The show must go on
If your early summer garden is fading, there are many plants that will extend the season. A small but spectacular heat-resistant
tree for your summer garden is pride-of-India (Lagerstroemia indica). The ‘Black Diamond’ variety has black foliage and brilliant crepe-like flowers. Grow it as a focal point in a small garden, along a driveway, or in a large container in a sunny position.
The late summer garden has an abundance of indigenous shrubs. Orange is the most common colour of the curved flowers arranged in circular whorls on the stems of wild dagga (Leonotis leonurus), but there are also cream and apricot forms.
Nectar-rich Cape honeysuckle (Tecomaria capensis) can be grown as a screen, a tall shrub or a low clipped hedge. Cultivars tend to be smaller in shades of lemon, gold, salmon, orange and red.
The apricot-coloured blooms of the sunbird bush (Metarungia longistrobus) are relished by these birds, hence its common name. It prefers a semi-shaded spot in the garden and can also be grown in pots.
In perennial borders, combine colourful members of the daisy family – blanket flower (Gaillardia), pink and sunset blooms of the cone flower (Echinacea) and golden-yellow black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) – with grass-like plants to create a meadow-style garden.
Many reliable summer performers, such as cannas and dahlias, will continue to flower if deadheaded regularly, watered and fed. Late-flowering varieties of day lilies will give pleasure with their wide-ranging palette in large clusters of one hue, or in mixed groups to add pops of colour.
Annual seedlings planted now will continue to flower well into autumn. For shady spots try impatiens, coleus and bedding begonias and for sunny corners plant celosia, dianthus, and verbena.