The recent temps have been quite the roller coaster ride, sometimes making gardening a bit of a challenge. Despite the weather, there’s still plenty of summer to enjoy, and plenty of blooming flowers and unique foliage options to plant now for late-season interest, too.
Where do I begin with late-summer Planting?
Start to look for those places in your landscape where you’ll have color holes when summer flowers have finished blooming.
Add late-season performers now to keep the gardens growing beautifully through Autumn.
Feeling stressed? Gardening is good for you and will help relieve your physical and mental health aliments. Plants and physical activity in the garden will help lower your anxiety, burn calories and restless energy as well as boost your creativity and self-value.
Consider adding a Native Plant!
Durable, easy-to-go native plants add beauty to your landscape and support a healthy environment by providing food and shelter for wildlife such as bees, butterflies, birds, and other essential pollinators.
Graf's Perennials to add Interest to your Garden in late Summer
Grasses
Seen here: Native Grass Blonde Ambition Blue Grama Grass |
Grasses are in their prime in late summer and early fall. Their seed heads or “plumes” are beginning to show and can be enjoyed through fall and winter.
*Native Selection
Daylilies
Seen here: Different flower heads from some of the daylilies we carry.
We love dayliles for their long lasting blooms, minimal care needs and salt resistance which makes them great to plant by your mailbox and driveway. If you plant a reblooming daylily like Stella de Oro, Purple de Oro and Happy Returns, you’ll enjoy their flowers from midsummer to late fall.
Coneflowers
We have new coneflowers available in every color of the rainbow- white, red, orange, yellow, burgundy, pink and purple! We offer native coneflower selections too including echinacea purpurea ‘Magnus’ and echinacea purpurea ‘Prairie Splendor’! Leave their seed heads in the fall and birds will thank you!
*Native Selection & Pollinator Favorite
Geraniums
Our #1 selling perennial! Looking for a plant that checks off all of the boxes? You’ve found her. Long blooming – spring to fall. No deadheading is required and this tough plant will grow from full sun to partial shade. Drought tolerant and deer resistant.
Black-eyed Susans
We love Black-Eyed Susan’s for their predictable, cheerful flowers that arrive each summer. Pollinators that love this beauty include butterflies, moths, bees, beetles, wasps and more.
*Native Selection & Pollinator Favorite
Sedum
These tough plants hold up through hot summer weather and cooler fall temps. Another pollinator favorite, sedums come in upright and groundcover selections. Being a late summer to fall bloomer, their deeper colors look beautiful in late-season landscapes.
*Pollinator Favorite
Make a Statement with Larger Blooms
Butterfly Bushes
Add a butterfly bush for late summer color that looks whimsical and gracefully sways in the wind. Their fragrant, conical blooms are a nectar source for butterflies and bees too!
*Pollinator Favorite
Perennial Hibiscus
Make a BIG impact with a perennial hibiscus. These late summer beauties are just beginning to bloom in the landscape. They feature blooms that are 8-10” across and the plants can grow from 4-8’ tall and wide.