All About Magazine - Issue 14

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The late show
by Martin Blow -
Autumn in the perennial garden is a time when
colour slowly ebbs away into browns and russets of
fading leaves. But there are still some easy to grow
perennials that are continuing to flower and are ideal
for injecting some zing into October, November and
possibly beyond.
One of my favourites is the Kaffir Lily, which youmight
find labelled as either schizostylis or hesperantha.
These remind me of mini gladioli with their sword-
shaped leaves and 1ft (30cm) flower stems. The
flowers are large and attractive and last from late
September through November. You can even pot up
a few of the plants to flower indoors into December.
They are what we call “hungry feeders”meaning they
quickly take the goodness from the soil, so do mulch
in spring and give them a good strong feed of a
balanced fertiliser to keep them flowering well.
There are lots of varieties in red, pink and white. My
favourites are the large red “Major” and the palest
pink ‘Pink Princess’.
Ageratina “Chocolate” (below left), is an unusual
type of hemp with bronze or brown leaves through
the summer topped by white flowers at the end of
October. The flowers are a bonus really as we normally
grow him as a foliage plant to set off brighter flowered
plants. He looks particularly impressive as a backdrop
for white Phlox.
Speaking of“chocolate”plants, coming into bloom for
October is the perennial sunflower, Helianthus “Bitter
Chocolate”with chocolate-scented flowers on his tall
6ft (180cm) stems. This is one for a sunny spot and
planted close enough to the front of the border to
allow you to sniff the flowers for a chocoholics-hit
each time you pass!
Red-hot pokers flower at different times of the year
depending on variety. The latest in my garden is a
South African species – the straight-leaved poker
(Kniphofialinearifolia) with orange or yellow flowers.
This comes into bloom right at the end of October –
I’ve even seen him capped with snow!
Michaelmas Daisies (Asters) are well-loved late
bloomers typically coming into their own by late
September. My favourites are the tall, dark-stemmed
types like “Calliope”, “Glow in the Dark” and “Vasterival”
that start to flower in late October and become a
magnet for butterflies. There is one in my garden
that holds fire until November, the tall, lavender blue
“Novemberlaan”(below right) – a very welcome sight.
Late autumn may be the time to slow down in the
garden but there’s still plenty of colour to be had if
you choose the right plants.
The red variety of Schizostylis Major (above)
ALL ABOUT MAGAZINE | GARDENING 49