SUSIE’S GARDEN
Make the most of the last days of summer with planting that thrives in August – then sit back, relax and enjoy the results
August was always a tricky month in the garden – the freshness of early summer flowers is past, the intense colours of autumn still to come, and the garden can look a little tired.
I don’t think it need be like that anymore because garden centres are full of good plants for high summer, like heleniums, crocosmias, rudbeckias, penstemons and salvias in a riot of hot colour.
A top plant is Geranium “Rozanne” (below). Sky-blue with a large white eye, it won the public vote as the RHS Plant of the Centenary at the Chelsea Flower Show 2013. It blooms from early summer to mid autumn, giving good value over a long period.
August is also when bedding plants such as geraniums (pelargoniums), petunias, cosmos and argyranthemums keep on flowering if you deadhead them. That’s why I grow lots of annuals. They’re so easy and produce a greater ratio of flower to leaf than perennials because their life cycle is to grow, flower and set seed in a short time. I try different annuals each year. This season I’ve trialled Cosmos “Xanthos” which is the first yellow cosmos that is really worth growing. It has typically feathery cosmos foliage, flowers prolifically from July onwards, has lemon-yellow petals around a golden centre and at only 2ft is good for a small garden.
If you have an allotment, nt, you can grow annuals around the vegetables for good colour and to attract insects like hover flies that predate on aphids. I love the brilliance of the annuals that we grow around our four vegetable beds – poppies and candytuft, nigella, sunflowers, dahlias and cleome.
On a warm evening we like to be outside and that’s when it’s useful to have a table and chairs that can be easily moved.
As the shade shifts to the veg garden path, I move a little café table so we can sit out with a drink surrounded by lavender and roses. Where we’re usually pushing wheelbarrows along, we can relax and enjoy the garden we’ve made!