Although, my favourite time of year, and probably most other peoples, is the spring, when all the plants are pushing through the soil, and all the leaves and shrubs have fresh leaves, knowing that we have six months ahead to enjoy all that is good about gardening.
Lets focus on the present time of year, and appreciate late summer and autumn, too often our attention is fixed on the winter ahead.
The end of August, and September the early mornings can be a little chillier, very often followed by a warmer day come noon.
A good time to stand back and check those Perennials, just to see if you can make any improvements in the borders for next year, perhaps your Monardas would look better, placed behind the Phlox, or maybe a better effect would be achieved if you were to leave a wider space at the front of the Herbaceous border for annual flowering plants. Don’t start dividing the Perennials yet, wait till Autumn or spring.
Also, check out the Autumn colour which will make your garden come alive again, especially those Japanese Acers, not to forget the beauty of the very late flowering Chrysanths, and Dahlias which will flower till the first hard frost. After which we will talk about clearing the garden of annuals and cutting back the Perennials, but for the meantime lets just enjoy the garden.
© 2006 – 2008, Alistair. All rights reserved.
