Plants with August Flowers – A Gardening Guide

August can sometimes be an awkward month for planting.The early summer perennials have all but disappeared and it’s just a little bit too early for some of the late summer/early autumn perennials. Here’s a few plants with August flowers to keep the garden looking lovely.

Cottage Garden August Flowers

Verbena bonariensis (Verbena) used to be an old cottage garden favourite which has had somewhat of a renaissance in recent years. Although it flowers in July it will pretty much have reached its full height by now and should be at its best. Its long-lasting tight clusters of tiny purple flowers are perched on top of tall, stiff, branching stems. It grows to around 2m high and looks great at the back of the border. However, its open shape means it can be grown pretty much anywhere without obstructing the view. Its flower-heads, made of up of hundreds of tiny flowers, are loved by bees.

Architectural August Flowers

Agapanthus (African Lily) is another tall, architectural plant producing huge flowerheads on long stems above strap-like clump-forming leaves. Depending on what variety is chosen some of them are rather more tender than others and may need winter protection. Sizes range from a foot to around a metre and a half tall. These look gorgeous planted en masse and add some real shape to borders at this time of year. They look equally at home in containers too. The colours are mainly blue-lavender shades but there are some pure white varieties (Alba), some bi-coloured blue and white (Eclipse) and almost black (Black Pantha) if you are inclined to try something different.

An August flowering plant that will take your garden through to autumn is Crocosmia (Monbretia). Sprays of flowers appear on long stems above strap-like leaves. They range from 0.5 to 1.2 m tall and make a great impact if planted as part of a ‘hot’ colour scheme in bold drifts. ‘Lucifer’ is a bold tomato-red which looks equally as good with either its taller yellow cousin ‘George Davison’ or its shorter orange cousin ‘Emily McKenzie’.

Another August flowering perennial loved by bees that will last through until October is Eryngium x zabelii ‘Jos Eijking’ (sea holly). As well as lovely foliage its steely-blue flowers are really striking. Plant in an uncrowded border to see them at their best and resist the urge to cut down the stems in winter as they look other-worldly covered in frost.

August Flowering Climber

Clematis x triternata ‘Rubromarginata’ is a fully hardy quick-growing clematis reaching a height of 6m and a width of 2m. It is smothered from July to September with large, marzipan-scented purple-rose flowers and has bright grey-green leaves. It looks great scrambling over a wall or fence.

Some of these plants with August flowers will also be in flower in July and the article Plants with July Flowers – A Gardening Guide will give you some more ideas on what else to plant for a continuous floral show.