Late bloomers
AUTUMN IS THE PERFECT TIME TO PLANT PERENNIALS AND ADD A LITTLE COLOUR TO
WHAT a lovely time of the year it is to be outdoors. It’s not too hot and the beautiful autumn light casts a golden glow.
The trees are heavy with fruit, the roses laden with hips, and lateperforming plants such as cannas continue to unfurl their luxuriant leaves. It’s also a busy time with much to do in the garden.
Now is an ideal time to plant herbaceous material as the ground is warm and pliable with at least another month for plants to settle in before lying dormant over the winter.
If trees and shrubs are the big “furniture” pieces of our plots, then herbaceous plants are the soft furnishings – like cushions, throws, candles and pictures – and they unify the scheme and introduce colour, interest, scent and character.
We are so lucky in these islands to be able to grow a vast array of this group of plants that enjoy our often damp climate. By choosing wisely, you can enjoy flowers from spring to autumn, and even a few in winter.
So if your garden has been looking a bit bare this year, think about planting a few hardworking, longflowering robust perennials this autumn.
For spring flowers, try some aquilegia, or columbine. It’s a cottage garden staple, instantly recognisable by its distinctive flower head of petals and long spurs, often in contrasting colours such as Aquilegia canadensis or the soft blue and white combo of ‘Bluebird.’
Its fresh green foliage emerges in spring and flowers blossom shortly thereafter. Grow it in fertile, moist but well-drained soil in sun or dappled shade.
Alchemilla mollis has pretty apple-green kidney-shaped scalloped leaves and sprays of small yellow flowers. It’s superb for really dry areas – water in until it gets established, then it will find its own way in life.
What I also love about this plant is that you can cut back all the dead foliage and then get brand new leaves and some flowers all over again in late summer. Low to the ground, it edges paths and borders beautifully and when it rains, pearlescent drops of water perch on the leaves.
Salvias are long flowering, and one of the easiest is S. nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ which will produce endless spikes of dreamy blue flowers in summer. It’s very easy to grow in a sunny spot with well-drained soil. Keep deadheading it to get the maximum out of this plant.
There are tonnes of other salvias and many of them come with pretty bi-coloured flowers. However, many of these are tender so if you want to keep things simple, choose hardy varieties – another excellent one is ‘Mainacht’.
Hardy geraniums are a big family with many different growth habits – sprawling, scrambling, ground cover, neat or bushy varieties – and a good range of petal colours from white to all shades of pink and blue.
‘Rozanne’ is one of the most popular these days and is still flowering her socks off in my garden. Growing to over a foot tall, it’s great for injecting volume into the borders.
For early flowers next year get planting some hellebores and they won’t let you down. Helleborus niger, the Christmas rose, is usually the first of its type to come into bloom.
Its common moniker is confusing as it is neither a member of the rose family and is rarely in bloom at Christmas time, though you can get forced varieties to perform early. Unlike most hellebores, which have shy, nodding flowers that hide their beauty, this species tends to hold its beautiful white, bowl-shaped flowers more upright.
Plant near the house where you will be able to admire them from indoors without having to venture out in the bad weather of late winter/ early spring.