Gardening: Keep the summer alive,
Keep summer alive with these late-f lowering shrubs and trees
HERE’S an interesting little task. Quickly, off the top of your head, name five to ten flowering shrubs or trees. It’s a pretty safe bet that most or all on your list flower between February and late May. There’s no problem with that — floral exuberance is one of the great joys of spring. But in this blowsy season, don’t you long for a touch of vernal freshness?
Luckily, there’s a small but valuable choice of plants that deliver just that. Most grow happily with spring-blooming companions and enjoy similar conditions. There are even trees whose September blossoms are so spring-like that they’re bound to turn heads.
Shop around for late-flowering woody varieties and you could make some inspiring discoveries. Garden centres offer some but, if you visit well-planted gardens this August, you’ll be surprised by what you find.
BIG AND BLOWSY
THE easiest and best-known late shrub is Buddleja davidii. But it’s a coarse thing, with sprawling branches, so choose your varieties with care.
Lochinch has pretty grey foliage, as well as good flowers and the dwarf Buzz varieties are perfect for pots.
You could contrast buddleja purples with shrubby St John’s worts such as Hypericum Hidcote or H. lancasteri. Both grow a metre high with big, late yellow flowers.
Hardy Hibiscus syriacus is more stately with upright stems and flared trumpet flowers. They include two-tone pink Woodbridge, dark-centred white Red-heart and gorgeous Oiseau Bleu.They need well-drained soil and come into leaf disconcertingly late in spring.
Hydrangeas are true queens of the late garden. Mop-head varieties of Hydrangea macrophylla flower profusely and last for months. But they’re thirsty and seem to do best in mild regions with high rainfall.
For less gentle climates, there’s a growing range of varieties developed from H. paniculata and H. quercifolia.
The flowers are cream-coloured when young but become suffused with colour — strawberry tones in H. Pinky Winky, yellow-green in H. Limelight.
These hydrangeas also respond to pollarding. Cut mature shrubs back to low stumps in early spring. Vigorous wands shoot up in response carrying huge, latesummer flower heads.
SPLASH OF COLOUR
PRETTIEST among late blossoming trees are eucryphias. Most are tender but evergreen
Eucryphia x nymansensis Nymansay survived a low of -15c in my garden a few years back.
From late August, the tree is smothered with white blooms resembling single camellias, giving a delightfully springlike effect.
The myrtle Luma apiculata produces white flowers in late summer and autumn. Peeling cinnamon bark adds beauty and after a hot year, there are purple berries. But it’s only borderline hardy.
Having seen pink oleanders surviving the winter at chilly Peterborough Station, I decided to leave mine outside, too, against a south wall. They’ve survived so far and flower until autumn.
Hardy but tropical-looking, Clerodendron trichotomum can be grown as a small, shapely tree. Clusters of fragrant white flowers open in late summer and autumn, followed by conspicuous blueblack berries.
If your garden is lime-free and sheltered, plant the evergreen Desfontainea spinosa. This looks like ordinary holly until tubular yellow-tipped red flowers appear from late summer onwards.
Once September comes, gardens will fire up again for a final, colourful show. But a small inclusion of late-summer plants like these build a charming bridge between the seasons.