Gardens are beautiful in summer but choose your plants carefully and it’s possible to achieve a stunning display for many months. One of gardeners’ most common desires is to have ‘colour’ throughout the year. For many people that means bright flowers. This will also please bees and garden insects.
If you have the luxury of space to fill, annuals might be just the thing. They will provide a splash of exotic appeal that should satisfy the desire for dazzle. There is a downside to annuals, however. They are gone when the season passes, leaving a space. Then you will probably do it all again next year.
Choosing plants with multiple-season appeal provides a more sustainable approach, and a garden of this nature will generally require less maintenance. There are many beauties to choose from. Here are just a few:
Amelanchier: snowy mespilus tree
This shrub offers so much throughout the seasons. Spring flowers are like white stars, almost rivalling Magnolia stellata. But unlike the star Magnolia, Amelanchier keeps on giving. Small, edible, black fruits are loved by birds, then there is the most vibrant autumn colour you could wish for. If you choose a pleasing multi-stemmed form and continue to shape gently as it grows, the tree will have a pleasing winter skeleton.
Cercis: a small, spreading redbud tree
Springtime brings charming pinky-violet flowers which appear on bare stems, outlining the graceful, spreading shape. This is not blousy blossom but a more subtle explosion of pea-shaped blooms that are filled with nectar for bees and even butterflies. Heart-shaped leaves are a delight all summer long. They turn golden or red in autumn, depending on the variety, giving another burst of joy.
Hardy Geranium ‘Rozanne’, cranesbill
This hardy Geranium just continues to deliver, from the first blooms in very early May right through to November or even December. It produces electrifying, violet-blue flowers, forms a pleasingly neat mound to around 45cm high and will scramble outwards. It’s very easy to maintain and is ready to sprout again every spring. There are many more hardy geraniums, but not all will provide repeat flowering so generously.
Erigeron karvinskianus, Mexican fleabane
This charming, wildlife-friendly perennial will not disappoint. From spring through to late autumn it produces daisy-like pink and white flowers in abundance. Allow it to cascade over walls and rocks, and soften nooks and crannies. It provides months of pleasure and demands almost no effort from the gardener provided you plant it in sunshine. What’s not to love?
Veronica ‘Georgia Blue’, speedwell
The wonderful flowering cushion formed by this plant makes it ideal for the front of a sunny border or for scrambling over a wall. Intense blue flowers appear in early spring and continue intermittently until autumn.
Rosmarinus prostratus, trailing rosemary
A miraculous evergreen herb that will continue to bloom throughout most of the year, trailing rosemary is also a magnet for bees and, of course, can be used in the kitchen. Plant it above a sunny wall and allow it to cascade down to the ground.
Miscanthus sinensis, ornamental silvergrass
There are dozens of varieties of Miscanthus sinensis, which not only offer spectacular form but also create movement. This grass injects appeal later in summer, and also during autumn and winter, when the garden is largely dormant. The foliage is silvery, with swaying plumes of flowerheads. Who needs bright flowers when you have these? Just remember to cut down deciduous grasses right at the end of winter so that new growth can begin again.
By Caroline Knight
