Haskins Garden Centres has released some top tips on how to create a seasonal planter and extend colourful displays well into late summertime.
Alasdair Urquhart, plant advisor at Haskins Garden Centres, explains: “By selecting suitable plants and shrubs, the colour in your garden can be extended throughout late summer and into the autumn. It’s important to choose the right plants now to lengthen the life of summer borders.”
Step 1 – Choose your location and planter
Select a pot or planter that will suit your chosen location. If it is to be placed directly on a patio, use ‘pot feet’ to raise it from the ground and deter slugs and snails. Add enough potting compost to allow the plants to stand at the right height above the rim of the pot.
Step 2 – Add a feature plant
Start with a feature plant that will be the main focal point of the display, either for its height, colour or variety. Haskins suggests Rudbeckia or Verbascum for the eye-catching centrepiece. Rudbeckia is a striking plant, known for its robust and attractive qualities. Verbascum is an upright-growing and stately perennial, ideal for adding height to a planting scheme.
Step 3 – Select complimentary plants, including one that will trail over the side of the pot
Position the other varieties around the feature plant with any trailing ones close to the edge to make it easy for them to spill over the sides. Canna Lilies will add an exotic feel to the planter and provide a tropical element to the garden.
Step 4 – The all-important aftercare
Keep the pot watered throughout the dry summer months.
Step 5 – Create an assortment of planted pots
The assortment adds summer colour to small spaces, patios and balconies .
Haskins Garden Centres are located in Ferndown in Dorset, West End in Southampton and Roundstone and Snowhill in West Sussex. For more information, visit www.haskins.co.uk.