Aster novi-belgii ‘Early Blue’ blooms from July to October
Asters are a great perennial for if you need late summer and fall color. The ’Early blue’ variety starts blooming in July and goes on all the way to October!
Full of buds!
They get around 10-12 inches (30-35cm) tall and prefer full sun. In my garden they get around 7-8 hours of sun and they do really well.
Flower bed with Aster novi-belgii ‘Early Blue’, Peonies and Lady’s mantle
One flowerbed – three seasons
It’s almost hard to believe that this is the same bed! Early spring this bed is full of tulips. In June the peonies put on quite a show and late summer to fall belongs to the Asters.
I got my hands on some Heather (Calluna vulgaris) and decided to make a wreath.
You can make a this wreath with pretty much any plant that does well when dried. Lavender would be my favorite.
Step 1 – Get your materials
You will need:
a wreath form (I used a 20 inch metal form but any type and size is fine)
floral wire
wire cutters (I used scissors. It would but I would’t recommend it ;-p)
Step 2 – Make bundles
Separate the Heather into bundles and wrap them using the floral wire. You will need around 20-30 bundles, depending on the size of you wreath form.
Adjust the size of the bundles based on the size of your wreath form. Bigger forms require wider bundles – smaller forms do better with narrow bundles.
Step 3 – Tie the first bundle
Tie the first bundle to the wreath form. Make sure it’s tight!
Step 4 – Tie the remaining bundles
Continue to tie the bundles to the form on top of each other. Do every second one facing slightly inwards vs slightly outwards.
Step 5 – Check your wreath
Have a look at your wreath and make sure it looks symmetrical. Prune branches that might be sticking out or add an extra bundle to any area that might need it.
Disclaimer: At this point I realised that I wanted the bundles to start at the bottom and go upwards on both sized (not around in a circle). I redid all the bundles on the right side and had them facing upwards instead. It took some extra time and was was a bit of a pain but still worth it. It would have bugged me if I hadn’t fixed it .
Step 6 – Add decorations
It’s time for the decorations! It’s completely up to you how and how much extra stuff you want to add. You could just go with a nice piece of lace and be done with it.
I chose rowan-berries and hydrangea blooms since I had them in my garden.
Rowan-berriesHydrangea ’Little Lime’
Tuck the decoration into the wreath. Use wire if needed. I just poked the hydrangea and berry stems in between the Heather and messed around with them until I liked the way they looked.
Hydrangea ”Little lime”
Purple and orange contrast each other
All done!
Hang your wreath in a spot where you can see it every day and enjoy!
Late summer is my favorite time of year for container arrangements. All that beautiful color both in blooms and foliage!
Purple Chrysanthemum, Sweet potato vine, Dusty Miller (Jacobaea maritima) and Hebe ’Zea’
This year, I’ve planted up quite a few containers to bring the late summer feeling to the entrance of the house.
Purple Chrysanthemum, Sweet potato vine, Dusty Miller (Jacobaea maritima) and Hebe ’Zea’
A simple design trick to make an arrangement look great is to pick just a few colors and to repeat them. In this case the Hebe’s yellow and green foliage is repeated in the potato vine. And the pink edges come again in the blooms of the Mum.
Both the Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’ is a perennial and will come back next year. However, it’s always risky to winter over plants in containers so I might plant them in the ground in a month or two, just to be sure they make it though the winter.
Coleus ’Chocolate Mint’ in the foregroundColeus, Begonia and Dichondra ’Silver Falls’
Dichondra ’Silver Falls’ is one of my favorite plants for late summer and fall containers. It brings contrast to the arrangement that makes the other plants pop.
Dark coleus brings a dark background to the pink begonia.
Carpet Bugle ’Burgundy glow’ is a perennial ground cover but does just as well in an arrangement.
Coleus ‘Winsome’, Sweet Potato Vine and Creeping Jenny
Coleus ’Winsome’
Rudbeckia Fulgida ‘Goldsturm’, Coleus ’Chocolate Mint’, Carex ’Evergold’, Chrysanthemum, Dichondra ’Silver Falls’ and IvyHow it all came together
Agastache ’Blue Fortune’ (Hummingbird Mint) has begun to bloom. It gets lavender blue, bottle-brush like flowers mid July and goes on blooming all the way though September.
Hydrangea ’Annabelle’ to the left. Agastache ’Blue Fortune’ in the center with Brunnera ’Jack Frost’ at its feet. A yellow Daylily peaking up to the right. Lavender ’Munstead’ in the foreground.
The foliage is deep-green with a touch of silver. It looks wonderful together with the foliage of brunnera or other silver-colored perennials like lamb’s ear or lavender.
The blooms are quite small in the beginning. They will get much higher as the summer progresses.
Agastache ’Blue Fortune’ prefers full sun, although it’s doing well in my garden where it only gets 5-6 h of sun. It’s drought tolerant, has a minty liquorice scent and gets about 2-3 feet (70cm) tall.
It’s the most popular perennial in my garden for bees and butterflies!
Sammels lantgård är väl värt ett besök för den trädgårdsintresserade. Senast i helgen gjorde vi ett besök till denna mysiga lantgård, trädgård, café, plantskola och gårdsbutik. Eftersom vi bor i närheten är det enkelt att ta sig hit. Lantgården ligger 20 minuter utanför Göteborg, mot Boråshållet.
Förutom god mat (jag rekommenderar baguett med sill och ägg samt något av de hemmagjorda bakverken), trevliga ägare, klappvänliga djur finns som sagt en mysig trädgård full av otroligt vackra växtkombinationer.
Trädgården på Sammels Lantgård defineras av upphöjda planteringsbäddarna som ramas in av murar i natursten. Sedan har man planterat vackra perenner i överflöd. Framförallt är det kombinationen av växter som är inspirerande – färger, strukturer och former blandas i en härlig mix. Det blommar om varannat men det är snarare kontrasterna i bladverken som sticker ut. Gröna, gula, röda och blå blad i olika kombinationer blir intressant att följa.
Ingång till trädgården med upphöjd mur, stor funkia och Kantnepeta Klättervildvin klättrar upp på ”tunnan”. Ormbunke passar fint vid kanten.Ringblommor i överflöd. Så fint!
