“I’m over the tasteful thing,” Lucy said. “I want colour next year – and lots of it. Will you help?” As I was eating her fish and chips, it seemed the decent thing to do. Her garden started off as a refined palette of cool greens and white flowers with the odd edible thrown in – truly tasteful in all senses, but I can see why she wants more colour.
Her idea was to wait until spring to do it. This seems sensible: plants establish easily in spring soils and you get to see the results quickly. However, if you start now, not only will you be ahead of your game, you can save money too.
Usually a perennial grown in a 9cm pot is about a year old and raring to go. Planted out now, with the last lingering warmth in the soil, healthy specimens quickly put down roots. Come late spring, what looked like a tiny plant will start to romp away.
If you bulk up the numbers, planting in threes, fives or sevens, you can make an impact for a fraction of the price of buying large plants. If you are using a single species, aim for six to 10 plants per square metre. If you want to go for maximum impact, increase the density, but you will have to thin out plants by year two. If you want to mix different species in this sort of block planting, plant at a slightly lower density.
As the weather will only get worse, it’s important to bury plants a little deeper than normal, so the compost level from the original pot sits below the surrounding soil. Then mulch with garden compost or fine bark chips. This will protect the plants a little from frost. The joy of planting now is that the autumn rains will keep the soil moist, so you shouldn’t have to worry about watering.
As for what to plant, stick to the tough, reliable types that will overwinter easily: perennials such as anemones, sedums, echinops (E. ritro is a beast – just a warning), aquilegias, Rudbeckia fulgida and its like, heucheras, Brunnera macrophylla, geraniums, geums and Knautia macedonica are made for autumn planting. Verbena bonariensis, echinacea species, eryngium species and lavenders will resent a wet, cold winter, so wait till spring to plant these (but still choose to plant 9cm over large pots because this lot bulk up fast). Or if the price were good, I’d buy, pot up into one-litre containers and then keep in a cold frame where I could keep the worst of the wet away. Shop around online, as you’ll find some great offers. Expect to pay £2-£5 per plant and look out for bulk deals.
