What to plant now for late summer colour
When it was announced that the RHS Chelsea Flower Show would be moving to September, some of us were secretly thrilled. May might be the month of lupins, peonies, alliums and abundance, but late-summer enthusiasts knew what was in store: jewel tones, spires and substance swapped in for the usual springtime froth. This year, Chelsea kicks off with the autumn equinox – and just as with fashion week, there’s a whiff of excitement in that newly chilled air.
Late-summer planting can seem a giant faff right around the time when one almost wants to give up on the garden after months of prodding and pruning. But as Chelsea’s show gardens will undoubtedly demonstrate, put in a bit of effort and you’ll have flowers until the frosts. There are plenty of annuals to enjoy later in the season – my beds are pierced with the posh sunflowers Ms Mars (pleasingly feminist-sounding) and Red Sun. But I’m a bit exhausted by the idea of sowing much by midsummer, beyond scattering a few nasturtiums around in gaps. In these parts, they’ll keep blooming until November.
Instead, I rely upon perennials at this time of year. I spent one bright mid-October afternoon in Piet Oudolf’s field at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, and honestly think it’s what heaven must look like: sumptuous clouds of grasses, fading heleniums and lilac asters pockmarked with the seedheads of summer. All of life – and death – on show as the days shrank.
A spontaneous trip to Beth Chatto’s Plants & Gardens near Colchester last September has set my garden up well for this. Behind the frippery of summer annuals lies a framework of planting that started to grasp the baton in July: the pink spires of Elsholtzia stauntonii; irresistible flutter of Gaura lindheimeri; wafty flowers of Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Alba’, or bistort, and elegant agastaches are coming into their own after bulking out the beds with foliage all summer. Japanese anemones are another late-summer favourite, but if you want flowers instantly, you’re best off buying them as large, established plants. If you’re after height, Alcalthaea suffrutescens are hollyhock lookalikes that are less prone to rust and will still be in flower in October. I have them running throughout the bed here.
There will, of course, be dozens of dahlias on show at Chelsea, and you can’t really talk about late-summer planting without mentioning them. After all, there really is nothing quite like a bright dahlia peering through a yolky September morning. If you’ve not planted any yet, try online sales or local nurseries to see what you can pick up fully grown. If yours have survived the Summer of Slug, deadhead fiercely and give them a mulch to prolong blooming. Those living in harsher climes will want to lift them.
Don’t neglect your pots, either. Pelargoniums will still be in fine fettle until the clocks change, but whipping out sad summer annuals and replacing with something hardier will last you until well into autumn. I’ve gone for grasses and sanguisorba, plectranthus and diascia – gorgeous pops of colour.
5 things to get you going
Super-cute for outdoor dining. Paper place mats, £25 for 25, Ciao Chiara x Côte de Folk
Landscaping at a snip. Beth Chatto border design service, from £450, Beth Chatto
A colour and size bold enough to handle big late-summer blooms. Vase, £57.98 Connox
Tips to keep flowers going after they’ve faded. Cut & Dry by Carolyn Dunster (Hachette, £17.99)
Keep plants in flower till autumn. Organic plant food, £10.95 for 1 litre, Sarah Raven
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