Second wind

Our garden flagged a little at the end of July and it felt as if we had been visited by a fleeting summer.

But now, in spite of grey skies, thunderstorms and downpours it has picked itself up and produced new flowers and leaves with plenty more to come.

Along with the flowers have come a mass of garden insects and we have spotted large white and holly blue butterflies, bees and more hoverflies than I have ever seen.

Hoverflies seem to have done really well this year, their larvae having fed on a glut of greenfly earlier in the season; and now the adults are searching for sustenance from flowers. Unfortunately they look a little like small wasps and often get killed because of this but they are completely harmless and should be regarded as a gardener's friend and ally against aphids.

It's a pity they can't add slugs and snails to their diet.

Gaura lindheimeri is a good mid to late-summer flowering perennial especially in light, well-drained soil and full sun. It is a bushy, quick-growing plant with narrow mid-green leaves and pink-tinged white flowers that are borne from July to October or the first frosts. Plants grown from spring-sown seeds should flower in their first year and it is a hardy plant as long as the soil isn't heavy.

I was surprised to read that a mature specimen can grow up to 1.5m or five feet high - mine is a couple of years old and 80cm tall and will have to be moved from its front of the border position if it intends getting to its full height.

Liatris spicata is another useful mid to late-flowering perennial, the blooms usually appear from July to September. It is happy in sun or light shade and in fertile soil that doesn't become too dry in summer, well rotted compost can be added when planting and an annual spring mulch should keep it happy. Flower spikes grow from a clump of thin leaves and are topped with small, fluffy pinkish purple flowers giving rise to its common name of Gayfeather, with each spike growing 45cm or more tall. These need to be removed after flowering and it is a good idea to mark the position of the plant since it dies back completely in winter.

Penstemons have been late to come into flower in our garden this year with only one in a very sunny bed managing to bloom in June. This is a low-growing variety with bright red flowers. Another, taller and with softer, rich-red flowers, started blooming at the end of July and it looks wonderful planted next to Sedum spectabile whose flowers are still light green. They will gradually turn pink and attract an army of bees and butterflies in late summer.

We have had a lot of penstemons over the years with some dying off in winter and being replaced with another, so I have long since forgotten what they all are. They have a reputation of not being frost hardy and this is certainly the case with some but most of the popular varieties on sale in garden centres are hardy as long as they are planted in free-draining soil.

A thick mulch can be placed over the crowns in cold areas over winter for added protection and cuttings taken at this time of year to replace any plants that don't make it through to next year. Keeping the plant intact through the winter will also give protection against cold, it can be cut hard back to just above a leaf bud in spring. Otherwise they are easy to grow with a long flowering period extended by cutting back stems as soon as they fade.

Updated: 16:20 Friday, August 06, 2004