It’s astonishing how much colour persists until the first frosts. Here’s Leucanthemella, which barely registers before October
The Front Garden will keep us in colour until the first frosts take their toll
We first saw these at Wisley and assumed anything so glorious must be tender… but they come back every summer, a little shaggier and more colourful
Waterperry has more colour in October than many gardens manage in June. Find out how it does it
We tend to think October is the end of perennials but while the frosts are at bay, the garden is still rewarding us with colour.
Top October plants
Spectacular Salvias
These remarkable flowers just keep going. Our Mexican Salvias are surprisingly hardy, spectacular and great value. Yes, we started with Hot Lips, but now Watermelon, Royal Bumble, African Skies, Amistad, Black and Blue, and Newby Hall are our garden stars.
Top plants – when they flower – what they bring to the garden
| 1. Salvia Amistad | June-Oct | The plant that nailed ‘purple’ |
| 2. Leucanthemella | Sept-Nov | Tall white nodding daisies |
| 3. Salvia Black and Blue | Aug-Oct | Cobalt blue trumpets from black calyces |
| 4. Rudbeckia Ful. Deamii | July-Oct | The pick of autumn’s yellow daisies |
| 5. Sedum Autumn Joy | Sept-Oct | A plateau of dusky pink |
| 6. Euphorbia Myrsinites | All-seasons | Escher-inspired pistachio rattlesnakes |
| 7. Choisya Sundance | All-seasons | Hundreds of upturned yellow palms |
| 8. Viburnum Davidii | All-seasons | Chunky dome of dark green foliage |
| 9. Morning Light Grass | All-seasons | Tall skinny variegated Miscanthus |
| 10. Gaura Lindheimeri | Jun-Oct | A flock of white and pink butterflies |
Michaelmas Daisies
Two late flowering garden friends are Asters and Sedums.
We’ve decided to up our game with Asters following our enjoyment of King George above. We recently purchased: Little Carlow, Marie Ballard, and the airy Sedifolius Acris. Now: we have to find room for them
The Front Garden
The Front Garden is still busy with colour, mainly pinks, reds and yellows, but a large Salvia Amistad gives a blast of purple as we drive in. Helianthus Lemon Queen is a tall yellow daisy, with big bobbing heads that always seem slightly confused about where the sun is. The Mexican Salvias are all still flowering as well as ever in mid-October this year.
This area also benefits from mounds of varied evergreen foliage, including: Viburnum, Elaeagnus and Pyracantha
Garden Rooms in May
Waterperry
This Oxfordshire garden is good for much of the year but rises to the top of the league after Michaelmas.
You’ll wonder why you don’t grow more Michaelmas Daisies when you see the colour power they generate in Waterperry’s borders. The pinks, purples and classic violet-blue of these asters are complemented by late-flowering Rudbeckias, Helianthus Lemon Queen and grasses.
Pictured is just a corner of the best border but Waterperry boasts two more – even longer – rose gardens and much more.
Wild spectacle: Autumn Colour
This is fall after all. Great parks, arboretums, hedgerows woodland and even the local Sainsbury carpark all become places of splendour in October.
Top trees for colour:
- Maples, famously
- Liquid Amber in parks and gardens
- Dissected Ash
- Stag’s Horn Sumach
- Cherries
- Spindle in the hedgerow
- Amelanchier
