Perennials to Perk Up Your Late Summer Garden
Late summer can be an awkward time for color in the garden, but there are many perennial varieties that are at their peak when the weather is at its hottest and most humid. Learn about several colorful late summer perennials in this Better Homes and Gardens video:
Joe Pye Weed: Native American perennial that produces purple flowers in late summer and is a favorite of butterflies. Plant at the back of the border or choose a dwarf variety.
Garlic Chives: Wonderful ornamental edible with a garlicky flavor that blooms in September with cheery white flowers and foliage that can be used all year long just like chives. Deadhead when the flowers fade; otherwise they will drop seed and spread through your garden.
Asters: Plants with pink, purple, blue or white flowers that vary from short and compact to tall and rangy. The New England Aster is 3′-4′ tall, smothered in flowers, and is a butterfly favorite.
Sedums: Heat and drought resistant flowers with pink or reddish blooms. Extremely popular with bees, butterflies and other pollinating insects, they look great in winter, or as dried flowers.
Helenium: Native American flower that blooms in early fall. It is commonly called Sneeezeweed because it blooms at the height of hay fever season, although it won’t make you sniffle. Most varieties have orange or orange yellow flowers. The Double Trouble variety produces bright yellow blooms with double petals; it grows to 4′ and makes a great back of the border plant.
Rudbeckia hirta (Black-Eyed Susan): Sure fire perennial for midsummer to fall color and often at its best in late summer, it comes in many sizes and varieties. Very drought resistant, it requires full sun and butterflies love it.
Phlox: Blooms from June until frost, with some of the taller varieties blooming later than the early varieties. Great for color as the season ends, these fragrant flowers come in white, purple, pink, rose and lavender colors and attract butterflies.
Roses: Many varieties, especially groundcovers, also put on a great color show in late summer. The Flower Carpet Scarlet grows about 3′ tall and 4′ wide.
Late summer perennials are the best way to perk up a drab garden. Plant them in late summer to enjoy them now and next year too.
