Keeping the colour coming
Ruth’s tips and plantings for year-round garden interest
ACHIEVING year-round interest in the garden is the holy grail of horticulture, and while most people think that winter brings the drabbest days, this point of the summer can also create a ‘colour gap’.
The spring colours are fading and we are still a week or two away from summer’s boisterous riot of colour. So, what can we do?
An immediate solution is to plant a container of ready-flowering plants or pop a few bedding annuals into your borders, but such a piecemeal way of gardening isn’t ideal.
The most sensible option is to design your garden as a whole rather than area by area, so you get a seamless run of colour and interest.
Focus on the gaps in the borders, see what is growing around them and plan plants according to their height (shortest at the front, tallest at the back/centre) and flowering period.
Think about when plants should be planted or sown each year (annuals in spring, spring bulbs in autumn, perennials planted in spring and autumn when the soil is warm and damp, and so on) so you can start creating your
seamless palette straight away.
However, for this summer the challenge is to keep whatever colour you have going until the next phalanx of flowers is ready to take over.
Keep plants flowering strongly for as long as possible by planting properly and tending them while they get established. Continue feeding,
watering, deadheading and keeping them free of pests and diseases. Control weeds every week by running a hoe over your soil to cut unwanted seedlings off at the roots. At this time of year you can still just about get away with the Chelsea chop –
removing a third of stems on certain perennials, including catmint, sedum, helenium and echinacea to encourage a second flowering.
Also, don’t be afraid to move things around. If you have a particularly handsome specimen plant in a pot, move it temporarily to a flower-free spot in a border to brighten things up until the buds in situ start to bloom.
On the next page, I suggest plants that offer interest for every month of the year. When planning your garden, don’t concentrate solely on flowers.
Autumnal leaves, berries, grasses and anything with statuesque, longlasting seedheads all add eye-catching interest, especially if they are left long enough to catch a hoaring of frost in winter.