There are some
lovely late summer flowering combinations to enjoy this month. In
full sun, tall asters like 'Monch' shine brightly among ornamental
grasses like the stately spires of Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'. The
beautiful white Japanese anemone 'Honorine Jobert' partnered with
Hydrangea quercifolia glows in cool shade and the hot oranges and
reds of Crocosmia are looking wonderful, but some earlier bloomers
are now definitely past their prime.
Having flowered
their hearts' out through spring and early summer, for some plants
the job is done for another year and the seed of the next generation
has been set, so now is the perfect time to take advantage of their
generosity and if they have been successful and already proved their
worth in the garden then we know that they will thrive and the more
the merrier.
In my garden opium
poppies have produced enough seed to populate the whole of
Monmouthshire with their varied progeny, some in quite astonishing colours but all equally
beautiful. The seed heads make statuesque additions to the borders
right through late summer, autumn and into winter, so I leave most of
them alone to do their own thing and scatter the ripe seed themselves
as they sway in the wind, but I like to shake the seeds from a few
heads into paper bags 'just in case' which I keep over winter to sow
myself in spring in places where they haven't yet colonized.
Forget me not and
Aquilegia have much the same prolific nature, they are stalwarts of
my garden and have been reliable early flowerers for generations of
gardeners before me.
Wild carrot, a
biennial mainstay of newly sown meadows and Verbena bonariensis are
relative newcomers to our gardens, but when happy will seed
themselves around freely. Like the lovely soft feathery leaved herb
fennel with which Verbena looks wonderful, they will flower in the
first year so can be treated like annuals and sown in autumn or
spring just where you want them to flower.
Gardening can often
be a very expensive occupation requiring more than a little hard work
so when I'm offered lots of easy plants for very little effort and
completely free then I'm all for it and if my plants are happy enough
in my garden to want their next generation to live here too then
that's great.
Happy plants, happy
garden, happy gardener!
