You don’t have to bid a sad farewell to summer colour in your garden too soon.
There are plenty of plants to choose from that will keep your garden vibrant through August and beyond.
Many will blossom until frosts arrive, continuing to provide colour and interest and a prolonged supply of pollen and nectar for insects.
A wide variety of perennials peak in late summer, and annuals can play their part too in providing splashes of colour until late September or even later.
So, what should you be planting to extend the season of colour in your garden? You can find out now.
Perennials for late-summer colour
Here is our pick of perennials to plant to avoid a drab late-summer garden.
Crocosmia
Formerly known as montbretia, crocosmia are multi-flowered, spreading perennials. They have clusters of strappy leaves, and the trumpet-shaped flowers come in a variety of vivid shades of red, yellow and orange.
Simple to grow, crocosmia will flower for several months and will flourish in a range of soil types, in partial shade or full sun.
Plant with salvias, dahlias or cannas for a lavish mid- to late-summer display.
Japanese anemone
A few Japanese anemones in your borders will extend summer colour until the first frosts.
Perfect for the no-frills gardener, these large white, pink or mauve flowers have robust, medium-tall wiry stems that don’t need support.
To create height in a shady border, plant anemones behind ferns and hostas, where their profuse flowers will seem to float above the architectural forms of the foliage plants.
Penstemon
With large bell-shaped flowers on short stems, penstemons will inject a buzz of late-summer colour into your garden with hues from the deepest purple to delicate pinks.
Penstemons work well as part of herbaceous and mixed borders, particularly if you favour an informal cottage-style garden.
Most penstemons are herbaceous, half-hardy perennials. They withstand drought but it’s advisable to take cuttings as an overwinter back-up.
Stonecrop
Also known as sedum, stonecrop are hardy, succulent drought-tolerant perennials often used in containers and rock gardens.
They come in a variety of forms and colours, from the two-foot-tall Autumn Joy to elegant groundcover stonecrops like Dazzleberry.
Stonecrops grow reliably in hot, dry positions. Bees and butterflies love their rosette-shaped nectar-rich flowers, which will continue to look good in winter even after they’ve died.
Helenium
The daisy-shaped flowers of sun-loving heleniums (sneezeweed) bring a warm, blood-orange colour to borders from mid-summer into autumn.
These perennials are robust, hardy, and easy to grow. They combine particularly well with grasses and with other late-flowering perennials.
After flowering, the seedheads provide an attractive feature well into autumn.
Annuals for late-summer colour
Plant the following annuals and your garden will be pulsating with colour all through the summer and into autumn.
Begonias
A classic among annuals and a favourite with gardeners, begonias have bronze or deep green foliage, and waxy petals with a yellow centre.
They bloom from June in shades of red, white or pink, or multi-colour combinations, and they’re easy to grow and low-maintenance.
Begonias thrive in fertile, moist soil and can tolerate extreme temperatures. They can be used in hanging baskets, window boxes and other containers, but look their best when planted en masse in borders.
Cosmos
Daisy-like, eye-catching cosmos can be a feature in their own right or grown to plug gaps in borders or for container displays.
These bushy, half-hardy annuals attract bees and butterflies with masses of flowers up to five inches across. They come in a broad spectrum of colours – including red, pink, white and bicolour varieties – contrasting with bright-green feathery foliage.
Cosmos partner well with darker-coloured chrysanthemums and dahlias, and their flowers and foliage can both be used in cut-flower arrangements.
Nicotiana
Nicotiana (tobacco plant) are a cottage-garden mainstay providing long-lasting colour, fragrance and height in late-summer displays.
The tall, swaying, star-like flowers are ideal for plugging gaps in borders left by spring bulbs. They also go well with other bedding plants in container displays, and are popular with flower arrangers.
Nicotiana flower in clusters in hues of pink, purple, red, yellow, green and white, from summer into autumn. Many types open in the evening to release an incense-like aroma.
African marigold
African marigolds flower in shades of yellow, orange and cream, on tall, sturdy stems.
Both flowers and foliage are fragrant when brushed against, and the plants grow up to four feet tall, blooming from June until frost.
Attractive to butterflies, the bright colours of African marigolds look good in beds, borders or containers.
