Late summer love
Aster
The slightly parched and faded look that can plague gardens at the end of August can be entirely avoided by adding some late summer beauties to your palette of plants.
The choice is vast, but my favourite has to be Anemonex hybrida. Available in several forms, but always either white or pink, this is an absolute stalwart for me and bursts forth with a lovely freshness any time between August and September (depending on conditions). ‘Honorine Jobert’ is the simplest and most charming with single white blooms. ‘Konigin Charlotte’ comes a close second, in a soft sugary pink. The bonus with these is that they enjoy partial shade; darker corners, sorted. Do bear in mind that they skulk about doing nothing very much for about three years before they decide it’s okay to be themselves. STICK WITH IT - you won’t be disappointed.
Punchy golden rudbeckia is another star plant for me. There are infinite colours available, (provided that colour reminds you of a sunset), and they are easy to grow, utterly unfussy and not prone to masses of pests and diseases. R.fulgidavar deamiiis a real star – compact, with golden yellow petals and a chocolate brown centre. This sunshine hue is, of course, the perfect companion to blue, (remember your colour wheel?) Fresh deep blues are few and far between come autumn, which is why Asterx frikartii‘Monch’ (see above) becomes such satisfying food for the eyes at this time. It likes a sunny spot and needs little fussing over apart from making sure that it is supported. There…next year you can have a summer holiday and return to a garden in bloom.