Summer-flowering perennials

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I have high hopes of the Summer-flowering perennials that I planted-out in the early Spring. You may remember that I made lots of new plants last Autumn via root-division. With one single exception, they have all established well and are looking very healthy.

Realistically, I don’t expect them to produce a mass of flowers this year – they will need time to settle in – but as long as they establish themselves well, I should get a good display next year. I’ve been thinking to myself “If I had bought all these plants at my local Garden Centre they would have cost me at least £50, so taking my own cuttings was definitely the right thing to do”.

I have 3 Echinaceas like this one:

7 Heleniums, like this:

And 6 Rudbeckias (though there are a couple of small ones that were already there before).

The tall Verbena Bonariensis plants at the back, closest to the wall, have already opened their first flowers.

At this stage they look pretty insignificant (puny, even!), but I hope that they will eventually fill out and provide a good backdrop for the shorter plants in front. I planted 7, and 6 have survived.

Now, still with flowers, take a look at the two Dwarf Sunflowers(“Sunspot”) in this next photo. See how different they are in terms of size! Sown on the same day, grown in exactly the same way, yet one is twice as tall as the other. (Maybe it didn’t get the memo about being “Dwarf”….?)

I’ll post about all these again in a few weeks time, when hopefully there will be some flowers to see.

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