in southern England
The house is built on a plot of one-sixth of an acre (about
700 square metres - I think) facing north-east. We are on
the boundary of Greater London at 500m on the North Downs.
Although the garden gets quite a lot of wind we have a
south-facing border protected by the garage. 
Penstemons
(particularly Garnet) did very well there last summer, along
with self-sown nicotianas that gave off a wonderful scent in
the evening, low growing asters and antirrhinums (Lipstick -
pink and white) grown from seed and raised in the
greenhouse; the low-growing purple alyssum did less well but
that's gardening for you!
I was pleased with a new plastic hanging tower that I tried for the first time. I used a light-weight potting compost and filled it with dark blue trailing lobelia and mixed Accent impatiens to hang on the garage wall - it took a lot of regular watering but I think it was worth it.
