PEACH MEDLEY

Grasses come into their own in late summer and add lightness and volume to a planter. I love the graceful flowers of the Stipa and was keen to find a way to combine it with some annuals I’d sown earlier in the year, the Alonsoa and

Panicum, which both had a light frothiness about them. Salvias are particularly good for planters as they flower well into November. You could substitute the dark-red Salvia ‘Cherry Pie’ for ‘Salmon Dance’ for a different depth of colour.

How to achieve the look

Container and composition

The round, galvanised container sits outside our kitchen window so it has to work hard, often with tulips and wallflowers in the spring, which are quickly followed by summery combinations. The compost becomes depleted so I tend to replace the top half with a mix of topsoil and compost each year and refresh the whole container every two or three years. I was drawn to the dusky, peach tones of the Agastache and thought the upright, vertical spikes would be a good counterpoint to the rounded, arching forms of the Alonsoa, Panicum and Salvia, which flop over the side of the planter. I could have omitted the Oenothera, but it’s such a generous flowerer that

I often rely on it for a long-lasting display.

Cultivation and care

This planter needs to be in a sunny spot and the plants are packed quite tightly together so it needs regular watering. I would dismantle it all in November when I’m ready to plant out a spring display, which means potting up the Stipa and Agastache to overwinter outside and keeping the Salvia and Oenothera somewhere under cover, in a cold greenhouse for example. I’d also take cuttings of the salvias in September.

The Panicum comes easily from seed so I would save some of this to sow in the early spring. It can become expensive if you have to buy everything for summer planters, so it feels good to be able to grow some on yourself.

Plants

1 Alonsoa warscewiczii ‘Peachykeen’ Dark stems with peachy-pink flowers. 50cm. RHS H3.

2 Salvia ‘Wendy’s Wish’ Upright perennial with magenta flowers into autumn. 1m. RHS H3, USDA 9a-11.

3 Oenothera lindheimeri ‘Whirling Butterflies’ Airy, short-lived perennial. 80cm. RHS H4, USDA 5a-9b.

4 Stipa calamagrostis Perennial grass. 80cm. AGM*. RHS H4.

5 Agastache ‘Kolibri’ Dusky-peach flower spikes. 80cm. RHS H4.

6 Panicum capillare ‘Frosted Explosion’ Huge sprays of tiny flowers. 40cm. RHS H3.

7 Salvia x jamensis ‘Salmon Dance’ Flowers into autumn. 60cm. RHS H4.