Some Like It Hot

It’s August ostensibly the hottest month of the year so many plants flowering now are the brilliant fiery colours of heat ranging from yellow, orange, red and pink. They use bright colours to attract insects to visit the flowers. As the bees, butterflies, ants, beetles and moths perch on the petals foraging for nectar pollen becomes stuck to their bodies and is transferred to other flowers allowing fertilization to occur and seeds to start developing. The more vibrantly intense the flower colour or scent the more insects are attracted.

Single flowers generally have more nectar and pollen than hybridised double flowers and are at their best in August giving lots of colour in the mixed borders and nectar and pollen to the bees, butterflies and other insects. Simple open flowers with daisy, tubular and trumpet shape flowers are often the most visited.

Single Dahlias have simple open eight petal flowers and vibrant colours. Some new varieties to consider planting are Dahlia Fifteen Love, a rich orange flower tinted pink with really dark bronzy black foliage, Mystic Enchantment, with bright red flowers which contrast beautifully with the leaves. Dahlia Eye Candy has stunning orange red and cream flowers again with dark foliage while Waterlily is brilliant pink.

Crocosmia formally called Monbretia is an upright perennial plant with spikes of small tubular flowers in great hot colours and is very easy to grow. Crocosmia Peach Sunrise has flaming orange flowers and forms clumps which will increase in size every year. Crocosmia Buttercup is golden yellow and grows well in sun or shade.

Rudbeckias have brilliant daisy flowers in yellow and gold with chocolate brown centers. They are hardy perennial plants which grow easily in full sun and will tolerate dry conditions. They form neat clumps towards the front of the border and associate very well when planted with grasses like Ursinia Rubra and Carex Buccannii.

Salvias have upright spikes of tubular flowers in shades of bright scarlet and pink. Two particularly attractive varieties are Salvia Hot Lips and Little Kiss. They have pinky red and white bicolour flowers on compact growing disease resistant plants. Salvia Salmon Dance is an unusual shade of soft pink and Salvia Radio Red is glowing red with the flowers lasting a long time.

Echinacea is another hardy perennial with daisy shaped flowers ranging in colour from white, cream, bright yellow, red, orange, pink and purple. The variety Chunky Purple is compact in habit, attracts many insects and has large intensely pink flowers. Tomato Soup is tomato red flowering from August through September, Now Cheesier and Cleopatra have large golden yellow flowers while Orange Skipper is deep burnt orange with a dark brown velvety center.

Japanese Anemones again with simple open petal flowers keep the pink colour going through August into October. Anemone Robustissima, Seranade, Pamina and Montrose are all good new hardy varieties which grow well in sun or partial shade.

Sedum, the Ice Plant, is a great addition for any mixed planting. It has a neat sculptural habit which gives shape and form to any border. The foliage can be green, blue, purple or variegated depending on variety. It thrives in a sunny place and dry soil and looks great in any cottage garden. Sedum Carl and Pizazz both have pink flowers in late summer, hold their flowers all through winter and look great covered in early morning frost in December and January.

Penstemons provide lots of flower colour and food for insects. Their spikes of Foxglove like flowers vary from pale pink and white, pink, red, ruby, lilac and purple. They are easy to grow in any well drained soil in sun or partial shade. Particularly colourful varieties are Taffy Blueberry, purple pink with a white center, Taffy Grape, very deep pink and white center, Taffy Strawberry, red pink with a white center and King George and Firebird which are red.

From this selection I hope you will find some sizzling plants to enhance your garden in the hot hazy days of summer.