GARDENING:
Ramp up the heat with these fiery, easy-to-grow late bloomers . . .
Has september given your garden the Midas touch? That’s when the leaves turn golden green before firing up with stronger autumn hues.
There’s a gold rush among late-summer flowers, too, especially among the daisy family. a huge daisy range, from sunflowers and rudbeckias, to smaller heleniums and oxeye chamomiles, all help to stack up the september gold.
Late- flowering daisies are durable, long-lasting and great for pollinating insects.
Colours range from warm ochre, through golden shades, to the palest lemon-cream.
Many varieties have contrasting flower centres, often with banded or striped outer rays.
Heleniums and perennial rudbeckias are easy to grow. The best heleniums carry sprays of small to medium flowers. Each has a domed centre, often dark in colour and surrounded by
swept-back outer rays. The old variety, Helenium Butterpat, has all-yellow flowers, whereas Wyndley has dark centres and golden rays.
SUNNY SIDE UP
THE rusty ‘petals’ of H. Moerheim Beauty contrast with dark brown cones, while the equally striking two-tone H. Waltraut has orange- russet rays with yellow edges.
Most rudbeckias have bigger flowers than heleniums. The most popular, r. hirta, ranges from chocolate through rusty reds and yellows and even greenish lemon.
They flower well into autumn, but are not hardy.
in contrast, Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii is indestructibly perennial. Egg-yolk rays create a spoked effect surrounding dark cone centres. at up to 2.5 metres, Rudbeckia
laciniata Herbstsonne is likely the tallest garden perennial. Developed from an american weed, it has been loved by quirky gardeners since 1906. The yellow rays are reflexed, surrounding prominent green cones.
rudbeckias and heleniums need plenty of sun. They grow best in deep, well-drained, fertile soil that doesn’t dry too quickly.
R. fulgida often wilts in dry or stressful conditions.
Both will keep their vigour if divided and replanted every two or three years.
These plants are pushy, so opt for robust companion plants. Tall dahlias team beautifully and can provide contrasting colours.
The scarlet-flowered Dahlia Bishop of Llandaff or the red cactus Dahlia Doris Day would ramp up the heat.
MELLOW YELLOWS
PERENNIAL sunflowers are great for late colour, but can be invasive. This makes them risky in a small border.
Lift, divide and replant every second year.
Unlike huge annual sunflowers, these carry successions of mid- sized yellow blooms into autumn. The best behaved is Helianthus Capenoch star, whose yellow-gold flowers have distinctive centres.
The prettiest pale- yellow daisies are produced by H. Lemon Queen.
alternatively, if you prefer double flowers in a warm yellow, go for H. Loddon Gold.
all of these yellows contrast beautifully with the mauves, purples and blues of Michaelmas daisies. The earliest of these are out now, but others flower until november.
Echinaceas, in mauve or sunset hues, look lovely next to lofty sunflowers. They’re rigidstemmed daisies with darkcentres, cone- shaped flowers and reflexed ray florets.
Colours range from greenish white, through rosy-mauves and pinks, to glowing orange-red.
But none beats the beauty of the wild american purple coneflower