Blog: Don’t let your garden run out of steam – have blooms until the first frosts
It’s common from August onwards for your garden to lose momentum, so give borders a late summer boost to have flowers until the first frosts. I do a few tasks from the end of July and during August, which will keep producing blooms until the first frosts.
All our gardening efforts are concentrated towards the first half of the year. Let’s be honest – most of us take our eyes off the ball or just want to relax during the hottest months. The trouble is, this is the time we want to sit back and admire our hard work, and if we don’t keep our pots and borders ticking over, they will run out of steam.
Give borders a late summer boost – key plants
Key plants for a late summer boost for borders are late-flowering herbaceous perennials. In my long border, these include Rudbeckia Goldsturm, Aster Barbados and Japanese Anemones. My borders are packed and in early summer, I let self-seeded plants do their thing – Campanula, Welsh poppies, sweet rocket and cow parsley (including the dark variety, Ravenswing). By mid-July, these have all finished flowering and shade out the later flowering plants.
Don’t be tempted to leave them in. They are quite unsightly and crowd out the later perennials. Either cut them down or pull them up, being careful not to damage the plants yet to flower. Once you’ve taken out the spent plants, give the late-flowering perennials a high-potash feed and make sure they don’t go short of water. If there are any gaps (they will fill in), use ornamental pots to fill in. I use my large tropical plants and succulents.
Visit your local nursery
After clearing plants that have gone over, it’s a good time to visit your local nursery. Look for classics that are in bud (the daisy family, Sedum Autumn Joy, Dahlias) and plant them among early summer-flowering varieties. Next year, you can get into the rhythm that I’ve got into. It’s simple and straightforward, especially if, like me, you love architectural foliage, which is the bedrock of my planting.
Don’t forget hardy and half-hardy annuals to provide late-season colour. If you keep them fed, watered and deadheaded, most will continue until the first frosts. I rely a great deal on nasturtiums, which self-seed. Sunflowers are another boon in late summer and autumn, especially multi-branching varieties. The RHS has some great advice on plants for late summer and autumn borders.
