2010-09-01 07:24:00
My garden always looks at its best in the summer as the herbaceous planting reaches it's peak, and in the front garden the architectural planting was looking magnificent towards the end of August. Here area some of my favourites:
Echinops ritro - a fantastic plant, much loved by bees and butterflies. My clump stands about 1.8 m tall and nestles around the bright white trunk of a Himalayan birch
Barbara Cartland, eat your heart out! The oriental lily 'Stargazer' - big, bold and fragrant and giving a tired section of the garden a real late season zing. White flowered Lilium 'Siberia' are doing their thing in the opposite border, almost knocking you over with their combined scents.
Inula magnifica - another late summer show stopper, much loved by the insect world. Tall and robust, this beauty flowers well in both sun and shade.
Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum' (purple fennel) - growing to 2 m tall over the course of the season this spectacular plant stands tall all winter, looking fabulous when rimed with frost or covered with snow. Best of all, all parts, including the bulb, are edible!
My fennel moves around the garden, with seedlings popping up in unexpected spaces but always looking just right.
Next to the fennel is a mix of plants, some new this year, some old friends. The colour scheme clashes a bit, but I can sort that out in the autumn. Here we have Acanthus spinosus (spreads when happy), Eupatorium 'Phantom' (a dwarf form of the much loved giant at only 1m tall), Monarda (at the front - I can't remember which cultivar) and the late summer stalwart, Helenium 'Moorheim Beauty'. I always smile when I walk past this grouping :)
Posted by Shades of Green Garden Design