Echinops
Echinops bannaticus (Globe Thistle)
A pollinator magnet with round blue flowerheads held above spiny grey-green leaves through the second half of summer.
Plants that drop their leaves in autumn and grow fresh ones in spring. Many make up for the bare months with autumn colour, spring blossom or interesting bark and stems.
Lathyrus
Everlasting Sweet Pea
A vigorous perennial climber with winged stems and clusters of bright purple-pink pea flowers right through the summer.
Hylotelephium
Hylotelephium ‘Autumn Joy’ (Sedum)
A fleshy-leaved succulent perennial with clusters of starry flowers in late summer, thriving in sun and quick-draining soil.
Hydrangea
Lacecap Hydrangea
A deciduous shrub with flat, lacy flowerheads in shades of blue, pink or white from midsummer into late summer.
Salvia
Salvia ‘Strawberry Melba’
A compact sage making a low mound of scented silvery-green leaves, with two-tone pink flowers from spring well into autumn.
Salvia
Salvia ‘Amistad’
A tall salvia with deep purple flowers in near-black calyces over a long season, loved by bees and butterflies.
Salvia
Salvia Belle de Loire
An upright sage with scented grey-green leaves and orange-and-yellow flowers that soften to salmon-pink and cream in autumn.
Salvia
Salvia Salvito Violet
A neat, upright sage with scented leaves and tightly packed spikes of bright purple flowers through summer and into autumn.
Spiraea
Spiraea japonica
A neat, mounding deciduous shrub with flat heads of tiny pink flowers through summer, often with colourful spring foliage too.
Verbena
Verbena bonariensis (Purpletop Vervain)
A tall, airy, see-through perennial with nectar-rich lilac-purple flower clusters on slender, wiry stems from summer into autumn.
Verbena
Verbena rigida (Slender Vervain)
A spreading perennial with fragrant lilac-purple flower clusters on stiff stems through summer, loved by bees and butterflies.
Weigela
Weigela florida
A trouble-free deciduous shrub with trumpet-shaped flowers that bees adore, opening as late spring turns into early summer.
Weigela
Weigela Variegata
A neat deciduous shrub with cream-edged leaves and clusters of soft pink, trumpet-shaped flowers arriving in early summer.