Gardening Tips for Late Summer
Depending on how green-fingered you are, at this time of year your garden might be experiencing a late-summer drop in colour. The combination of the July heatwave and severe lack of rain in many areas is not a good combination for many traditional British gardens. But there’s no need to threat, there are plenty of things you can do to bring your garden back to life.

The Importance of Deadheading
Regular removal of dead flower heads can help to prolong the life of your plants. Most of our common British plants such as geraniums, roses, salvias and lavender will produce more than one batch of flowers throughout the growing season. However, they will only continue to flower if you remove the dead flower heads. If you don’t regularly cut them back, then the plant will start to produce seed heads, which whilst still adding interest, won’t add much colour to your garden.
Deadheading doesn’t have to be too time consuming either. You will be amazed at how much you can achieve with just half an hour of walking round your garden with a pair of secateurs.

Deadheading

Feed Your Plants
As well as ensuring your plants are getting enough water, especially during the summer months, you should also continue to feed your plants on a regular basis to ensure they get all the vital nutrients they need to remain healthy. This is particularly important if you have lots of pots and containers which you planted up at the beginning of the summer. Our ecofective Organic Pour and Feed is suitable for both indoor and outdoor plants and is perfect for containers and hanging baskets.

Be Creative With Pots and Containers
At this time of year you might have gaps appearing in your flower beds as single flowering plants such as foxgloves, poppies or rose campion have started to go to seed. You can either leave them in your garden in order to collect their seed later or choose to remove them. If you haven't got any plants to replace them with, then why not move some of your pots and containers onto the bare soil? Pots are an easy way to fill the gaps in your borders and add instant colour without spending money on more plants. It is also a great way to enjoy colour around the garden, especially for more tender plants which wouldn’t survive being left in the ground over a cold or very damp winter.

Container with Flowers

Plan Ahead
Sometimes the only way to ensure a display of late summer colour in the garden is to go to the garden centre and buy more plants. However, before you purchase the brightest plants in the display, make sure you read the plant labels carefully. Think about where in the garden you are planting and how long the plant will last. Will it survive through the winter and flower again next year? Do you have the right soil in your garden for the plant, or will it need to go in a pot with specialist compost?

Here are some great plants to consider if you need a boost of colour for your summer borders:
Penstemons - We’ve mentioned these before in previous blogs, but they are such a fantastic plant we simply had to include them again! Readily available in most garden centres, penstemons come in a variety of colours and will flower right through until November if deadheaded regularly. They are also perfect for encouraging pollinators in your garden and look great in pots. Most penstemons are hardy so should survive outside in British winters - although it is worth checking the label to double check before you buy.

Heleniums - These late summer flowering plants come in a variety of bright colours such as yellow and orange and can be grown in full sun. Again, they are perfect for pollinators and should flower right through until autumn. Once they have finished flowering, don’t cut them back straight away as their attractive seed heads will add some autumn interest to your garden.

Hydrangeas - Many of you might already have a hydrangea or two growing in your garden and there’s a reason you see so many of them in the garden centre. They are really easy to grow and are suitable for most soil types, although they do like some shade - so don’t plant them against a sunny south facing wall. Depending on how much rain you get, if you plant one now you will need to water it regularly until it gets established as hydrangeas prefer slightly damper conditions. There are so many varieties to choose from and quite a few will change colour throughout the growing season.

Helenium

Hydrangea

We hope you’ve found our tips and suggestions useful. Just remember to keep on top of feeding and watering as well as finding time to deadhead your flowers to ensure your garden looks great well into autumn. We also love seeing your garden photographs so don’t forget to tag us into them on socials!

Happy Gardening!