LET’S ALL BE GOLD DIGGERS!
On a cooler note, dusky shades of Phlox and Liatris add depth and calmness to the show. This warm, ripening time brings rewards for the kitchen too, as tomatoes and courgettes provide a feast for barbecue side-salad bowls and relishes. Runner beans should now be ready for the Sunday roasts and sweet peas add décor to the dining table.
One of the real pleasurable jobs of this month is absorbing the moods and nuances of the garden and assessing the displays in general.
Now is the time to take pen to paper and plan any autumn adjustments you feel appropriate. And spare areas of the garden can be planted up now with plants to provide fantastic late season joy in a few weeks time.
Striving for this daisy
ZESTY late-summer daisies really do shout at any passer-by. They look bold in a cottage garden and add sheer dimension to mixed borders (shrubs and perennials).
The real favourites are certainly the Rudbeckias, usually golden-yellow with a deep brown cone-shaped centre.
Echinaceas seem to be very much in vogue at the moment and are usually white or pink with a dark centre. If you have a large area to play with, try these two plants in a prairie style border with golden rod (Solidago) and ornamental grasses. You won’t be disappointed! They all prefer a deep, fertile soil in screaming sunshine.
LIATRIS make a cool, gentle statement in a border. These plants produce mauve spikes of fluffy flower heads and are unique, as the blooms open first from the top of the spike progressively downwards. They are often seen as cut-flowers in florists’ shops earlier in the summer, but I do think they are best left in the border to echo the tall stately Acanthus and to compliment the mildly scented Phlox.
They are easy to grow in a fairly dry, sunny position by planting the corms about 5cm deep in April in a group of around half-a-dozen or so. Give them a little space to grow as they don’t like too much competition from other plants.
Veg-ing out for summer
VEGETABLES are certainly becoming abundant – no more so than tomatoes and runner beans. The latter are best picked when really young and tender, just a few centimetres long, and are really tasty if you can rush them straight to the kitchen.
Last of the summertime
NOW IS the time to plant an autumn border if you never had the chance to before. With plenty of preparation, digging and compost the plants can go in straight away to really sing in a month or two’s time. The usual watering will be needed, but otherwise stand back and watch the show unveil. Try Fuchsia Genii, Sedum Pink Ice, Aster Monch, Schizostlis Sunrise, Nerine Sarniensis and Japanese Anemones for a long-lasting display.
They’re available in a Hyd-range-a colours
HYDRANGEAS are superb space-filling shrubs which produce many large flowerheads over a long period in summer and autumn. Colours are white or range from pink or red through shades of purple to blue. This is the only plant that you can change the colour of the blooms.
By planting a blue variety in an acid soil, its colour will stay true, but the limier the soil it is planted in, the more likely it will veer towards pink. I must point out that pink varieties cannot be turned blue. These shrubs do not like drying out so tend to prefer a rather moisture retentive soil. They seem to perform best in partial shade, but will grow in sun if adequate water is available. They are also rather hungry plants which appreciate a twice-yearly dose of chicken manure along with a good mulch of rotted compost in spring.
The most popular types are the Mopheads and the rather distinctive Lace-Caps - the latter preferring constant moisture and shelter from cold winter winds.
One last point - the dead flower heads, which do look attractive in winter, should not be removed until May as these protect the young shoots from spring frosts. When planting out young plants (less than two-years-old), the heads could even be left on until June to be on the safe side.
ACANTHUS make a bold statement in the mid-summer border. Their spiky tubes of flowers contrast a muted purple with white lips. They need plenty of space to grow in full sun to appreciate their architectural beauty. Their seedheads also persist well into winter and can be cut for a dried flower vase.
A plant with seeds is a plant indeed
SEIZE the opportunity to save seeds of many summer-flowering plants. Rather than make my usual list, go out there, pick whatever takes your fancy and have a go. I find cutting a few inches of stem along with the old flowerheads and laying them down on newspaper on a sunny windowsill works reasonably well with most varieties. For a challange, try Hostas, Astilbes, Rhododendrons, Magnolias and Acanthus. Sow these out in a seed tray, cover them with grit and leave them out for the winter to stratify them - it’s just what they need to encourage spring germination.
Short-changed for summer
AUGUST should begin warm and locally thundery and then settle down into a good fine spell for the second week.
From mid-month onwards, we are back to the changeable summer we have been used to and there could be some quite autumnally high winds and wet spells towards the end of the month.
We’re in for a fruity September
SEPTEMBER brings gorgeous ripe fruit in abundance and quantity. It is a time to start repairing and renovating lawns and also building and planting up new rockeries. We also discover some more late flowering perennials which stoke up the border.
See you next month!
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