Perched precariously between late summer and early autumn, September can be
one of the best months in the garden – and, in recent years, a brief Indian
summer has provided good weather to match. True, the promise of spring, with
the freshness of blossom and bulbs, is hard to beat, as are the balmy days
of June, the border burgeoning with perennials, but this month’s segue into
autumn has its own atmosphere – a swan song that can be heartbreakingly
beautiful.
It’s all too easy to miss this in-between season, passing by, as it does,
almost unnoticed while we get back into gear after the holidays, commuting
to work and reestablishing the school run. It’s worth taking time, though,
to enjoy what nature has to offer and savour this final burst of glory
before grey, wet and dull days become the norm.
I find this far easier when I’m away from London and safely ensconced at our
house in Oxfordshire. Here, the Cotswold-stone walls are bathed in soft
golden light. The garden has swelled to maturity and gently swaying seed
heads of grasses and alliums waft lazily in the long border. The upper and
lower fields are the colour of rich-tea biscuits; berries and rosehips
pepper the hedgerows.
At the weekends, I spend hours walking the land – it’s only eight or so acres,
but I saunter slowly across the fields, surveying the garden and
contemplating the long border with a critical eye. Though dried husks and
the graceful dying foliage of grasses are undoubtedly stalwarts of this
season’s look, I want more. While the last breath of summer is still in the
air and the sun has enough heat to warm my cheek, I want flowers and colour.
Thankfully, if it’s colour you’re after, there’s no reason a border shouldn’t
sizzle in September. It’s easy to get one looking great in May and June,
when many of our most popular perennials are doing their thing, but
sustaining colour and interest beyond midsummer can be difficult. Perhaps we
have simply run out of puff by this stage, and are content to let the garden
slide. With a bit of forward planning and management, however, the boom of
early summer can be matched and even bettered at the tail end of the season.
I’m using late-flowering perennials to add the colour I crave, but some of
those that flower in midsummer come good again now. Much depends on how you
treat them. Many, including starry astrantias and my beloved achilleas –
whose flattened flower heads are so invaluable for introducing a horizontal
accent in the border – will produce a second flush of flowers if you remove
the stems after the initial ones fade. This reflowering is rarely as
prolific as the first, but welcome nonetheless. Some perennials respond to
gentle deadheading; others should be treated mean to keep them keen. For
instance, chop back hard the pink and white forms of the early-flowering
valerianCentranthus ruberand it will respond admirably.
While it helps to get a second burst of activity from these plants, it is also
good practice to have perennials that peak naturally at this time of year.
Early in the season, it’s easy to be seduced by the siren calls of a
mind-boggling array.
With so much on offer, it may seem like a waste of precious space to plan
ahead with plants that look uninteresting when everything else is all
singing and all dancing. The temptation – and a common failing – is to cram
the beds with things that all peak at the same time. Certainly, you’ll be
rewarded with an amazing display for a couple of months, but this is instant
gratification, without the satisfaction of a long, slow afterburn. If, on
the other hand, you think ahead and work late-developers in among the
main-season show-offs, your foresight will be repaid with long-term results.
With this in mind, I put my money where my mouth is and invested well in
advance in some plants to pep up the long border in September. I bought the
first dahlias for my young border in Oxfordshire while I was filming the BBC
coverage of the RHS Hampton Court flower show earlier this summer.
Andy Vernon, the director of the programmes, is the most knowledge-able dahlia
enthusiast I know: he can identify and name a variety at 100 paces. I showed
him my purchase, a rich burgundy red called ‘Arabian Night’ - and was
relieved when he gave me his seal of approval. The voluptuous
single-flowered ‘Dovegrove’ is the most recent to catch his eye. “It is a
rich raspberry red, almost claret, with browny-bronzey green foliage,” he
says. “I’ve placed it among bronze carex and Stipa arundinacea – the leaves
of the grasses really complement the flowers.”
I’m also keen to grow some single-flowered varieties. ‘Dark Desire’ has
narrow, slightly twisted, velvety brown petals, and the deep-pink flowers
and dark foliage of ‘Magenta Star’ look set to make it a winner. Vernon is
also a fan of this variety, which he first saw in the dahlia field trials at
RHS Wisley two years ago: “It gets really impressive, growing up to 6ft
tall. There are loads of flowers, with the most amazing dark, metallic,
purpley-black foliage. It has to be seen to be believed.”
Sadly, the variety remains elusive when it comes to getting specimens.
Winchester Growers, which holds the National Dahlia Collection (01736
335853, www.national-dahlia-collection. co.uk) and displayed ‘Magenta Star’
on a stand at Hampton Court, has it in its catalogue, though.
I’ve planted the ‘Arabian Night’ behind a clump of dark-leaved Sedum ‘Purple
Emperor’, with the deliciously scented chocolate cosmos, Cosmos
atro-sanguineus, and a spiky but compact red-tipped grass, Imperata
cylindrica ‘Rubra’, for company. It’s a good combination, but I now realise
that I haven’t gone far enough in redressing the balance between early- and
late-summer colour and interest. There’s nothing for it but to go
plant-hunting.
If you haven’t already blown your annual horticultural budget, a trip to the
garden centre or a specialist nursery is just as enjoyable at the tail end
of summer, and should yield some gorgeous specimens. Happily, buying plants
while they’re actually in flower enables you to see exactly what you’re
getting, which is ideal when you need to plug a few gaps in an established
planting scheme.
Having been slow to appreciate them, I’m now increasingly tempted by the domes
of starry chrysanthemums, each plant studded with dozens of buds. Flowering
their socks off until well into autumn, they’re ideal for the front of the
border and work well in containers, which can also look a little glum by
this time of year. But that’s another story.
Further reading Marina Christopher is a consummate plantswoman and
nursery owner. Her book Late Summer Flowers (Frances Lincoln £25) will make
you want to forsake the obvious pleasures of May and June, and to devote at
least half of your garden to the gorgeous plants she describes.
Six stunning flowers for September
Hot, dry conditions suit the tall, slender-stemmed perennial Verbena
bonariensis, which bears rosy/mauve blooms that hover over neighbouring
plants. It flowers over a long period.
Salvia guaranitica‘Blue Enigma’ needs sunshine and protection from late
frosts, but you’ll be rewarded until autumn with azure flowers with a hint
of purple.
The burnt-orange flowers of Helenium‘Moerheim Beauty’ emerge in August,
but should still be performing well in early to mid-September.
Echinacea purpurea‘Kim’s Knee High’has slightly reflexed petals the
colour of a warm pink sunset. The name is misleading: in my experience, it
grows to at least 2ft.
Dahlias have gone from gaudy to gorgeous – as in the stunning purple flowers
of D ‘Requiem ’– and most can be left in the
ground all year if given a mulch.
Japanese anemones are stalwarts of late summer and will tolerate shade. I love
the classic single white Anemonex hybrida‘Honorine Jobert’.
