Border beauties

During the summer months, flowers with spires really come into their own. Many are herbaceous perennials which are waiting to burst into flower but have been delayed due to the cold and slow start to summer, promoting a lot of foliage rather than flower, and keeping them in tight bud.

At last, we have some warm sunshine stimulating the first flowers to open. A few of my favourites are Veronicastrum; which feature heavily in the Main Borders at RHS Garden Harlow Carr. They area native of North America, often seen and used in prairie style planting, and deserve a special sunny warm aspect in your border. We have planted a few new varieties of them earlier in the season to add to our collection: Veronicastrum. ‘Red Arrows’, V. ‘Cupid’, V.‘Erica’. We are always keen to see how they perform at our exposed garden. Veronicastrum ‘Red Arrows’ has a deep pink to red rich vibrant red flower with small arrows coming from the base of the flower spike, which are great fun and not what you would expect! Veronicastrum ‘Cupid’ on the other hand is more traditional and has stout lilac-blue flowers but is much shorter than most traditional Veronicatrums, making it suitable for the front of a border. Veronicastrums look especially striking when planted amongst grasses, providing good height and structure to your border.

The Main Borders at Harlow Carr are full of herbaceous perennials and grasses and have been planned and planted so that nothing requires staking. As each plant grows steadily outwards, this provides support to one another and only to be lifted and divided every three to five years to keep their vigour, unless the performance is poor. This style of planting is self-sufficient as we don’t irrigate the borders either. As part of our maintenance routine we go through the borders making notes with a view to editing out potential ‘thugs’ or those of less vigour. Reducing the thugs or removing poor performers creates space to try new introductions, giving the borders that all important ‘wow’ factor.

It can be useful to take photos of your own garden throughout the growing season as a record of how your garden plants are thriving because this will help if you have to make any changes. You can also look back and admire your hard work and efforts.

Herbaceous perennials are great for wildlife which is very important to us at Harlow Carr. They are a good food source and habitat for wildlife during every season, whether flowering and providing nectar to pollinating insects, in the winter with attractive seed heads that birds can gorge and feast on or giving shelter and cover for overwintering insects.

The key to the success of any planting is the soil preparation and knowing your soil type. This is important so that you can grow the plants suited to your soil. A simple test is to rub the soil between your fingers and try and make a ball with it. By doing this you will be able to feel the texture of the soil and determine if it is gritty or sandy, loam based or heavy clay. Depending on your soil type and how it feels and looks, you may have to add grit to break up the clay particles; if it is sandy and free draining, you may want to add some organic matter to bulk it up to retain moisture and give it goodness and an added boost. Clay soils are rich and fertile but require a little work to get that all important crumbly texture. Don’t lose faith as we at Harlow Carr are a heavy clay site and many visitors are often surprised when we show them the soil in uncultivated areas of the garden. If you want to take it a step further, you could buy a kit to test your soil PH level to determine if it is acid or alkaline. It’s also important to consider aspect when you position your chosen plants as some will prefer full sun while others like partial shade. By following a few simple steps you too can choose the right plant and place for your own top performers and give your own garden that ‘wow’ factor.