Summer in your sights: Nigel Colborn says it’s not too early to plan and plant for a season-long display of colour
- British gardening expert says it’s the time to prepare for super summer shows
- Nigel says tender plants will need a heated greenhouse until mid-May
- Although frosts are likely until at least Easter you should plan from now onwards
Start preparing now if you want a super show this summer.
We’re not out of winter and frosts are likely until Easter, but it’s time to plan for the year’s loveliest season.
You’ll need plants for containers, bedding schemes and annuals for space-filling.
Nurseries are offering a range of non-hardy summer plants. Most stock exciting novelties as well as old favourites.
If you prefer to raise your own tender plants, you’ll need a heated greenhouse. They’ll need protection until mid-May.
Wise planning leads to successful planting. If you’re colour-conscious, you’ll know to keep formal schemes simple.
Pretty pairing: Orange Thunbergia is a good companion flower for a vegetable plot
If summer containers play key roles in your garden, plan carefully. Attractive foliage can be as important as flowers, especially in large containers or formal bedding schemes.
Suppliers such as crocus.co.uk offer ‘garden-ready’ container selections.
Order early because popular varieties sell out rapidly.
ANNUAL SHOW
Annuals play a huge role in my summer planting. Hardy ones including poppies, nigella, etc would have been sown last autumn. Those are up and thriving.
More can be sown in April. But half-hardies, such as petunias, tagetes and nicotianas, will need to be raised in a greenhouse.
I love herbaceous climbers for summer, too. I go for blue morning glories, black-eyed Thunbergia, curiously clove-like Rhodochiton and sweet peas, which are heavenly for cut flowers.
You can also include attractive vegetables with your sowing. Rainbow chard looks handsome and tastes great. Scarlet or white-flowered runner beans are also pretty.
For tiny spaces, plants must work hard and for a long time. That means sustained colour, beautiful foliage and gentle seasonal change. Your planting scheme can provide interest from May to late October.
Just dream up a scheme for colours, textures and prettiness, then choose suitable plants. For many, summer is a season for strong colours.
I rejoice to see bright-red June poppies, hotcoloured petunias or dazzling cascades of multi-hued Calibrachoa million bells.
HOT STUFF
You can calm hot colours with grey or bronze-leaved foliage plants such as Plectranthus argentatus or with dark-leaf cannas.
Tall, varieties of Tagetes patula balance their shouty orange or yellow flowers with dark stems and leaves.
For limited spaces, plant midsized pots with a specimen plant in each. Marshalls (marshalls garden.com) offers charming, dark-leaved Begonia ‘Glowing Embers’. The flowers are mandarin orange.
Tender shrubs such as mallow-like Abutilons or strange-smelling Lantana make attractive features, too.
For steep banks, trellis or sunny corners, trailing nasturtiums will provide you with the speediest cover.
Colours run from pale yellow and orange to scarlet and maroon. Leaves, flowers and even immature seed heads are tangy and edible.
You can direct-sow nasturtium seeds outside in April or start them off in a cell tray. While unruly, for speedy growth and colour, they’re unbeatable.
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