Plant a golden autumn garden
GET OUT AND DO SOME PLANTING: WE HAVE THE PERFECT GARDENING WEATHER
Create this simple yet striking flower bed with mostly harmonious colours.
The deep, soaking rains have made gardening a pleasure, and what better time to set up the garden to be at its best for autumn and into winter. From the end of February, the day temperatures become milder, with the hope of more rain; almost ideal growing conditions.
To rejuvenate the garden, take out summer annuals that are looking straggly and replace them with a fresh batch. Marigolds, zinnias, and vinca, as well as begonias for the shade, will all grow and flower through to winter.
Perennials like coreopsis, rudbeckia, agastache, Shasta daisies, monarda, and gaillardia will be gearing up for their autumn flush and may already be in flower and available from garden centres.
The advantage of perennials is their deeper and stronger root system that makes them stronger growers and able to withstand root competition from other plants.
Don’t forget about ornamental grasses; they are an accepted companion to flowers, adding texture, movement and contrast to garden beds.
One way to get inspiration for your garden is to visit other people’s gardens or find pictures of gardens that appeal to you.
It is not quite paint by numbers but using a picture can be instructive because it is an easy reference for good design ideas, coupled with good plant choices.
This colourful garden bed is both striking and simple, using just two harmonious colours (orange-red zinnias and yellow marigolds and coreopsis) with a single contrasting plant (ornamental millet Copper Prince) as a focal point for the bed.
Zinnia ‘Zahara Fire’ (at the back) is planted en masse as a swathe of orange to act as a backdrop to the yellow flowers in front. Zahara Fire is very disease resistant and plants have very low water needs once established. This makes them a care-free choice for sunny beds. Plants grow up to 60cm high and wide.
Marigold Taishan was the marigold of choice for the Beijing Olympics because it stands tall, but has sturdy stems that don’t stretch, and the large, double flowers that tolerate over-head watering.
They ‘shed’ the water instead of becoming waterlogged and hanging down.
Planted closely together as a pure band of yellow, they provide high-impact colour. Plants grow 30cm high and wide.
Coreopsis hybrid ‘Uptick gold’ is a hugely rewarding perennial bedding plant, and being a hybrid is not invasive. It has impressively large bi-coloured flowers with a deep-bronze eye, good mildew resistance and plants are neat and mounded.
It flowers through summer and autumn. Plants grow 25cm high and wide.
Being a perennial, it requires almost no care and offers the same colour show as dwarf marigolds without the hassle of seasonal replanting.
Ornamental millet Copper Prince is the focal point of this bed and imagine the planting without it?
This whole effect would be bland. It is at its best with showy seed heads from summer through to autumn. It needs full sun for the foliage to turn dark purple and the heads make good cut flowers.
Plants need regular, but not over watering, so it perfectly matches the water requirements of its other companions. Plants grow 1.2m high and about 30cm wide. For the effect in this picture plant three together.