SENSATIONS You can’t beat a garden full of colour and fragrance, so here are my top vivid varieties...
IT was the longest day of the year last Friday and as the sun reached its annual zenith and the new agers gathered to celebrate at Stonehenge, summer officially started. celebrated with a visit to my local nursery to select the pick of the crop and share with you today some beautiful flowering plants that epitomise summer.
We want our plots to be full of colour, scent and blossoms during
these months so I’ve selected specimens that will deliver lots of flowers for a long period and are relatively problem-free, easy-care plants. Here are my Top 10 for the season...
DAHLIA ‘MYSTIC DREAMS’
A NEW variety from New Zealand with a delightful contrast between the dark purple-bronze foliage and vivid blooms. The cream petals have a magenta stripe and the compact nature of the plant means no staking is required.
It’s long-flowering and will be good for late summer colour. It will require lifting in colder areas in autumn or a protective mulch in milder areas. Grow in full sun in rich soil. I also picked up Dahlia ‘Red Cap’, a ball-type variety with vibrant scarlet red flowers.
LIATRIS ‘KOBOLD’
ALSO known as gayfeather, this will attract bees and butterflies to your plot with its spikes of rosy purple flowers.
Originating from the American prairies, its bottlebrush flowers provide vertical accents for a relaxed, wildlife-friendly planting scheme. Grow in light, well-drained soil in full sunshine.
ARGYRANTHEMUM ‘MADEIRA’
MARGUERITES are a summer classic and this variety in a vibrant pink is a perfect choice for your pots and containers.
Place them in a sunny spot and they are almost unrivalled for the amount of flowers they will keep producing – if you keep deadheading and use fortnightly potassium-rich liquid feeds.
DELPHINIUM ‘FLAMENCO’
I’M giving this new variety a whirl. Delphiniums can be tricky plants requiring a lot of love and staking. They are also quite susceptible to powdery mildew.
However, this relatively new variety was bred in Scotland so is extremely hardy.
What I love about it is the dusky rose-pink frilly flowers and as it doesn’t reach the heights of other delphs, it doesn’t require staking.
SALVIA ‘LOVE AND WISHES’
SALVIAS are the hot plant at the moment and the breeders are busy creating new varieties all the time.
‘Love and Wishes’ is one of the best with red-purple flowers that emerge from the burgundy sepals.
It’s compact and will keep flowering until November or until the first frost hits it. Plant in full sun or partial shade in well-drained soil.
ACHILLEA ‘PRETTY BELINDA’
I HAVE tonnes of yellow yarrow in the garden, perhaps too much, but it’s a plant that readily makes itself at home and seems to be both one of the first and last to bloom in the borders.
I love this pink version – it’s a much brighter pink than the better known ‘Lilac Beauty’ and will be a great pop of colour throughout the season.
NEMESIA ‘BANANA SWIRL’
THE pink and yellow combo won’t be to everyone’s taste, but this does make a great container plant – neat, long-flowering and aromatic.
It’s tender so you’ll need to take some softwood cuttings at the end of summer and overwinter it indoors, or treat as an annual.
AGASTACHE ‘COTTON CANDY’
NATIVE to America, agastache are known there as hummingbird mints. Unfortunately we have no hummingbirds here but butterflies will flock to this plant.
Here it’s called Anise Hyssop, a reference to its liquorice-scented leaves. ‘Cotton Candy’ has spires of pink flowers all summer long – it’s fast-growing, easy to manage and brings an informal, prairie feel to planting schemes.
TULBAGHIA VIOLACEA
THIS is known as Society garlic – sounds posh and indeed the delicate flowers are a very refined gentle shade of pink.
From South Africa, it likes to be cold and wet but will be happy in a sunny dry spot.
Also know as the pink Agapanthus, the edible flowers will be pretty additions to your summer salads.
OSTEOSPERMUM ‘TRESCO PURPLE’
AFRICAN daisies look tender but they are hardy perennials. Moundforming, they will form dense weed-suppressing coverage and endless exuberant flowers.