Celebrate the stars of summer
Summer is a time for getting outdoors, enjoying a barbeque or picnic on the lawn and soaking up those long, warm evenings. Often there’s the distant, melodic throbbing of lawn mowers cutting grass, and the soporific buzz of bees dancing and bobbing around flowering plants such as lavender and rosemary. Summer is the perfect time to visit larger public gardens and open spaces to enjoy the ambiance, find some summer solace and take home some fresh planting inspiration. To make the most of your own space, think about treating yourself to some of the following summer sensations...
Climbers such as wisteria, clematis, passionf lowers, honeysuckles and scrambling roses will bring height and colour to a small garden, making the most of your vertical spaces. Herbaceous perennials provide an embarrassment of riches, ranging from alliums with their huge blue spheres held up high among other summer stalwarts – Verbena bonarensis, phlox, eryngiums (sea holly), lilies and geraniums. Self-sown hardy annuals such as poppies, nigella and cornflowers will offer a bright splash of summer colour all round the garden, filling gaps with happy-go-lucky flowers. Shrubs provide not just colour but a sensory overload of scent, with philadelphus and of course the roses. Ceanothus create large blocks of deep blue f lowers, almost like floral walls, while fuchsias add a vivid brightness with their flowers hanging down from the stems, looking like ballerinas rejoicing and dancing because summer has arrived.
Simon Akeroyd is Head Gardener for the National Trust in Devon and looks after the gardens at Agatha Christie’s Greenway, Coleton Fishacre, Compton Castle and Bradley Manor