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The Grampound Times
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Edition 45

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Late Summer in the Garden
Gillian Thompson

It is now early September 2006 and the day is warm, but with a refreshing breeze, and I’m sitting in my garden and admiring the view. And there is much to admire. August was cool and relatively damp, which has had the effect of prolonging the summer show. Whereas normally, by now, many of the plants would be suffering with the heat, this year they have had a reprieve.

From where I am seated, I can look down the length of a short, double border, flanking a grass path. The predominant flower colour is red, represented, in the main, by dahlias. A lot of gardeners are a bit sniffy about dahlias – rating them high maintenance and old-fashioned. But for sheer flower power at this time of the year (actually they have been in flower since late June/early July and will continue to give of their best until the first frosts) they are hard to beat.

With the exception of two Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ plants, bought as tubers, all my dahlias have been grown from seed. Some of them are grown permanently in pots and when the frost has blackened their foliage, I cut them right back and store them, under cover, for the winter. Others, like the ones in the border, are either left where they are to take their chances of surviving until the spring or, if the plant has performed particularly well, it will be lifted and the tuber stored until late February and then potted up and started into growth, ready for another year.

Nothing but dahlias in a border would be very dull, of course, and other star players in my late summer borders are Helenium, Nicotiana, Amaranthus, Ricinus and Canna. All except the canna and helenium have been grown from seed, sown earlier in Spring.

The helenium (Helenium autumnale) is a lovely golden yellow, with a prominent central cone. It has grown to five feet and is kept upright with the aid of some judicious staking. In its turn it is helping to support some tall growing Verbena bonariensis, with its airy, mauve flowers just going over. They made a striking partnership.

Ricinus communis ‘Impala’ (the castor oil plant) is the source of the drug ricine and highly poisonous, but it is such a striking plant with its tall, self-supporting red stems and long-stalked, large divided leaves, tinged red. The seeds are large and easy to handle and it is fascinating to watch the strong seedling push the compost aside as they erupt into life. Quite often the seed case remains attached to the seedling, which grows very rapidly – I love to ease the case off and watch the leaves spring open. At this time of the year the leaves are joined by the insignificant flowers and round, spiky seedheads, each containing four seeds to be saved for next year.

I am very fond of Amaranthus, and usually grow several types. Amaranthus caudatus, commonly called love-lies-bleeding, is probably the best known. I grow the variety ‘Viridis’ for its long, green tassels, which are so useful (and long lasting) in a vase. This year I also grew Amaranthus paniculatus ‘Bronze Marvel’. In this case the tassels are a deep red and held upright. The leaves are tinged bronze and this is certainly a plant which I will be growing again. One I certainly won’t bother with next year, is Amaranthus lividus ssp. lividus. The flowers are a dull, inconspicuous brown colour. Halfway through the summer I’d had enough of it and ripped it out.

Nicotiana is represented in the border by several varieties. The tallest, and probably my favourite, is Nicotiana sylvestris (the tobacco plant). Its long, white, tubular flowers are beautifully scented on the evening air – definitely worth venturing outside, late at night, torch in hand to savour its scent.

Its close relative Nicotiana knightiana ‘Green Tears’ was grown for the first time this year. My partner refers to it as the “cabbage plant”, which I feel is rather unfair. Its true that the leaves do have a passing resemblance to a cabbage, when young, but it grows to a respectable 5-6 feet and bears very unusual, inch long, pale green, tubular flowers, nipped in at the end and edged in darker green. Peep inside and the stigma is tiny and quite fascinating. You certainly wouldn’t describe is as spectacular, but it does bring a certain presence to the back of the border.

I also grow Nicotiana x sanderae ‘Lime Green’ for its lime green flowers (what other colour would they be?) and Nicotiana langsdorffii. The latter has an Award of Garden Merit (AGM) from the Royal Horticultural Society, so you know it is a good plant.

Nestling amongst a couple of rose-pink dahlias, are the last of the pale blue Veronicas flowers. The tall flower heads making a pleasing contrast with the flat, open flowers of the dahlia. The Veronica tries hard to please, and succeeds with me. It gave a good show of itself earlier in the year and when the first flush was over, I painstakingly cut each flower stalk back to where I could see new side shoots emerging and the result was a second display of flowers, every bit as good as the first. Completing the pink-blue colour picture is Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife), it has the same flower shape as the veronica but in a blue-pink shade, marrying the dahlia and veronica combination together very satisfyingly.

All of this colour and foliage is contained in a relatively small area and I expect it to go on looking good at least until the end of September, with the dahlia going on even longer. By then I shall have retreated indoors and the garden and I will rest until its time to start again in the spring – and I can’t wait!