September – still lots of late colour

Apologies for our lack of Blog posts this summer – it’s been a hectic time with many long,  hot days on the business end of a hosepipe and plants leaving us for new homes so quickly that there doesn’t seem to have been much time for blogging.

Now things have calmed down a little we’re getting stuck into a big tidy up in the nursery and, of course, already busy getting new plants propagated for next year.

Although those misty Autumn mornings seem to be here already there’s still a lot of lovely plants in flower in the Plant Centre. While the traditional Autumn planting season doesn’t really apply any more now that most plants are pot grown, it is still a perfect time now to do some late planting with warm weather and moist soil helping to get new plants established before the winter comes.

So after a quick trip to the Plant Centre with the camera this morning here are a few suggestions for some late summer colour in your garden – all easy, hardy and flowering well into late Autumn.

First up is Schizostylis coccinea ‘Major’ or, to be correct these days – Hesperantha coccinea ‘Major’. An easy, hardy perennial with grassy leaves and 60cm. stems of brilliant scarlet red flowers from now until October. Also good as a cut flower. And we have the beautiful pale pink form as well.

Next are the ever popular Japanese Anemones which give a fantastic display of delicate pink or white flowers at this time of year. We have several varieties available as good strong young plants.

For something big and ideal for the back of the border we have Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’ – a tough perennial Sunflower which can grow to 2m. tall and has masses of small brilliant yellow flowers well into late Autumn. Only a few left now!

Finally a bit of unseasonal colour – we have some beautiful Bottle Brushes – Callistemon citrinus ‘Splendens’ – that are flowering now rather than their normal time of early summer. Who knows why! They also have lovely deep red young shoots and are big chunky plants that we repotted a few months ago.

Plus, as always, lots of other nice plants to get into your garden before we all go into winter hibernation. Look forward to seeing you in the Plant Centre soon.