You can keep your garden blooming through to autumn and the first frost with a selection of late-flowering choices. Many are wonderfully mellow, others in a wide range of tones, from sky blues and candy pinks to carmine and golds, so there are plenty of choices to work with your colour schemes, whether in containers or in garden beds and borders. For a real shot of colour plant some of these shrubs and perennials into any gaps you have as the summer slowly ebbs away or make note of them to add next spring.
Hydrangeas
These hardy shrubs that flower from mid-summer to autumn have seen a real resurgence in popularity over the past decade. No longer seen as old-fashioned and languishing in shrubberies, flowering shrubs are again championed and valued for their use in our gardens, with hydrangeas a clear favourite for their sheer variety, reliability and blowsy blooms. Grown in sun or semi-shade, either on their own, in the border or as an informal hedge, their voluptuous long-lasting blooms provide loads of colour in shades of pink, blue, purple and white. There are five main types – big leafed – mopheads and lacecaps, panicle, smooth, oakleaf and climbing, with a wide range of lovely varieties to choose from. Hydrangeas are easy to grow deciduous shrubs and thrive in moist, well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter, in a protected spot. The mophead and lace-cap hydrangeas are known for their ability to change flower colour in different soils; blue in acid soil, mauve in acid to neutral and pink in alkaline conditions. If grown in containers you can manipulate the potting compost for the colour you are after – you can even pop them in the container into the garden bed. Pruning can improve the plant’s vigour; prune ones that bloom on old growth after flowering and in spring or autumn for ones that bloom on new growth.
Dahlias
Invaluable additions for their flamboyant blooms until the first frost, there is such a wide variety of shape, size and colour. Dahlias can be described as decorative, cactus, anemone, waterlily, pompon, balls, collarette, dwarf, peony or orchid. Sizes range from the smallest lilliput to dinnerplate-sized blooms and there is every colour except for that most elusive colour for breeders – blue. There is a sense of nostalgia with dahlias as once everyone grew them, often in rows amongst the vegetables or as brassy displays in gardens, before fashions changed and they began to fall out of favour. Garden designers such as Beth Chatto in the 1970’s and Piet Oudolf in the 1990’s brought more subtle, natural-looking designs to the fore. Breeders started developing varieties for modern planting schemes with daintier sizes that melded into planting combinations of grasses and perennials. A new wave saw great popularity of dark foliaged dahlias, started by Christopher Lloyd at Great Dixter in Sussex, when in 1993 he famously pulled out his rose garden and replaced it with an exotic border starring ‘The Bishop of Llandaff’ against towering cannas. Indeed, for a while this was deemed the only dahlia allowed in a fashionable garden. The trend for dark foliage continues with the Bishop series and ones such as the very popular ‘David Howard’, while bright, cheering colours mass-planted with all kinds of dahlias also makes a popular crescendo to the season. They need a sunny spot, protected from strong winds, in rich, moist, well-drained loamy soil but not wet, waterlogged soils.
Asters and Michaelmas daisies
Again lots to choose from for height, colour and design use, with their dainty daisy like flowers available in shades of purple, blue, pink, red and white. Easy to grow in plenty of sun in most soils apart from heavy clay or ones that dry out too much in summer, these hardy perennials are also enjoyed by bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Mix in a cottage style or plant in borders, and they combine attractively with ornamental grasses in a prairie style. I love to plant plenty so I can cut armfuls of arching stems full of blooms for the vase.
Japanese anemones
When they catch in the breeze, clouds of these elegant blooms, aptly named windflower, in pale pink or white floating on tall stems are quite mesmerising. They thrive in woodland conditions in well-drained soil in light shade, returning year after year, cope with dry conditions and can also be grown in containers. They provide nectar and pollen, which is particularly enjoyed by bumblebees. You can cut back after flowering or leave seedheads for the birds over winter. Long-lived and easy to care for, they will spread after established so you may need to do some editing.
Salvias
With over 1,000 varieties, shrubby, hardy and tender, in a superb range of colours from delicate pinks to rich purples and clear sky blue, it’s easy to see why these are also deservedly popular choices for summer to autumn interest. Easy to grow in beds, borders and containers they are welcome splash of bright colour for us and are also nectar magnets for bees and butterflies. Plant them in in a sheltered full sun position in moist, well-drained soil. Some are annuals, others herbaceous perennials. The hardy varieties can be overwintered in the garden, while half-hardy and tender ones can be lifted and overwintered in pots indoors.
To decide how and where you’d like to grow these late season beauties, whether en masse in blocks, combined with other plants in the border or in containers, do your research, check your micro-climates and select appropriately. Your local garden centre, wandering around your locality to see what’s doing well in your vicinity and visiting gardens can guide your choices.
Get the look
5 further choices to consider are: cosmos, rudbeckias, echinacea, verbena, and sunflowers.
You can inject colour into fading borders and gaps by popping in hardy perennials in flower or bud now.
Your local garden centre is bound to have displays of seasonal highlight plants to inspire you.
For impact plant in dense blocks and repeat plants for a sense of cohesion.
Work with the conditions, by choosing plants that suit and will thrive.
Deadhead to prolong flowering and leave some seedheads to stand for winter interest and as habitats for insects.
Gardens to visit
Exbury Gardens, Exbury, SO45 1AF
Hydrangea walk and late season borders
Open daily to November 3
exbury.co.uk
Redenham Park House, Andover, SP11 9AQ
Combinations of colour, texture and shape
Open through the National Garden Scheme on September 20 (10am-1pm), Admission £6
ngs.org.uk
Hambledon House, Hambledon, PO7 4RX
Imaginative, densely planted borders that peak now
NGS visits welcome by arrangement April to October for groups of 10 - 40
ngs.org.uk
West Green House Garden, Hartley Wintney, RG27 8JB
Elegant country garden with beautiful planting combinations
Open Wednesday through Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday until October 27 (11am-4.30pm)
Adults £10, Children £5, car parking £4 or free to National Trust members
westgreenhouse.co.uk
Gilberts Nursery, Sherfield English, Hampshire, SO51 6DT
Dahlia field open mid-August to October
gilbertsdahlias.co.uk
Hinton Ampner, Bramdean, SO24 0LA
Impressive borders for long season of interest
Garden and grounds open daily (10am-6pm). See website for details of timings
nationaltrust.org.uk/hinton-ampner
