Early Autumn Colour In Your Garden

As summer eases into autumn, our gardens reach a colourful crescendo. In this episode, Dan & Julia share their favourite flowers and crops for extending the season, taking inspiration from their gardens and visits to Great Dixter, Sussex Prairies, East Ruston Old Vicarage and Doddington Place.

Julia offers advice on autumn sowing and shares her top of the crops - delicious, juicy figs. Dan describes his new range of flower bowls and explains how to keep dahlias healthy and blooming for as long as possible.

Find Julia's favourite fig recipe here.

Explore Dan's collection of flower bowls here.

This fortnight's jobs to do in the garden:

1. Order onion sets.
2. Order tulip bulbs.
3. Keep watering and feeding pots and containers.
4. Harvest courgettes regularly.
5. Remove leaves on grape vines and figs, allowing more sunlight to ripen the fruits.
6. Sow salads, fennel and beetroot for late crops in a greenhouse or under cover.
7. Take cuttings - it's an ideal time for figs, hydrangeas, lavender, rosemary, salvias and coleus.
8. Order indoor bulbs for Christmas forcing.
9. Remove shading or netting in greenhouses as the light starts to diminish.
10. Keep looking for box moth caterpillars and spray or pick them off.

Dan & Julia's top plants for early autumn colour:

1. Rudbeckia fulgida ‘Goldsturm’
2. Rudbeckia triloba' Prairie Glow'
3. Rudbeckia laciniata 'Herbstsonne'
4. Helianthus' Monarch'
5. Helianthus 'Velvet Queen'
6. Heliopsis helianthoides ‘Bleeding Hearts’
7. Cosmos bipinnatus 'Double Click Cranberry'
8. Ratibida columnifera ‘Red Midget’
9. Eutrochium maculatum (Atropurpureum Group) 'Riesenschirm'
10. Althaea cannabina
11. Aster x frikartii 'Mönch'
12. Eurybia divaricata
13. Vernonia arkansana 'Mammuth'
14. Anemone japonica
15. Hydrangea "Annabelle"

Website links:

• Dan Cooper Garden
• Parker's Patch
• Alitex Modern Victorian Greenhouses
• Alitex Adventures In Flowers Workshop

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