The excitement of spring and the sublime atmosphere of May reach their high point by June 21, after which the middle age spread sets in. Problem: The garden looks exhausted by midsummer.
Photography by Jim Powell, for Gardenista.
Orange and Red Palettes
Dahlias at Great Dixter. Flaming June is the beginning of summer: the sap is still rising and all is fresh and dewy.
Dahlia ‘Kilburn Glow’ growing with banana trees at Great Dixter. Roses and peonies are all very well but later in summer, plants from the south are able to grow with plants in the north.
Pliable twigs and branches are bent into shape in late winter, to support flowers in late summer. The above garden in England (Cottesbrooke Hall) was photographed in June, when it was just taking flight; a month later, this staking will have been hidden.
Stake Tall Flowers
Hazel poles with willow circles provide a column for herbaceous clematis to grow through, at Coton Manor Garden.
Asters glowing in an October garden. With flowers that are just getting ready to have their moment around this time, for instance hardy geraniums, there is nothing wrong with chopping just some of them, for staggered flowering.
The Chelsea Chop
Autumn ‘Conference’ pears in Northamptonshire. Part of the beauty of a late summer garden, with its slow descent into autumn, is ripening fruit.
Fruit Trees
Actaea simplex flowers and skeletons. As well as autumn mists, the sunshine in September and October is more slanting and dramatic, lighting up the extraordinary colors like cinema lights.
Autumn Seedheads