Designing with wildlife in mind doesn’t mean you have to scrimp on beauty and elegant style
This elegant late summer border is a pollinator non-stop buffet. Every one of its flowering plants is renowned for luring in butterflies and bees. There’s a delicious pairing of colours too, with the same lilac-blue of the agastache echoed in the pompons of scabious behind, while a sedum is just starting to repeat the dusky pink of the echinacea flowers. Add elegant white sprays of mugwort and unmistakable towers of calamagrostis and you’ve got a structurally impressive combination that will continue to look smart right into autumn.
STEP 1 DESIGN YOUR BORDER
STEP 2 Choose the right plant
CALAMAGROSTIS ACUTIFLORA ‘KARL FOERSTER’ Upright perennial grass with purple-bronze flowers that gradually bleach blonde and stand into winter. H: 1.8m, S: 60cm.
SUCCISA PRATENSIS Devil’s bit scabious has pale blue near spherical flowers that appear to magically float mid-air from July to October. H: 90cm, S: 60cm.
ECHINACEA PURPUREA Species coneflower with purple-pink petals and copper central cone. Pollinator magnet flowering July to September. H: 1.2m, S: 60cm.
AGASTACHE ‘BLUE FORTUNE’ Giant hyssop has upright bottle-brush blue flowers from June to October. Needs good winter drainage to be reliably perennial. H: 90cm, S: 45cm.
HYLOTELEPHIUM ‘MATRONA’ Classic plates of rosy-pink star shaped flowers from August to October above bronze-purple foliage. H: 60cm, S: 45cm.
ARTEMISIA LACTIFLORA White mugwort carries tall plumes of tiny creamy-white flowers above jagged foliage from August to October. H: 1.5m, S: 60cm.
YEAR ROUND colour SEPTEMBER
STEP 3 PLANT YOUR BORDER
Before a single plant goes in, it’s worth spending time clearing perennial weeds and forking through a generous quantity of well-rotted organic matter. These six plants will do best in a sunny or partially shaded position on that holy grail of soil that’s described as moist but well-drained. In practice this means containing sufficient organic matter to retain some moisture over the summer months but with a good enough structure to provide drainage and avoid waterlogging over winter. The good news is that by mulching annually with weed-free compost and letting worms and other soil fauna pull it into the soil, you’ll start to improve whatever ground you’re working on.
This upright firework of a grass is the main structural anchor of the border and deserves careful placement. Establish container-grown plants in autumn or spring. Ensure it has enough elbow room to grow without being overshadowed and think abou
