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Plants for August blooms

EmptyheadtimeEmptyheadtime Posts: 366
in Plants
I have a flower bed in a sunny spot ( fairly heavy soil) that is predominantly made up of lupins and aqueligias (with a wisteria growing on the wall behind) that I like. While this gives me a lovely showing earlier in the summer, I am left with a rather poor looking border once they finish flowering and I cut them back. I am looking for ideas as what to plant in amongst the lupins/aqueligia  that will flower later in the summer around August. I am undecided whether I should look for annuals that I could plug the gaps with or a perennial or possibly some sort of shrub that will give some nice structure etc. I am leaning towards infilling with some sort of annuals as can grow these from seed cheaply and maybe even vary each year if I so wish. All suggestions welcome.
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  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    Ice plant, phlox, cyclamen if they could be shaded by other plants, agapanthus.. 

  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    I've tried to organise the videos I have posted showing my garden by the month they were taken so they might work as a resource for people looking for flowers that bloom in particular months. I'm based in north Cork on a north facing slope so may be a bit behind some other gardens but here is a link to the list for August. A plant that had great flowers in August this year that I grew from seed planted last year is the perennial Tansy but it is a bit big and the girlfriend has insisted that I get rid of it now which is a disappointment since it looks strong enough to look after itself and seemed so popular with pollinators. Penstemon and sedum are also good perennials for August and Abelia and Buddleia are nice shrubs that blooms then. The pot marigold is a good reliable annual that will bloom at different times depending on when it started to grow so you could get seeds planted to be ready for an August display. Others that stand out are the crocosmia, verbena and nasturtiums.

    Happy gardening!
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    Dahlias? I grow Bishops Children from seed and they give a great display from July until the frosts.
    Dark leaves and lots of tropical colours really stand out - pic taken just now


    Perennial asters - loads to choose from and start to flower late August - Oct.

    This year I've grow Cleome for the first time (from seed) - really fascinating-looking  plants and mine are still flowering well. The leaves may cause some comments :) and the 'perfume' matches the look of leaves too! :) They get to about 6ft - pic taken just now - it recently got battered by heavy showers as I didn't stake it - they're white or many shades of pink


    Cosmos - mine didn't start flowering until August but are now flowering well.

    Verbena bonariensis and V. rigida flowers all summer long until the frosts.

    Perennial phlox are still flowering well.

    Japanese anemones flower from late July until end Sept

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    The problem with annuals is that they need to flower and set  seed in just a few months growing time, so they are often looking a bit tired  by the latter half of August.
    I use dahlias. Tubers cost  less than £3 for named varieties  or you can get mixed bags for much less. I enjoy playing with the colours, differing flower types and sizes and you can have them in bloom from June to the first frost. I have to lift mine here to overwinter, you may be able to leave them in situ, depending on soil type and where you live. Lifting them means that I can change them about from year to year and get different colour combinations. Mine have needed very little attention even this summer, apart from deadheading to keep the flowers coming. They have basked in the sun, but do need good retentive soil, not too wet and probably a stake for taller varieties, though some of mine have proved surprisingly resilient despite some very strong winds.
    You could also add some Michaelmas daisies,  variously Aster/Symphoritrichum/Eurybia which will flower from now until October/November in a range of colours and sizes. They are hardy and easy to look after. Some Crocosmias flower quite late too and give some welcome variety plus easy care.
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    August can be a difficult month for flowers especially after such dry weather, alot of plants just stop floweringl. I have planted Cosmos Rubenza to fill the gaps in a new border. Iv'e had to do lots of deadheading but they are still lovely having produced hundreds of flowers. I think keeping up with deadheading is the best way to prolong flowering. 
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited September 2022

  • EmptyheadtimeEmptyheadtime Posts: 366
    Thank-you for your responses. Some nice suggestions I will look into. I have various cosmos and dahlias in other parts of the garden so may look at adding to those. I have an agapanthus in a pot that I love but it tends to flower a bit earlier so I could look into later flowering varieties. I don't have any asters or verbena so that could be a nice change and I do have a couple of Japanese anemone that I got bare root this year and am growing on in pots for now that were penciled in for another spot next year but I may change that. Decisions Decisions....
    Thanks again.
  • LunarSeaLunarSea Posts: 1,923
    All brilliant suggestions so far but I'd just add this annual that my OH has been growing each year since we moved here. It's Rudbeckia 'Rustic Dwarf'.



    Also I'd add the Kniphofia 'popsicle' series if your soil is not too heavy or you can add plenty of grit. This is the 'Mango Popsicle' 



    and this is the 'Banana Popsicle'


    Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. 

    I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    Eurybia divaricata and Eurybia x herveyi 'Twilight' are extremely good late flowering asters, starting in early August, and are not going to interfere much with your earlier plants as they don't get too big and put on most of their growth from midsummer onward.

    Hylotelephium 'Matrona' is a good sedum which would also work, it looks good during early summer but flowers properly from August onwards. I think it will be OK with clay as long as it's got reasonable drainage.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • msqingxiaomsqingxiao Posts: 482
    Sedums, dahlias, roses, zinnias are all flowering well in my sunny clay soil garden at the moment. The sedums are getting a bit too big actually. There is also a big cosmos growing but still no sign of flowers yet.
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