Carol Klein is dreaming of summer colour
Use the short days of winter to forward plan a glorious display of show-stoppers in your borders
Lots of you Garden News readers will have recently received seed catalogues. No sooner have you ordered your bulbs and got them planted than it’s time to start thinking about which seeds you’re going to order.
Though day-dreaming in the midst of winter seems a far cry from balmy summer evenings filled with colour, within a couple of months it’ll be time to sow seeds of the most rewarding of plants, half-hardy annuals.
Many of these show-stoppers are perennial and originate in tropical or sub-tropical climes, where they never experience the low temperatures they’d experience in our gardens.
Most are vigorous in their native countries so, even though they’ll have a shorter growing period in the UK, they’ll give a show-stopping performance for months providing they get off to a flying start.
If we want them to perform at their spectacular best we need to give them the best chance by sowing them early, preferably with a little heat (a bright, warm kitchen windowsill is often adequate).
Prompt pricking out, along with maintaining a reasonable, unfluctuating temperature, are essential, but apart from that they need little aftercare.
Because our own garden is on the informal side, we tend to choose varieties that we can interweave with established perennials and grasses, although we grow a few showy varieties for pots and containers, too.
Here are a few ideas for a selection of half-hardy perennial summer stunners to add pizzazz to your garden, all of which have given us outstanding colour and beauty here at Glebe Cottage.
‘Within a couple of months it’ll be time to sow seeds of the most rewarding of plants, half-hardy annuals’
Cosmos
As well as the pink varieties we’re so used to, there are now lots of new fiery-coloured hybrids developed from Cosmos
sulphureus. sulphureus My favourite, though, is cosmos ‘Purity’, tall and elegant. We save seed of it year after year. Prompt deadheading will help it produce its pure white flowers through to the frosts.
Tagetes
Seed companies used to pride themselves on producing increasingly dwarf varieties of this popular half-hardy bedding plant. However, taller varieties with single bi-coloured or selfcoloured flowers are becoming more fashionable and mingle well with other plants, including vegetables, where they’re often used as companion plants.
Sunflowers
Exciting for children or adults who refuse to grow up, ‘the biggest sunflower challenge’ has become a feature of British gardening culture.
At Glebe Cottage we stick to growing some of the pale lemon and deep crimson varieties we can meet face-to-face. They’re at their most effective when running through a border.
Dahlias
Single dahlias with dark foliage, such as ‘Bishop’s Children’, have been the stunning mainstay of the huge egg-pot containers on our front terrace over the last few years. They’re so very easy to grow, and if you rear a few favourites you can take cuttings to increase your stock.
In common with all the single flowers listed above – all from the daisy family – they’re a rich source of pollen and nectar for pollinating insects.
Nicotiana mutabilis
The tobacco plant is one of the most refined of all half-hardies, making metre-tall, branching plants hung with dainty, longtrumpeted flowers in a mixture of pretty pink and creamy white. If the roots are protected from frost just like runner beans, another half-hardy perennial, they may sprout again.