too far from the tap, behind the shed, or simply out of the sightline from the kitchen window. Mine is at the bottom of the slope. I have planted it three times with things that needed me, and three times watched them fail.

The honest criteria

A plant for a neglected bed needs to survive a missed watering in August, spread enough to crowd out weeds without needing dividing every year, and look acceptable when it is not at its best. That last one rules out a lot of things that gardening books recommend.

What has survived four years

Hardy geraniums have done the most work. They knit together, smother weed seedlings, and if they get scruffy you can cut the whole thing to the ground in July and get fresh growth. Sedum handles the dry end and holds its shape through winter. Ornamental grasses ask for one cut a year and nothing else.

What failed

Lavender, twice — it wanted better drainage than the bottom of a slope ever provides. Anything labelled for containers, because container plants are bred for attention. And bulbs, which came up beautifully once and were then swamped by everything else before the second spring.