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With our changing climate it becomes more of a challenge to maintain colour and interest in the garden through late summer and into autumn. Those gems that we associate with the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness seem to bloom earlier every year.
Crocosmias, rudbeckias, echinaceas and heleniums grace our gardens in July rather than saving their display for late August and September. Summer rain and lack of sunshine has delayed autumn leaf colour in recent years. Mild nights and moderate days mean that the best of the fall tints appear in November rather than October.
Lack of frost and reasonable growing conditions encourage prolonged colour from roses, dahlias and penstemons, and sometimes an encore from herbaceous geraniums, lupins and delphiniums. This additional effort should be rewarded with a late summer feed of a balanced slow-release fertiliser, Vitax Q4 is ideal. The high potash content will encourage flowers and harden growth in preparation for colder days ahead.
Featured Plants
Click on the featured plants in the article to view in the Hilliers Online shop.
Aconitum ‘Sparks’
Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’
Members of the perennial sunflower family are useful to add sunshine at a higher level in the border. Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ is one of the best mixers. Its soft lemon flowers carried on 140cm stems sit happily above most other colours, unlike those strong chrome yellow varieties that scream for attention. Pale yellow is a wonderful partner for dark blue but it is not easy to guarantee autumn flowers on the delphiniums. Aconitum is an excellent alternative to delphinium and is more wind and slug resistant. Although many flower from June onwards, Aconitum carmichaelii is often late producing its deep blue blooms on stout spikes.
Echinacea purpurea
Asters, Michaelmas daisies, have earned a reputation for being magnets for mildew, however there are resistant varieties. Aster x frikartii ‘Monch’ and Aster amellus ‘King George’ are two of the best. The former has lavender-blue, large daisy flowers with golden eyes carried on slender stems with light green foliage. The latter is similar but with slightly deeper blue blooms. Aster novae-angliae ‘Andenken an Alma Potschke’ is taller with stout stems carrying furry foliage and topped with bright carmine-pink gold-eyed flowers. It looks particularly striking against any purple foliage, particularly Berberis thunbergii f. atropurpurea ‘Harlequin’ with pink tones in its leaves that are similar to those in the flowers of the aster.
Ceratostigma willmottianum is one of the best low-growing autumn flowering shrubs. With sapphire blue flowers, and small green leaves tinted with burgundy, it is particularly effective at the base of a sunny south-facing wall with the surprising sugar-pink flowers of Nerine bowdenii. Further back in the border Vitex agnus-castus is a good choice for late lilac-blue blooms. The slender woody stems carry mid-green palmate leaves and small buddleja-like spikes of flowers. It is an excellent choice for a dry, sunny situation and performs well near the coast.
Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Blue Spire’
Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Blue Spire’ is a wonderful aromatic shrub with white stems and fine silvery foliage. White buds open to shiny blue flowers from late summer onwards if the plant is cut back hard in February; the white stems remain attractive through autumn and into winter. It is especially effective alongside paving, or in a hot, sunny border.
Many grasses are at their best at this time of the year. Miscanthus in particular display their plume-like flower heads atop upright stems. Natives of Japan, they like sunshine and a reasonable amount of moisture in the soil to perform well. Try planting them to rise out of the low mounts of winter-flowering heathers, or small-leaved hebes such as the ever-popular Hebe ‘Red Edge’.
Lonicera ‘Baggessen’s Gold’
Whatever is in bloom in the border, reliable colour comes from foliage. Variegated, golden and purple foliage evergreens add interest throughout the year. Lonicera ‘Baggessen’s Gold’ is a particularly useful shrub in sun or shade. Its tiny golden leaves on graceful branches are a good companion for heavier, darker evergreens and to add all-year round colour amongst deciduous shrubs. The variegated pittosporums never lose their appeal. Their small leaves on dark stems are good for cutting. Pittosporum ‘Garnettii’, with white-edged sage-green leaves, tinges pink as nights grow colder. Pittosporum ‘Irene Patterson’ is the most eye-catching with its strongly white variegated and streaked leaves, almost entirely white at the tips of the branches.
It’s easy to dismiss conifers when considering evergreens. However for colour and texture no plant group offers greater variety in shades of green, gold, cream, steel, sage, copper and bronze; their foliage may be soft, spiky, silky or bristling. Shapes can be upright, spreading, rounded or angular. If only we could bring ourselves to use conifers just like we do any other garden plant then we could add a whole new dimension to our gardens. Young plants of the smaller conifers offer great value. Use them growing in pots through the winter months – or for a couple of seasons on the patio. Pot them individually and group them with pots of bulbs for spring.
