Its nearing the end of August and parts of the garden are looking just a little bit tired. However there are still plenty of plants that are actually at their best this time of year, and also a few crafty ways you can fill in gaps to prolong the season.
White phlox in the herbaceous border stands tall and bright at the back of the bed. This one, Phlox paniculata ‘White Admiral’ is a very reliable and undemanding perennial that will grow in almost any soil and give a swathe of colour well into August.
The phlox is complimented well by white cosmos, home-grown and planted out earlier in the season. I cannot praise this annual enough, easy to grow from seed and as long as you regularly deadhead it will keep on flowering right up until the first frosts.
My herb patch is a classic example of an area going over at this time of year, the marjoram has flowered and grown straggly and most of the lavender blooms are past their best. However, interspersed amongst the herbs I’ve planted Devil’s bit scabious, Succisa pratensis, usually found in grassy place such as heaths or grasslands but also a popular garden plant. It will give you a mass of small blue pincushion flowers from May to September.
One plant I have really got into in recent years is the dahlia. I’ve got quite a collection now – from showy varieties such as Dahlia ‘Karma Choc’ pictured here that I plant in old galvanised buckets, to single flowering varieties I plant out in the herbaceous beds. The same principle applies here as to the cosmos, keep deadheading and they will keep going!
I have quite a few old varieties of rose in the garden and many will repeat flower if they are carefully deadheaded after the first flush of flowers. One of my favourites shown here is rose Comte de Chambord. It repeat-flowers well and with its warm pink blooms and Damask fragrance is a real treat when other summer blooms are waining.
I am a huge fan of sempervivums. Grown in attractive pots, they will adorn a wall or corner of a patio and provide interest all year round as long as they are positioned in a sheltered position. In pots like this stone one with good drainage, they will survive the winter well. Cold is not necessarily a problem, its very wet weather they don’t like.
Lastly, its a good idea to position those annuals that are still full of flower in places around the garden that are maybe in need of a little added colour. Here my sunken patio walls are coloured by pink verbena, late flowering lavender and scented pelargoniums. Keep these annuals flowering well into autumn by deadheading and feeding once a week with well diluted tomato food.
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