September in the Garden
With the sunny settled weather we are now having in Cumbria the summer plantings have made a last rush of growth. Salvia ‘Victoria’ and old fashioned tobacco plants are doing especially well. Many of our shrubs will still keep flowering for weeks, if not months.
Throughout the gardens we have used the shrubby potentilla, potentilla fruticosa. It flowers on the current seasons growth from June onwards into the autumn, it is happy to be cut back hard in the spring, just trimmed lightly, or even left alone. Whatever you do, it just keeps flowering for months on end. The best variety for us is 'Goldfinger', a bright yellow variety with larger than usual flowers, great next to anything blue or lilac.
Abelia grandiflora is another long-flowering shrub, a vigorous evergreen with many tiny white flowers from July right through to November. Although hardy it benefits from being in a warm spot. Cuttings are available in November if you are visiting.