August is often a quiet month in the garden, especially if July has been hot and dry.  Most plants are in flower or have flowered and the garden is beginning its display for the autumn.

Watering and dead heading are the two main jobs that will keep the borders in colour for at least another month. Don't forget, you can dead head anything with a flower. Simply remove the dead flower head either at the head or cut back down to the leaf node to keep your flowers coming.

August is a good month to reflect on the garden and consider what plants worked best and complimented each other. As you sit and enjoy the view, think about your plans for next year's garden.

I have put together tried and tested planting combinations to help you.

My top 5 spring and summer planting combinations:

1. Tulip Ballerina and Erysimum Bowles Mauve
2. Geranium Rozanne and Rose Flower Carpet, pink
3. Pervoskia Blue Spire and Geranium Anne Folkard
4. Nerine Bowdenii and Hardy Fuchsias
5. Achillea Fanal and Helenium Moerheim Beauty

As always, if you're struggling to find the right combination, please do contact me, I am happy to help with your plans, or simply to order next year's plants.
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It may seem obvious but in order to increase the number of pollinators and insects in your garden, it is important to increase the number of flowers. The more flowers a garden can offer throughout the year, the greater the number of bees, butterflies, and other pollinating insects.
  
Why not plan a small area for cutting flowers? Not only will it attract pollinators, it will also create a patchwork of colour and flowers for cutting and displaying in your home.
 
All you need is a small area of bare soil where you can plant seedlings in neat rows. Seeds can be planted directly into the soil from the end of April. Once established in June/July, the more you cut, the more flowers will grow and therefore even more pollinators!
 
Take a look at the patchwork of flowers I am currently growing, they include:

1. Salvias & Calendulas
2. Scabiosa
3. Zinnias
4. Cosmos
5. Ammi

 
If you need help creating your own patchwork, or would like to purchase either seeds or my own range of potted cutting flowers, ready to plant out in May, please do get in touch.

The borders begin to come alive in March, most bulbs are showing some green if not flowers, and most perennial plants are beginning to show and put on a good amount of growth. It is also another good month for planting and adding more plants and interest to the borders. 

A shady border can hold a treasury of plants, often overlooked in our pursuit for sun lovers. Nearly every garden has a shady corner, even if you only have a single tree in your garden, you can create a relaxing place to be by planting shade loving plants.  
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These plants tend to flower in late winter to early spring, taking advantage of the light before the overhanging branches come into leaf and shade them out. They enjoy a well-draining, humus-rich soil. Plant them informally as if they were in a woodland setting.

My top 5 shade loving plants are:

1. Vinca aureovariegata. 
   A mat forming ground cover hardy evergreen shrub, with glossy variegated yellow leaves, which contrast beautifully with the single blue flowers in spring. 

 

1. Pulmonaria, commonly known as lungwort. 
   A clump forming deciduous perennial. Attractive speckled leaves and blue, white, or pink flowers in spring. ‘Blue Ensign’ is my favourite.

 

1. Dryopteris erythrosora ‘Copper Shield’ Fern. 
   A semi-evergreen fern with dark green foliage, new growth is tinged bronze-pink in spring. Create an architectural backdrop for spring flowers.
   
   
2. Corydalis ‘Berry Exciting’.
   A dainty clump forming perennial with pinnate yellow to green leaves and slender tubular pink flowers in spring.  

 

1. Fritillaria imperialis. 
   These architectural looking flowers are sold as a bulb in the autumn. Thick erect stems hold an umbel of bell-shaped orange, yellow or red flowers. Pictured here in my own garden, they do require some sun, but seem to thrive well in my dappled shade border.

If you would like help with organising and planning a shady border, or would like to order these or other shade loving plants, please get in touch via email, mobile or social media. 
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