Plants of the Month: August

Herbaceous Perennials

Our Plants of the Month are herbaceous perennials, which flower every year, making them great value. Some will bloom over several months, so while summer flowers are fading, you can extend the flowering season in your garden with perennials.

Herbaceous perennials include cosmos, Japanese anemone, hardy geranium and more besides. Many are bee-friendly and they mix well with other plants. Ornamental grasses often go well with perennials such as rudbeckia, aster and Verbena bonariensis.

The phlox is a herbaceous perennial that’s bee-friendly and helps create a lovely cottage garden effect in colours ranging from white and the softest shades of pink and lilac through to vibrant reds. It likes rich, moist soil and a shady position.

Most perennials die back over the winter and then regrow, but the heuchera is an evergreen perennial. It has great year-round appeal and come into its own in autumn as the leaf colours often take on autumnal hues.

Heucheras are tough and versatile and are good for ground cover in sun or shade, making them both practical and attractive. They mix well with country garden favourites like aster, rudbeckia and sedum. Brighten up existing patio pots by replacing summer bedding with heuchera along with ivy and thyme for foliage, and you can underplant with spring bulbs.

Many perennials form attractive seed heads that can be enjoyed right into winter, and mix well with ornamental grasses. Favourites include echinacea, globe thistle and agapanthus.

Some of the best flowering perennials for butterflies and bees provide long-lasting displays, with a succession of flowers opening over several months, so you can help wildlife at the same time as bringing colour to your garden.

There’s 20% off the Plant of the Month range for Garsons card holders, so stock up on late herbaceous perennials that keep colour and interest going into winter. If you don’t have a card, you can register free of charge.