Aster be worth it

IT IS almost the end of September and gardens are in their last blaze of glory before temperatures drop and winter sets in.

The weather has been beautiful this past two weeks and late-summer flowers have been revelling in the warmth.

At this time of year colours are a rich mixture of soft blues, yolk yellows and dusky pinks accentuated by low sun, fading foliage and browning seedheads.

Dahlias, late roses, fuchsias and Michaelmas daisies give a last glorious display as the summer fades and, although there is regret at another year passing, deep in the ground snowdrops and daffodils are already beginning to stir.

Michaelmas daisies, members of the Aster family, are a great group of plants for late summer and autumn colour with many flowering up until the first frosts.

There are several species and varieties to choose from in a range of pink, blue and white, with most preferring well-drained soils in a sunny position. Some suffer from mildew while others are invasive, but there are so many to choose from most gardeners are able to find plants to suit their requirements.

One of my favourites is Aster x frikartii 'Monch' with large yellow-centred lavender blue flowers that will open as early as July and last for weeks. Mine flowered a little later this year but is still going strong, having outlived the penstemon and erigeron it is planted with.

It was new this summer, a replacement for one that died last year, which may have something to do with the later blooming and it looks especially good with a pink flowered Sedum spectabile.

I don't usually see this combination since Monch has normally finished blooming before the sedum has developed its richest colour. Monch grows around 1m/39ins tall with stiff stems and lance-shaped leaves. It tends to flop but can be supported easily with a few twiggy sticks.

At the same time that I bought Aster frikartii Monch, I also got two new Michaelmas daisies, again to replace a couple that had failed to come up this year.

My record seems to be poor in keeping these plants any period of time but they were defeated by building work done on the house a couple of years ago rather than my inattention or their own ability to grow.

The first was labelled incorrectly as Aster novae-angliae 'White Ladies' but should in fact have been Aster novae-belgii 'White Ladies'.

This irritating mistake has given me a plant with lovely stout stems and fluffy white flowers but which is covered in mildew.

The clue lies in the 'belgii' part of the plant's correct name: many varieties in this species suffer from mildew and, although some are resistant, I have always avoided buying them after a few failures when I started gardening.

The novae-angliaes, on the other hand, tend to be free of the problem.

The plant has remained in the garden since I like the flowers and they form an attractive patch of cool white with Achillea ptarmica, Penstemon 'Snowflake', a white-flowered dwarf chrysanthemum and Gaura lindheimeri.

Next year, however, I will have to decide whether to replace it or move it towards the back of a bed and grow something in front to hide the foliage.

The second new aster is Aster macrophyllus. This is a spreading perennial with heart-shaped leaves and thin-petalled flowers from August to September or October.

The flowers are lilac with brown centres and while they are nowhere near as impressive as those of the Monch, the plant's ability to tolerate shade makes it a useful addition to the garden.

Mine is in a semi-shaded spot under a holly tree in fairly dry soil. It has had sporadic watering but seems to be doing well, flowering and sending up a few new shoots despite having being planted for only a few months.

It doesn't appear to suffer from mildew and should form a good clump of stems in this difficult area of soil in a couple of years' time.

Other varieties of this species include Aster macrophyllus 'Twilight' with violet flowers and Aster macrophyllus 'Midget'.

Yorkshire in Bloom 2005

Heworth Court Hotel on Heworth Green in York has been awarded first prize in this year's Yorkshire in Bloom competition in the category Yorkshire Tourist Board Accommodation with 20 or more rooms.

Owner Janet Smith says she was up against much bigger hotels in that category from all over Yorkshire and was awarded 195 marks out of 200.

The garden only dropped one mark out of each of the judging sections, which included lawns, hedges and indoor floral arrangements, and was some way ahead of the second prize winner, Forest Pines at Brigg, which scored 188 points.

The judges were clearly impressed by the garden, which they described as a superb entry indicating what can be achieved with hard work and enthusiasm.

Mrs Smith has been gardening at the hotel for 18 years and has entered the competition five times.

She does all the gardening herself including the lawns, hedges and hanging baskets and containers.

Until recently, Mrs Smith has also been in charge of the hotel, including doing all the decorating, but is now taking a step back and leaving that side of the business to her staff. She says she is "really chuffed with the prize, especially being up against the rest of the big boys in the group".

Gardening TV and radio

Sunday, September 25

9am, Radio York, Down To Earth. Presented by William Jenkyns. (Repeated at 8pm on Wednesday).

9am, Radio Leeds, Tim Crowther and Joe Maiden.

2pm, R4, Gardeners' Question Time. John Cushnie, Bunny Guinness, Carole Baxter and chairman Eric Robson are in Dumfriesshire to help gardeners from Langholme with their horticultural problems. The gardening weather forecast is at 2.25pm. (Shortened repeat on Wednesday at 3pm).

Thursday

8pm, BBC2, A Year At Kew. In the seventh part of the series, palm expert John Dransfield wins botanical immortality and Ray Townsend needs to get his Japanese garden up to scratch.

Friday

8.30pm, BBC2, Gardeners' World. Monty Don, Joe Swift and Sarah Raven plant autumn flowering bulbs in the dry garden, look at the best-value wheelbarrows and advise on sowing seeds for winter.

Updated: 09:47 Saturday, September 24, 2005