Bordering on brilliant
THE signs of spring are everywhere, and though the weather isn’t playing ball yet, the days are getting longer and temperatures will soon start to rise. As the soil gets warmer and some of the ground’s excessive moisture dries out, it will be planting time.
So we should really start thinking about summer borders and what herbaceous plants are best to achieve a riot of colour this year.
Pictured right is a planting scheme I created some years ago for the Chelsea Flower Show. It could be described as cottage planting as it’s quite informal, unstructured and romantic in appearance.
When I use flowers I like to make the colour pop. Because we have such a good palette of perennial flowers in blues, silvers, greys and pinks, it can be quite easy to create something tasteful.
But if I’m embracing colour I go for it, to introduce the startlingly bright – the yellows and oranges which burn like neon.
I want my perennials to be like a pack of Smarties – Foxtail lilies that explode like fireworks or geums that blink in the sun like an amber traffic light. Here are some of the ingredients I used to create this dolly mixture planting scheme.
Eremurus, the foxtail lily, comes in whites, yellow or pale pink. But the one that looks the foxiest to me is the zingy orange ‘Pinocchio’.
Eremurus are a little tricky. If you buy them as crowns in autumn, spread out their roots and plant just below soil level, and in as sunny a spot as possible to ensure good flowering.
I’ve lost some in my garden, I’m not sure whether to frost or winter rot, but next time I plant them I’ll do so on a layer of grit to help drainage and cover with a mulch to protect over winter.
Foxgloves or
Digitalis are tall and elegant, sometimes reaching two metres in height. They’re a good source of pollen and are particularly attractive to long-tongued bees which climb up the tube-like purple flowers.
Native to the UK, they’re easy to grow and will self-seed which creates a lovely natural effect to your borders. I also like to use the variety ‘Sutton’s Apricot’ which has delicately flushed pink flowers, and ‘Alba’ for pristine white spikes of flowers.
Penstemons come in some brilliant jewel-like colours and can flower right into autumn. Some favourites of mine are the deep purple blue ‘Russian River’, and ‘Garnet’ a rich, wine red variety.
Orange can also be introduced with geum, a plant that is difficult to kill.
‘Totally Tangerine’ will deliver spots of orange through the borders and is one of the last perennials to cease flowering before winter.
‘Mrs Bradshaw’ has very vibrant red flowers which will heat up the picture.
The flat flower heads of Achillea ‘Moonshine’ throw acidic yellow discs across the border, and Verbascum ‘Gainsborough’ adds some lemon yellow spires to the picture.
Finally, I’ve used Salvia ‘Mainacht’ which has slim spires of deep violet flowers. It’s an easy-to-grow sage that will reliably flower through the summer.