Late Summer Colour and Interest in the Garden

I've taken some time out to photograph my own garden this week.

There's always something in flower or looking it's best, here's a few of my favourites for Late August colour or interest:

Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii

We have lots of these, they are so bright and cheerful, need very little attention and flower right into autumn and the first frosts.

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle'

Hydrangeas seem smaller and a bit late this year, I would imagine this has to do with the warm dry summer, they prefer to be in damp soil and my soil is sandy and dry, but still not a bad show.

Echinacea 'White Swan'

The bees seem to go to sleep after feeding on Echinacea 'White Swan', watch out for slugs when they first appear in spring, we have planted some pink varieties also which we are trialling in the perennial border, including 'Raspberry Tart.'

Agapanthus sp.

We have agapanthus in pots, some I rescued from a garden in Chelsea, the garden was in full shade and the owners thought they would do well.! They were about to go on the skip....... as a failed plant.

I feed these with a tomato liquid feed to get the most flowers.

They are now in pots in sunny positions!

Acanthus spinosis

this does well in a very dry area of the garden under a pine tree where most things struggle

Phlomis fruticosa

Even though the Phlomis has finished flowering it has a sculptural beauty, I love this plant most in winter in it's skeletal form and when the low sun picks it out and makes it glow gold, gorgeous!

Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hameln'

We have alot of grasses in the front garden including Pennisetum up by the quartz wall, one of which has a nest of over 200 baby spiders with its mother guarding the web, I would imagine they take cover in the wall in the winter.

It's just about to show off it's fluffy panicles, I'll wait a week or so and take another picture.

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Sculpture in the garden, greencube designs a sculptural ball garden

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But my favourite is most definitely the Telegraph Garden

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Our large garden in Langton Green designed back in 2010 features in a Dutch magazine for April - Groei & Bloei , I had to use google translator to work out what they said: dutch "door efficient gebruik te maken van niveauverschillen ontstaan op een klein oppervlak twee terrassen, gescheiden door een prachtige plantenbak, die tevens dienst doet als regleuning van de zitbank." literally translates to: "through efficient use of level differences arising on a small surface two terraces, separated by a beautiful planter, who also serves as backrest of the sofa." my dutch is not too good! Here are some more photos of this garden:

greencube garden and landscape design, UK

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