August is the best time to stroll around your gardens and take a critical look at your flower displays. Many of the showy perennials have finished for the season; roses, dephiniums and even campanula are blooming more sparsely or not at all. Unless you religiously kept up your deadheading all summer, even your annuals may be looking tired and leggy.
But even if you didn't plant your garden in spring with an eye to fall color, it's not too late to revamp your beds and add some glorious fall color. Walk through your yard and examine your beds, looking for gaps where you can bed in some fall performers. You might want to create some space by pulling some of the annuals that are past their prime, or, a trick I often use, creating more space for flowers by standing pots in or in front of beds. (If you're going to add pots, remember the basic rule that the pot should be at least 14 inches in diameter; any smaller will be too much trouble to look after, bad for the plant's roots, and too small to create a full-flowering effect.) Many of my beds are raised or edged in landscape ties, which are wide enough and strong enough to support pots.
The quickest and easiest way to revamp your beds is to visit your local garden centres. Garden mums are among the most reliable and prolific fall bloomers and will probably be prominently displayed at any nursery you visit right now. In my garden right now, the early blooming mums are at their peak, a 'Stacy', a purple and white bicolor daisy, a 'Goldmine', with golden yellow pompoms, and a 'Felicia', a lavender daisy with yellow centers. The midseason mums, such as the 'Sweet Dreams', a salmon colored daisy, are just opening and the late-bloomers, such as the deep red 'Raquel' are forming buds. All of these grow about 14 to 18 inches and have the cushion growth habit; they're a splendid underplanting for taller perennials such as lilies.
The fabulous thing about chrysanthemums is that there are mums of every color except blue and they're incredibly versatile. You can even grow them inside as houseplants if you like. Slugs and Salal's Plant Directory (overseen by Helen Chestnut) will give you the full scoop on different kinds of chrysanthemums and how to care for them; go to
