Stretching summer into autumn
AUGUST is generally regarded as the holiday month here in Ireland , a time to slow down, relax and take a break. It also heralds a slow down in the work load around the garden. The burst of growth brought on by spring and early summer tends to have slowed at this stage and even the weeds seem happy to be taking a little break.
Thankfully many of or late summer flowering plants are not on holiday and are continuing to delighting us with long lasting displays of all colours, shapes and sizes of blooms. There are woody shrubs that will flower from now until late autumn and these are often very easily grown, low maintenance and hardy. These woody plants flower on this year’s growth, new wood, as opposed to last years growth, old wood. This means that as long as they continue to produce new growth they have the capability of flowering. With our autumns becoming ever more mild, I’ve already heard good forecasts predicted for September, these long flowering shrubs are becoming more and more valuable source of colour in the garden.
Fuchsia is probably the best continuous flowering shrub available. If left unpruned they can start flowering as early as May and just keep on going until it gets too cold. Fuchsias are extremely tough and their only downfall is that they can be slightly frost tender. The hedgerow Fuchsia magellanica ‘Ricartonii’ is a superb plants as is the white flowered variety Fuchsi magellanica ‘Alba’. Larger flowered varieties include Fuchsia ‘Mrs Popple’; Fuchsia ‘Madame Cornelissen’. The dwarf varieties F. ‘Tom Thumb’ and F. ‘Lady Thumb’ are both excellent.
All Fuchsia make great informal hedges. Hydrangeas work well with Fuchsias as they like the same kind of conditions, moist soil and a little shade from hot sun. Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’ will flower from July until September as will the paniculata group. The mopheads while not flowering on new wood do flower over an extended period summer to autumn.
Lavatera x clementii or shrubby mallow is another non stop flowerer from July onwards. The cultivars L. ‘Barnsley’ very pale pink, L. ‘Rosea’ pink and L. ‘Bredon Springs’ purple pink are all recommended. It’s easy to get sniffy about Hypericum ‘Hidcote’ with its brassy yellow flowers that is so common in gardens you might think it a native. But this is a fantastic shrub flowering from July to October and literally grows anywhere.
Potentillas are of the strawberry family which is evident in their flowers. During winter they can easily be mistaken for being dead but from June onwards they repeat flower until autumn. They respond well to hard pruning and come in all colours, white, yellow, pink, red and orange. Abelias don’t start flowering until August but once they get going they stick around well into autumn. Abelia x grandiflora and its cultivars ‘Edward Goucher’, ‘Frances Mason’ ‘Confetti’ and the variegated ‘Kaleidoscope’ are the most common but try to source Abelia floribunda with its cherry red flowers as an alternative.
Buddleja davidii , the butterfly bush, has naturalised and is so hardy that it can be seen growing from cracks in masonary and chimney stacks. It responds well to hard pruning and flowers all the better for it infact. There are many named varieties available in white, pink, red and bluey purples. New varieties ‘Petite Blue Heaven’ and ‘Petite White Heaven’ claim to flower from May until October on dwarf bushes, that is three months sooner than usual. Leycesteria formosa is an unusual plant flowering from June to September with white flowers in drooping wine coloured bracts. Very tough but slightly frost tender.
Other sub-shrub long flowering plants to look out for are Ceratostigma, piercing blue. Caryopteris, pale blue. Romneya white with yellow centres. Phygelius, yellow, white, pink and red. All are best hard pruned in spring.