There are some shining lights of the late summer border which will make your garden sizzle with colour when other summer blooms are fading. Plants which produce flowers in varying shades of orange, red, purple and pink come into their own at this time of year, long after roses, lupins and other perennial favourites are starting to fade. Here are 10 of the best plants for late summer colour.
1. Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ The upright sword-like leaves of these herbaceous perennials provide a striking architectural backdrop to fiery colour, with arching flower stems bearing vibrant orange tubular flowers in mid to late summer. Also known as montbretia, these reliable cormous plants will grow in many conditions, including shade and dry soil.
If they take off, you may need to dig a few out each year and replant them, as you’ll soon have great clumps. 2. Echinacea The huge daisy-like blooms of these tough perennials, also known as coneflowers, can flower for weeks, their bright petals radiating around a prominent central cone.
Preferring full sun in soil that drains easily, they are at home in prairie-style plantings as they combine well with grasses, but there’s a place for them in almost any late summer border and they are also a magnet for butterflies and bees. Colours range from white and pink to red and orange. Good varieties include ‘Delicious Candy’ and ‘Ruby Giant’.
3. Hylotelephium (formerly known as Sedum) Also known as the ice plant, these perennials produce col.