Late summer in the city | Jack Wallington Garden Design Ltd. Garden Design

I really like it feeling the seasons, feel them with all your senses. That is why our garden is carefully planted in successive layers. Not only to provide continuous color and habitat for wildlife, but also to exaggerate the seasons. There are two signs that late summer has arrived here. When the plants in our garden are that big, they collapse and fold into each other and when their colors intensify.

This is when I love our garden the most because all of the colors, textures, and shapes I’ve been considering for so long really blend together and in some cases glow. A color palette that is starting to smudge, a process I know will continue this coming fall.

What your garden looks like this time of year depends on the plants you grow and how you care for them. If you grow enough late summer flowering plants like dahlias, your garden will only now really get going, even though the foliage looks fresh at the beginning of the year.

All of this abundance has problems to deal with. The greatest post-death job of keeping flowers running is helping plants. We’re in a time of stronger rainstorms and gusts of wind, and the weight of the plants themselves can flop and crack. If you don’t do anything, the plant will likely continue to grow on the side, but shade other plants underneath. Every day I look for plants that may need an extra stick tucked under their leaves to tie them up.

With all this, it can be difficult to think about the future, but I have now started planning the garden for the next year. Step back and see what works and what doesn’t. Are there some plants that need to be replaced? If you haven’t already, order your bulbs soon, I ordered ours a few weeks ago and they just arrived to be planted between September and November (mostly earlier, tulips later). Planting later is good because at the moment, due to the dense jungle, it is very difficult for me to find the soil to plant in.

I really like the density and height of the plants. I wouldn’t put them in a design unless someone especially wants this effect as it can be overwhelming. It allows me to grow a larger number of plants and offers me a total escape. The terrace and the paths offer cavities for moving and sitting. The rest of the time it feels like I’m swimming through plants.

With so many plants in a small space and lots of flowers at this point in the year, the wildlife is making a line of bees towards it. The surrounding gardens and parks slow down and make our garden a real paradise from that point on. The neon pink likely acts as a kind of beacon for wildlife as well (not a scientific fact).

Judgments about plants to keep and plants to be replaced or moved always go through my head and at this point decisions can be made. The rear raised bed, for example, played second fiddle to the new beds we added earlier this year. It will now have my full attention! The Whopper Echium can no longer be grown in the same place in the future, but rather sits on light and airy plants.

Although late summer can still have dry moments, rain is guaranteed to return well into September and the soil is kept moist. Less water is one of the reasons I enjoy this time of year so much. Overall, I’m happy with the changes we’ve made to the garden. They make for a more lush and relaxing space.