I'd love some ideas for plants that look great in August. So, please take a look in your garden and pass your suggestions on to me
I host a family party each August, generally the first weekend. So, this year the garden looked okay but there is definitely room for improvement. Some of the permanent planting in the garden was for flowering in May (for Communion and Confirmation celebrations, we are well past those years now), they are nice and green and well shaped. I have a few lavender plants, they are definitely past their best at this time. The bees have still been enjoying them up to now but I will be cutting them all back this week. One of my lovely Erysimum bicolor 'Bowles's Mauve' perennial wallflower has just died and left a big gap to fill, also one of the lavender plants has got too leggy and scraggy and needs replacing
Our patio area has a sunken terrace feel with steps up to a sloped, lawned area with roses, fuchsia and hydrangea at the back wall. Lots of pots clustered on the patio with masses of colour now - mainly petunia, lobelia, geraniums and gypsophila for the first time - what else should I consider for August colour in pots?
I have a preference for plants in the purple, blue, pink, cream, white range. No thank you to red, yellow, orange, though I like these in other people's gardens. Especially interested in low growing shrubs for gaps in the garden.
I am aware that most of the plants I've mentioned above are very "traditional", almost cottage garden plants. Open to very different ideas. I live in a 60's suburban semi which gets full sun. Ireland, so plenty of rain and fairly temperate.