Get the colour in: the best plants

Fiery reds and brilliant yellow flowers vie for attention in borders in high summer, adding excitement to a scheme and a visual focus

Prairie-style perennials and grasses provide movement and drifts of colour

Get the colour in!

Experiment with colour and texture in your borders and containers by adding some late-summer heat in the form of warm summer colours, says Camilla Phelps

AS we hit those long hot days at the peak of summer, now is the perfect opportunity to generate some heat in the flower garden and feed our senses with a rich palette of warm colours.

Nature knows what it’s doing with its seasonal tones – the intensity of the hottest of summer flower colours is perfect for soaking up bright sunshine and illuminating our borders and pots as they absorb all the available light.

There’s a richness to summer yellows that makes them seem opulent and golden, compared to the first gentle yellows of spring. Meanwhile, warmer reds and oranges are seeping into garden colour schemes and many of the taller, prairie-style perennials are aiming for the sun and fighting for pole position to attract the myriad pollinators.

Colours of the moment

It’s a great time to experiment with colour and texture in borders and containers. Cut back flowers that have gone over and freshen them up with some colours of the moment.

The hottest colours of high summer range from citrus-yellow through fiery oranges, pinks and reds. Some summer flowers even offer graded sunset colours on a single bloom, like the Helenium autumnale series and Kniphofia uvaria. You can choose to plant in large swathes of a single shade if you have room, or repeat colours in blocks through borders to create a strong visual rhythm. Use single plants as bright colour accents –squeeze in annual calendulas or nasturtiums to fill gaps; or let hot colours be the perfect foil to the cool purple and blue tones of agapanthus, scabious, nigellas and salvias.

Seasonal edit

Textural contrasts are important, too, as this will make the colours sing even louder. Choose companion grasses for a light and feathery backdrop, or bold foliage plants for a more exotic style.

Summer is a good time to give your borders and pots a seasonal edit. It’s also worth looking out for inspiration and some bargains at the garden centre –pots that have been discounted. Look for plants in bloom now that can be divided after flowering so you can increase your stock for next year.

Where to buy

Clare Austin claireaustin-hardyplants.co.uk Crocus crocus.co.uk Middleton Nurseries middletonnurseries.co.uk Hayloft hayloft.co.uk

Six fiery reds

Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ AGM

With brilliant-red, semi-double flowers and dark foliage, this is a fantastic dahlia for containers and borders that will flower right through the summer and it doesn’t require fussy staking. HxS: 36x18in (90x45cm).

Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’ AGM

This common monbretia cultivar features brilliant fire-engine-red flowers in August and September and the bold strappy leaves make the perfect contrast. Plant in mixed borders with space and plenty of direct sunlight. HxS: 48x24in (120x60cm).

Hemerocallis ‘Stafford’ AGM

This daylily brings a dark-red tone to borders, lightened with a splash of yellow at the centre of the flowers. They work best planted in drifts, combining well with cannas and crocosmias. Deadhead when flowers fade. HxS: 28x24in (70x60cm).

Canna ‘President’

With bold dark foliage, which is a feature in its own right, the brilliant-red flowers of this variety will really light up your summer borders. These are tender plants, and in cooler gardens grow them in large containers to plunge them into summer borders and overwinter indoors. HxS:4-6x1½ft (120-180x46cm).

3 brilliant yellows

Achillea millefolium ‘Red Velvet’ AGM

The flowerheads of this yarrow are a deep ruby-red and keep their colour as the flowers mature. A great plant for pollinators, it looks good towards the front of a mixed border, in full sun, alongside grasses such as Stipa tenuissima for a meadowy style. HxS: 24x18in (60x45cm).

C r o c u s . c o . u k

Alstroemeria ‘Spitfire’ AGM

This Peruvian lily has distinctive red petals with yellow and brown markings. With variegated foliage as well, it offers lots of colour interest. Alstroemerias are good for adding colour to summer borders or growing in pots, and they make wonderful cut flowers. HxS: 20x24in (50x60cm).

Helenium ‘Wesergold’ AGM

With a very long flowering season, this sneezeweed will bring you shimmering golden daisy blooms right through to the end of summer. The brown centres mellow as they mature. Works well as a medium-height plant in borders or larger containers and good for pollinators, too. HxS: 30x24in(80x60cm).

Kniphofia ‘Bees’ Lemon’

This yellow red-hot poker is zingy in colour and with its upright, rocket-like flower form, it makes a great contrast with the daisy flowers of the season. Buds start out lime-green, opening out to brilliant-yellow flowers. Make sure it’s planted in well-drained soil. HxS: 40x24in (100x60cm).

Rudbeckia fulgida var. deamii AGM

Flowering from August to October, this black-eyed Susan is good for spicing up borders late season. Producing lots of blooms, it should be planted in a large swathe for full impact. Great for prairie-style planting and loved by bees and butterflies. HxS: 36x24in (90x60cm).

3 zingy oranges

Helenium ‘Waltraut’ AGM

The rusty, orange-toned blooms are perfect for adding an end-of-summer glow. Best planted in groups of threes or more, to create a bold drift of colour in large sunny borders. A haven for pollinators, deadhead for more flowers and cut back to the ground in late winter. HxS: 48x24in (120x60cm).

Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora ‘Emily McKenzie’

The flowers of this monbretia are open and star like, in a brilliant warm orange with darker, red markings and they will keep flowering from August to October. Grow in well-drained fertile soil and divide in spring every few years to increase your stock. HxS: 24x30in (60x80cm).

Kniphofia Poco Orange

The Poco Series is bred for a more compact habit, so this red-hot poker works well in containers and smaller planting areas. With a typically long flowering season, the warmorange colouring of the upright, vertical blooms are really attention grabbing. HxS: 20x16in (50x40cm).

4 hot pinks

Cosmos bipinnatus Sonata Carmine

This is perfect for containers adding colour to latesummer and early autumn displays. It’s too late to sow from seed for this year, so it’s worth looking out for ready-grown pots of cosmos in garden centres. H&S:20in (50cm).

Salvia ‘Pink Amistad’

This was awarded third place at the RHS Chelsea Flower show 2022. It offers the longflowering capacity of ‘Amistad’ in a bright-pink shade. Great for pots and borders, it’s also more compact than the purple variety and reportedly more hardy. HxS: 40x24in (100x60cm).

Frequently asked questions

How do I keep plants flowering through the summer?

THE secret to flowering success through the summer is watering, feeding and deadheading! Unless you have specifically chosen droughttolerant plants, regular watering, particularly in dry periods is vital. Water sensibly, at night time or in the morning, directly to the roots of plants.

After watering, choose one day a week for feeding and use a diluted liquid fertiliser – I’d recommend seaweedbased options. Deadheading spent flowers will stop plants from putting their energy into producing seeds. If you want to save seed, or to keep the seedheads for winter silhouettes, wait until the end of the season, and leave alternate flowering stems to mature.

Can I plant out in midsummer?

IT’S accepted wisdom that most plants will benefit from planting in autumn or spring, when it’s cooler and wetter, allowing the roots to settle in to ensure strong growth. But you can plant in midsummer, and if you buy new plants at the garden centre you’re going to want to get them into your borders and pots straight away.

There are two options. One is to plant as usual, digging a generous hole, adding plenty of organic matter with a sprinkling of mycorrhizal fungi to encourage good root growth and keep well watered. Alternatively, you could leave the plant in its pot – particularly if it’s borderline tender like a canna or a dahlia – and plunge the pot into your border. Feed and water as usual, but you have the option of either getting it in the ground in the autumn or bringing it into a frost-free sheltered spot for winter.

Lychnis coronaria AGM

The cheery deeppink blooms of rose campion are great value, being easy to grow and generous with their self-seeding talents. The simple single flowers repeat through the summer into August. HxS: 36x18in (90x45cm).

Dahlia ‘Ambition’

A cactus dahlia that produces huge deepmagenta flowers right up until the first frosts. Blooms can be up to 6in (15cm) in diameter, so it needs to be well supported. It’s great for cutting, but needs weekly feeding to keep up its flowering momentum. HxS: 40x24in (100x60cm).

Direct water to the roots where it’s needed

Plunge plants that are borderline tender into borders while still in their pots