Late season gems
If you are planning to get out and about on the August Bank Holiday, why not enjoy some late summer colour at an RHS Partner Garden. There are still plenty of blooms to see, from zingy subtropical plantings to vivid dahlias and classic, bold hydrangeas.
Burnished copper, gleaming yellow and shocking pink are just some of the colours you can see in the main subtropical border at Normanby Hall near Scunthorpe. It offers a show-stopping spectacle from July to the end of October.
It smells wonderful and is also a magnet for bees and butterflies. The border also provides plenty of great planting ideas to try at home. Some of the schemes would translate well to containers, like the purple-leaved cannas surrounded by Bidens.
There are more subtropical delights at The Dorothy Clive Garden near Market Drayton, which has two large tropical borders filled with an exciting mix of cannas, Hedychium, Rudbeckia and dahlias. The palette of reds, oranges and yellows is cooled by blues, whites and limes – Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’, Ricinus communis and mixed crocosmia makes an especially pleasing combination.
For those wanting to try the subtropical style at home, Head Gardener Marcus Chilton-Jones has some advice: ‘Mix easy stalwarts with spicier specimens like cannas. Have fun and if some elements don’t work simply change them the following year.’
Like an impressionist painting brought to life, the Dahlia Garden at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge is daubed with almost every imaginable colour. The garden is home to about 90 dahlia cultivars which provide a brilliant spectacle from August through to mid-November. The dahlias are grouped by colour, following the spectrum from pure white through to vivid reds.
Each cultivar is carefully chosen not just for its colour, but also for strong, full, healthy growth. The memorable displays are the result of careful cultivation and huge effort, with an astonishing 11,000 deadheads removed each week during the season.
See thousands of hydrangeas in bloom throughout the romantic coastal village of Portmeirion, and in the adjoining 28ha (70 acre) woodland. Their colours perfectly complement the village’s pastel Italianate buildings.
The main flowering period is June to November, but those in very sheltered positions, such as ‘Madame Emile Mouillere’, can bloom until Christmas or beyond. ‘Visitors often remark on the intense blueness of some flowerheads, due to our acid soil,’ says Head Gardener Arwel Hughes.
- RHS Members can visit each of these gardens free of charge in August (Member 1 only). See theRHS Members' Handbook or Garden Finder for more details including opening times