5 Perennial Plants for late colour in the garden – Part 2

As I talked about in part 1 of, five perennial plants for late colour in the garden, after finding myself with pretty much no colour in my late summer border years ago, I was determined to seek out plants that carried on flowering until the first frosts.

This certainly keeps my spirits up as we descend into winter as much of the garden is dying back, but also (more importantly) gives an invaluable source of nectar to the insects before they settle down and hibernate through the coldest months.

Of course like all gardeners, I am still learning about, and discovering new plants to grow to expand the flowering season, no more so than last year when I grew a rather well known tuber for the first time, and boy what a showstopper they’ve turned out to be….

Dahlias

I can’t believe it’s taken so long to get dahlias into my garden. I think I had the preconception that they were a plant that ‘proper old gardeners’ grew, mainly in rows on allotments.

Well as I creep slowly into that category, I thought I’d have a go!

They’ve turned out to be rather spectacular, blooming for such a long period!

They add wonderful colours to the garden from mid summer until the first frosts. The tones range from white and the palest of pinks to the hottest reds and oranges, with bi-coloured through to two toned varieties. And that’s before you start on all the different shaped flower heads. There really is a dahlia for every taste.

Last year I grew semi-cactus varieties and what sensational plants they were. Unfortunately I lost them in the early winter frost in December. If you do decide to lift the tubers which is what most people do, then they do need to be stored properly with protection from frost.

If they are in a border and you have reasonably good drainage then you can probably leave them in the ground now that we have relatively mild winters.

This year I’ve grown two varieties ‘Bishop of Canterbury’ and ‘Honka Pink’ which I think is a fabulous name, although every time I try to type it, spellcheck makes it Honda Pink which makes me smile.

Helenium

I’d not grown Heleniums until we visited one of the fabulous National Garden Scheme gardens. It was in September and not too far from Nantwich in Cheshire.

The garden was full to overflowing with tall grasses interspersed with brightly coloured Heleniums. They are tall daisy type flowers

As they had some for sale, it would have been rude not to buy!

‘Moerheim Beauty’ was my first, a combination of burnt orange with yellow edges and that classic domed centre. The flowers always remind me of a shuttlecock.

I later bought ‘Ruby Tuesday’, which as her name suggests, is very much on the rich, red spectrum. She really heats up any border.

They start to flower in July, going through into September, but don’t be tempted to chop them down once the petals drop, as just like other plants in the Asteraceae family with domed centres they look rather attractive in the winter garden, with a dusting of frost.

I do have to mention their fabulous common name of ‘sneezeweed’. This comes from years ago when their dried leaves were used for snuff.

Japanese Anenome

If you are looking for some late summer, early autumn brightness in a shady spot, look no further. Japanese anemones are some of the easiest perennials to grow, only performing badly in deep shade or extreme dryness.

They will run around a border popping up here and there, so they do need pulling up once in a while, but with something so lovely you will be happy to have them spreading around.

They grow to over a metre tall and the white variety in particular gives such brightness especially if planted against a dark background.

I have two types in the garden, the common white which of course is planted down in the white garden and the palest of pink growing in the woodland border.

Persicaria

This was another plant that came to me as a gift. I didn’t know anything about it, but it had pretty, intense pink, spikey flowers.

The following year as it pushed up through the soil, I nearly pulled it up as the leaves very much resemble dock leaves. I’m so glad I didn’t as it gives a mass of colour which starts in July and carries on through into October. It is also very happy in a reasonable amount of shade.

‘Firetail’ is the name of my original pink variety, but I have since bought a couple more, ‘White Eastfield’, obviously a white variety and ‘Orange Field’, not exactly orange, more coral pink.

I’ve used these plants more since my wonderful trip to the RHS Chelsea flower show in September 2021 – The one and only Chelsea to be held in the autumn because of the Covid Pandemic.

As the show was held so much later in the year, there was a whole new array of plants. Persicaria was noticeable as being widely used on so many show gardens.

Phlox

There are many types of Phlox, including low growing creeping varieties but I grow the tall Paniculatas. Reaching nearly a metre high, they add a fabulous injection of colour into the July border an if you dead head them they keep flowering well into September and in recent years October.

They have a mop of small, open flowers that sit aloft the tall stems, and they are regularly covered in bees and butterflies. They are not just attracted by the look of the flowers but by the magnificent scent wafting from them.

The three varieties I grow are; ‘Ultaviolet’ a wonderful deep magenta pink; ‘David’ which is the purest white; and a pale pink variety with a dark pink centre called ‘Bright Eyes’ which has the strongest fragrance of them all.

There’s nothing like walking down the garden on a warm day and smelling them before you see them.

If you already have these five flowers in your garden, have a look at part 1 and part 3 of 5 Perennial plants for late colour in the garden for a few more ideas.

Happy Gardening.