Successional Planting

The early flowering Daylillies have finished flowering in the herbaceous border leaving large patches of green foliage. Trialled last year, in a small patch of the border to make sure our idea worked, the foliage is cut down and removed to the compost pile.

Grown form seed, sown early March, the plants to replace the Daylillies are five varieties of Rudbeckia, a mid summer to late autumn flowering daisy. The varieties we have chosen are:

Rudbeckia x hirta hybrida 'Cherokee Sunset', a double to semi double, 3 to 4 inch bloom in shades in golden yellow, bronze, orange and mahogany.

Rudbeckia x hirta 'Cherry Brandy', a mass of cherry coloured blooms;

Rudbeckia hirta 'Chim Chiminee', a quilled petalled bloom in rustic colours;

Rudbeckia hirta 'Kelvedon Star', a bright yellow bloom with a dark brown centre;

Rudbeckia hirta 'Moreno', a generously petalled bloom of rich mahogany-red with golden orange tips.

Once all the Rudbeckia had been planted, three different Sunflowers were planted in the hot end of the border to infill a few gaps;

Sunflower 'Claret' F1 Hybrid, a chocolate brown bloom, sown mid May, is the tallest, requiring stake support and will reach 4 to 6 feet;

Sunflower 'Irish Eyes', dwarf, compact, multi branched, topped with yellow flowers with a green central disc;

Sunflower 'Teddy Bear', dwarf with big, fluffy, double golden yellow blooms.
The border will continue to have colour well into autumn now that all our successional planting is complete.