Top of the pots - Great combos for summer

Top of the pots - Great combos for summer

High summer is when tall perennials and soft wafty grasses are really coming into their own.  They add lovely texture, naturalism  and movement to a container display – ideal if you want a prairie feel near the house or have no space for this look in your borders.

Tall grasses such as miscanthus with their arching habit look fantastic as a tall focal point in pots.  Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’ or C. ‘Overdam’ with its upright form and feathery plumes also add height.  Pennisetum varieties with their fluffy flowers such as P. ‘Hameln’ catch the light beautifully.

Tall perennials in cool whites, purples and pale yellows that would work well with grasses include verbena,  fennel and delicate blousy gaura.

Container planting is also a great way to play with brighter, bolder colours such as rudbeckia, Helenium ‘Moerheim Beauty’  and coreopsis to add a splash of yellow or orange.  Echinacea such as pink E.‘Magnus’ with their sturdy stems and bold daisy-shaped flowers would look great and salvias stand up well to heat and come in a huge range of colours from dark purple to bright pink.

In shadier spots you could get the same soft effect with astrantia, Thalictrum delavayi ‘Splendide White’ and persicaria along with grasses that cope better with shade such as anemanthele, deschampsia or Hakonechloa macra.

Add some plants to spill over the edge such as sedum, Erigeron karvanskianus, Geranium ‘Rozanne’, osteospermum, petunia and my current favourite trailer, Convolvulus mauritanicus.  Use compost with good drainage and remember to keep the container well-watered.


Modern heroes of horticulture - Tamsin Westhorpe

Take a little bit of Gerald Durrell, a pinch of Felicity Kendall from the Good Life, and a slice of Mini the Minx, and you’ll have a good idea of...
Read More

Plant folklore - snowdrops

It’s surprising for a plant that has become so entrenched in folklore that snowdrops are not actually indigenous to Britain.  While the precise date of their introduction remains a subject...
Read More

Wildlife in the garden - winter migrants

We always celebrate the arrival of our spring and summer migrants such as swallows, swifts, cuckoos and nightingales.  Less celebrated and often creeping in under the radar are our winter...
Read More