Keep the colour going for as long as possible
Autumn may almost be upon us, but the September garden can still be alive with colour and interest, as the softer, lower light illuminates summer’s faded flowers and seedheads, and enriches the bold tones of this month’s plentiful blooms. The warm, moist soil provides plants with the perfect conditions to establish before winter, so inject some extra colour now by planting new perennials and shrubs.
I love Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ (now sometimes known as Hylotelephium ‘Herbstfreude’) for its flat heads of long-lasting pink-red flowers, adored by hungry bees and butterflies. Daisies are a stalwart of the border just now, with golden Rudbeckia fulgida var. sullivantii ‘Goldsturm’ glowing alongside the mauve blooms of Aster x frikartii ‘Mönch’ and tall rust-red heleniums. Japanese anemones are vigorous stars in semi-shade; choose the white flowered Anemone x hybrida ‘Honorine Jobert’ or perhaps the deep pink of A. hupehensis var. japonica ‘Prinz Heinrich’. Another favourite with bees is the shrub Ceanothus ‘Autumnal Blue’, with its tight clusters of tiny sky blue flowers.
Keep the colour going for as long as possible by deadheading bedding plants, penstemons and dahlias regularly, as well as keeping all container displays well watered and fed. This is also the time to plan ahead for spectacular displays of spring-flowering bulbs for borders and containers, and to purchase your bulbs. Choose healthy, firm bulbs, with no signs of mould or rot, and begin planting all but the tulips this month.
Pamper parched lawns by raising the cutting height on the mower a little and scarifying with a wire rake
There are still rich pickings to be had from the kitchen garden
or machine to remove dead thatch and moss. Once that’s done, perk up the grass with a high-potash autumn feed, which won’t encourage too much soft growth before the weather turns colder. September is also a good time to fix bare patches or create new lawns with grass seed or turf.
There are still rich pickings to be had from the kitchen garden. The greenhouse is dripping with cherry tomatoes, while onions, potatoes and other root crops are waiting to be unearthed and there are plentiful beans, salads and leafy greens to pick. The autumn-fruiting raspberries are coming on stream too and early apple varieties will ripen this month. Earth up around the stems of tall brassicas, such as Brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli, to stop them blowing over. Cover late sowings of vegetables with cloches to keep them in good condition as the weather cools. Plant spring cabbages in any free soil and sow cut-and-come-again salads in trays in the greenhouse or cold frame for delicious baby leaves later in autumn. n