September: Last of the Summer Wine - A guest post by Christine Wegman

Welcome to guest blogger, Christine Wegman! Christine is a Rock Spring Garden Club member in National Capital Area Garden Clubs' District III.  She is one of the go-to 'hort' experts in her club. Christine and her husband, Charlie Flicker, are avid and generous gardeners and have cultivated a delightful garden (for any season) in Arlington, Virginia.  Enjoy! t

Fall is my favorite season, but at the beginning of September I am not quite prepared to give up lazy summer days for the rush of color and energy that the season brings.  September in this area seems more summer than autumn, and so I will imagine that you are still enjoying pleasant evenings with a glass of wine on your porch or patio. 

A good way to extend the feeling of a summer garden is through white flowers and foliage.  In the heat of July and August nothing seems as cool as touches of white. 

White Garden at Barrington Court

A small border of green, white and pale yellow can have a calming and cooling effect, especially if other parts of the garden contain lots of hot reds, pinks and yellows.  Sprinklings of airy white flowers throughout a garden draw the eye and create a beautiful shimmering effect. 

Cool white and blue contrasts well with hot pinks

In the evening, as the sun fades, the last color that the eye perceives is white, so white flowers will bring the eye out into the garden. 

For large masses of white, there are a few good choices.  The late blooming hydrangeas

Hydrangea paniculata

produce panicles of white flowers that eventually fade to shades of pink and green.  Any number of these lovely shrubs, in almost any size, are on the market.  The ‘Grandiflora’ or PeeGee hydrangea, is probably the best known.  This can be trained into a small tree or kept as a bush.  Others, such as ‘Limelight’, ‘Little Lime’, and ‘Tardiva’ (which blooms a little later than most), are a just few of the available cultivars.  The Rose of Sharon, hibiscus syriacus, is another shrub that continues into September.  Probably the best of these is the white flowered and nearly sterile ‘Diana’, that blooms almost till frost.  Both these shrubs do best in a sunny situation with plenty of water.  Among perennials, white phlox will really catch the eye.

Touches of white in Monet's garden

In his book, The Magic of Monet’s Garden, Derek Fell devotes an entire chapter to the effective use of white in the artist’s famed garden.  “Monet took the Impressionist’s idea of a glittering, sparkling, glimmering, shimmering visual experience into his garden, and it is the sensation of shimmer that identifies his garden more than any other feature.”  Fell explains that, “Delicate touches of white or pale yellow throughout Monet’s garden are mostly achieved through flowering plants that have their flowers widely spaced on a tall flower stalk.”  In September, this effect can be achieved with white colored asters, garlic chives, Japanese anemones, tall chrysanthemums, and bugbanes.  The delicately variegated ‘Morning Light’ miscanthus grass combines beautifully with other perennials and will shimmer when it catches a breeze.

So, enjoy the last days of summer with fresh, cool white and look forward to the glorious hot flashes of fall colors in October.