Have a Plum Festival in your garden

It’s the annual Pershore Plum Festival every August, so join in and create a plum-coloured flower border or container garden at home.

There are beautiful plum coloured flower choices for your garden in August, and here are some examples that you can enjoy in this month and into Autumn:

Dahlias are a must for the summer border and make excellent, dramatic cut flowers. They come in a huge array of colours and shapes, including cactus types like ‘Rev P Holian’, which has spiky crimson blooms. You can also find dahlias with plum-coloured petals and yellow centres, such as ‘Purple Flame’ or ‘Chat Noir’. Dahlias need a sunny spot and well-drained soil, and you can lift the tubers in autumn or protect them with mulch.

**TOP TIP** If your dahlias get earwigs, get an upturned flowerpot, fill it with straw and place it on a stick (you might need to do several), and place throughout your borders. You can then release them back in to the wild away from your dahlias!

Zinnias are colourful, easy to grow annuals that combine beautifully with other ‘hot’ coloured plants such as sunflowers and rudbeckias, in borders and in pots. They also do well in a vase along with Cosmos. Choose plum-coloured flowers, such as ‘Queen Red Lime’ or ‘Purple Prince’. Zinnias love a sunny, well drained spot and you can sow them directly in the ground in May or buy them in a pot ready-grown from your local garden centre.

Salvias are attractive perennials with fragrant foliage, bearing masses of nectar-rich flowers in summer. Purple-flowered salvias like Salvia ‘Amistad’ and ‘Ostfriesland’ look fantastic growing in a mixed border with other bright coloured flowers such as Cannas. Salvias prefer a sunny, well drained spot and you can cut them back after flowering to encourage new growth.

They will need protecting from frost during the winter months – simply cut them back and apply a mulch over the top and they should start growing again in the spring.

Flowers with ‘Plum’ in their name:

Plumbago auriculata, Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’, Dianthus ‘Sugar Plum’ and Papaver ‘Patty’s Plum’ to name four gorgeous plumtastic flowers.

Mini Planting Plan with Plumtastic Flowers

So what looks good together that you can easily create in your own garden borders or containers? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I love these combo’s…

Phlox divaricata ‘Clouds of Perfume’ – pretty blue flowers in June to July. Low growing to around 30cm tall, semi-evergreen and prefers partial shade (avoid mid-day sun). Goes well with

Heuchera ‘Plum Pudding’ – I do love Heucheras but they are also loved by vine weevils too, so check your pots regularly and remove any eggs. This variety has dark purple leaves, with a dusting of silver. They’re also semi-evergreen and although the leaves are mound forming, they have delicate stems of tiny flowers to around 55cm. Goes well with

Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ with its almost black square stems of purple flowers. Long flowering during the summer, cut back any dying/dead flowers to encourage new flowers. Prefers full sun, so plant this to provide shade to the phlox.

Another option using a plum coloured Heuchera:

This is a small container I created using ‘container plants’ from St Peters Garden Centre – they have a section of plants that are in small pots which are ideal for containers, that you can then pot on into your borders afterwards.

In this arrangement I’ve used Thyme, Eucalyptus, Convolvulus and Euonymus which are all evergreen so are lovely to use for your winter containers – just add some pansies and spring bulbs to create more colour.

So I hope this has given you some inspiration to create a plum inspired flower border, and if you want to treat yourself to the best gardening gloves, I can recommend these plum coloured ones. I find them so comfortable and they don’t go crispy and grim after use either. Available from my online store now https://borderinabox.com/product/ladies-gardening-gloves/

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