Citylife in Lichfield September 2020

Your Garden in
September
By Byron Lewis
We're at the start of a new
gardening season already - can
you believe it?! It's been a great
summer weather-wise, and many
summer bedding plants are
already starting to look a little
jaded. You can trim some back to
encourage fresh growth and
hopefully some late flowers, as
well as keeping up with the feed
- this should give them an extra
few weeks’ life, but if they have seen better days you can always
replace them with autumn flowering options instead.
Autumn/Winter pansy & viola are the obvious choice - long
flowering in an array of colours, these have been the backbone of
late season displays for years. Also consider Wallflowers - 'Sugar
Rush' is a dwarf variety grown in packs as opposed to the
traditional bare-root wallflowers and will flower in the autumn
and the spring.
Other options are cyclamen, chrysanthemum, ivy, heuchera and
dwarf grasses. All give warm autumn colour and most of these
will survive more than one year - plant them out in your borders
once they have served their time in your planters and baskets.
Many later cottage garden plants are just coming into their own.
Try michelmas daisies (aster varieties) for a large show of daisylike
flowers from whites to pinks and blues. Japanese anemones
also have good autumn blooms, while rudbeckia and crocosmia
will continue the show through to October.
Spring flowering bulbs are now available - it's vital to plant them
in the next month or so to give the best show next year. If your
summer plants are still looking great, why not plant your bulbs in
some spare flower pots, then when you are ready to change the
display it can be done instantly! Try dwarf daffodil 'tete-a-tete'
and crocus for pots - these have shorter stems and won't be
damaged by any wind.
When buying bulbs, always go for the biggest - bigger bulbs mean
bigger blooms! To keep them flowering well, always use some
bonemeal when you plant bulbs - and feed them again after
flowering (a small handful each time is enough). Bonemeal is
essentially a root feed, and as bulbs are in effect a swollen root,
this is the ideal source of nutrients.
Byron Lewis runs Lichfield Garden Centre at Curborough
Countryside Centre, Watery Lane, Lichfield. Tel 01543
254306 or visit www.lichfieldgardencentre.co.uk.
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