A GARDEN THROUGH THE SEASONS: SUMMER
From the first days of June to the end of August, the garden is constantly changing. Some plants finish flowering, others are just beginning to bloom, while others take centre stage through their foliage, form or texture.
Summer is when the importance of seasonal interest in garden design and planning becomes particularly clear. A beautiful summer garden is not one where every plant flowers at the same time. It becomes far more interesting when the focus gradually shifts from one plant to another, maintaining colour, structure and visual interest throughout the season.
In our GALANTUS projects, we don't rely on a standard list of plants repeated in every garden. Our choices depend on the specific site: light conditions, soil and moisture, microclimate, the overall garden concept and our clients' preferences. The plants mentioned in this article are therefore not ready-made planting combinations, but examples of the approaches we use in our projects.
EARLY SUMMER – THE TRANSITION FROM SPRING TO SUMMER
In early summer, there is still a sense of spring in the garden, but perennial plantings are growing rapidly, gradually taking centre stage.
At this time, catmint (Nepeta ‘Walker’s Low’) comes into flower, creating broad drifts of violet-blue, alongside lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis ‘Thriller’) with its delicate yellow-green flower clusters. Lady’s mantle is a good example of how a garden’s beauty depends on more than bright colours. Softer shades of green help connect different plants and bring harmony to the overall composition.
Early summer is also peony (Paeonia) season. Their flowers are spectacular but relatively short-lived, so when planning a planting scheme, it is worth considering which plants will take over once the peonies have finished flowering.
Different varieties of hardy geraniums (Geranium) and salvias, such as Salvia × superba ‘Schneehügel’, allow us to work not only with flowers but also with varying heights, leaf shapes and textures.
A plant’s ornamental value is not limited to the weeks when it is in flower. Its foliage, form and volume are just as important to the overall planting.
MID-SUMMER – COLOUR, VOLUME AND MOVEMENT
By mid-summer, perennial plantings reach one of their most colourful stages. Plants have grown to their full summer size, and the overall composition of the planting becomes much more apparent.
At this time of year, Russian sage (Perovskia ‘Blue Spire’), yarrow (Achillea filipendulina ‘Parker’), coneflowers (Echinacea ‘Fatal Attraction’ and Echinacea pallida), giant hyssops (Agastache), various burnets (Sanguisorba), astilbes (Astilbe), lesser calamint (Calamintha nepeta ‘Blue Cloud’), bee balm (Monarda ‘Beauty of Cobham’) and English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) all have a place in the garden.
An interesting planting scheme is about more than a variety of colours. The shapes of the flowers and flower heads are just as important. The distinctive blooms of coneflowers, flat flower heads of yarrow, upright flower spikes of giant hyssops and delicate forms of burnets create rhythm and variety. Even with a relatively restrained colour palette, these contrasting forms can produce a rich and visually engaging composition.
ORNAMENTAL GRASSES – MORE THAN JUST A BACKDROP
As summer progresses, ornamental grasses become an increasingly important part of the planting.
Feather reed grass (Calamagrostis × acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’), with its strong upright form, can act almost as an architectural element within a planting scheme. Purple moor grass (Molinia caerulea ‘Edith Dudszus’) and tall moor grass (Molinia arundinacea ‘Transparent’), on the other hand, create a very different effect. Their delicate flower heads rise above the surrounding plants, adding lightness and transparency to the composition.
The appeal of ornamental grasses is particularly evident in the way they move. They respond to the wind, catch the light, and change in appearance throughout the day.
Landscape architecture is therefore about more than composing colours and shapes. Garden design also allows us to work with movement, light and shadow, all of which have a significant influence on how we experience a space.
LATE SUMMER – THE GARDEN CHANGES, BUT THE SEASON ISN'T OVER
As summer draws to a close, the garden takes on a different character. The fresh colours of early summer gradually give way to fuller plantings, deeper tones and more pronounced textures.
At this time of year, various asters (Aster), hollow-stemmed Joe-Pye weed (Eupatorium fistulosum), Japanese anemones (Anemone japonica ‘Honorine Jobert’, ‘Königin Charlotte’ and ‘Lorelei’), white wood aster (Aster divaricatus), red bistort (Persicaria amplexicaulis ‘Speciosa’ and ‘Rosea’) and sweet coneflower (Rudbeckia subtomentosa ‘Henry Eilers’) become increasingly prominent.
As the season progresses, hairy toad lily (Tricyrtis hirta ‘Miyazaki’), bugbane (Cimicifuga racemosa ‘Brunette’), autumn moor grass (Sesleria autumnalis) and Korean feather reed grass (Calamagrostis brachytricha) add further interest.
These plants help extend the garden's ornamental season well beyond midsummer. Many also retain their appeal after flowering, through their foliage, distinctive silhouettes, mature flower heads and seed pods, gradually carrying the garden into the next season.
TREES AND SHRUBS – THE GARDEN'S STRUCTURE THROUGHOUT SUMMER
While perennials change rapidly throughout the season, trees and shrubs provide the garden with a lasting structure. They create height and volume, provide a backdrop, shade and privacy, divide the garden into distinct spaces and help frame views.
Some trees and shrubs put on their most impressive floral display in spring. Magnolias (Magnolia), flowering cherries (Prunus) and rhododendrons (Rhododendron) may no longer be the centre of attention for their flowers in summer, but their crowns and foliage remain an important part of the garden's composition.
We have previously written about multi-stem trees and their role in shaping garden spaces. A tree's value is not defined by its flowers alone. The shape of its crown, its trunks, foliage and scale can all contribute significantly to the overall design.
Juneberry (Amelanchier lamarckii) is a good example of a tree that offers interest at different times of the year. Spring flowers are followed by berries in summer and striking foliage colours in autumn. Rowans (Sorbus), European spindle (Euonymus europaeus), winged spindle (Euonymus alatus) and viburnums (Viburnum) also encourage us to consider how a plant changes throughout the seasons, rather than focusing on a single moment of beauty.
In the second half of summer, panicle hydrangeas (Hydrangea paniculata) become one of the garden's most prominent features. Their large flower heads remain attractive for a long time, gradually changing colour as the season progresses.
European beech (Fagus sylvatica) can provide structure both in hedges and as a standalone specimen tree. Cotoneasters (Cotoneaster), alpine currant (Ribes alpinum) and various spireas (Spiraea) can also play an important structural role in the garden.
For a more distinctive feature, the planting palette can include less commonly used trees and shrubs, such as Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) or seven-son flower (Heptacodium miconioides), which flowers in late summer and continues to provide ornamental interest into autumn. We'll take a closer look at plants that shine in autumn in the next article in our series.
HOW TO KEEP YOUR GARDEN LOOKING BEAUTIFUL ALL SUMMER LONG
One of the easiest mistakes to make when choosing plants is to buy only those that look their best at that particular moment.
If we visit a nursery in June and choose plants that are all in full bloom, chances are they will also finish flowering around the same time. That is why, when planning a garden, we need to think about how the planting will develop not only in space, but also over time.
Which plants will look their best in June? What will take centre stage in July? What will start flowering in August? How will the plants look once their flowers have faded? Will their foliage and structure remain attractive?
A well-designed garden takes these changes into account from the very beginning, when plants are first selected. Garden design involves considering not only flowering periods, but also plant height, form, growth rate, mature size, and how different plants work together.
A BEAUTIFUL PICTURE IS NOT A PLANTING PLAN
Pinterest, Instagram, magazines and garden design galleries are excellent sources of inspiration when looking for garden ideas. But a beautiful photograph should not be treated as a ready-made planting plan for your own garden.
Even if you can identify every plant in a photograph, the same plants may perform very differently in another location. Soil, moisture, sunlight, wind, and microclimate all vary. So does the amount of time someone is willing to spend maintaining their garden.
That is why professional landscape design begins with understanding the site, followed by selecting the plants that will achieve the desired result.
NOT MORE PLANTS, BUT BETTER PLANT CHOICES
A beautiful summer garden doesn't need as many different flowering plants as possible.
A more effective result often comes from a carefully considered plant selection, where certain species and cultivars are repeated to create rhythm. Some plants provide a brief but striking seasonal accent, others form the backdrop and structure, while others only come into their own in the second half of summer.
Creating a garden is therefore about more than choosing beautiful plants. A much more useful question to start with is: what do I want my garden to look like in June, July and August?
A GARDEN IS A PLACE TO EXPERIMENT
And yet, not everything in a garden needs to follow a carefully worked-out plan.
Experiment. Try new plant combinations, observe how they change throughout the summer, and don't be afraid to make adjustments. If a perennial isn't thriving in a particular spot, or two plants don't work together as you had imagined, you can always move them.
Planting beds are among the easiest parts of a garden to experiment with, as mistakes are rarely irreversible. Sometimes, an unexpected combination turns out to be the most successful.
A garden is a wonderful place for creativity. Give yourself the freedom to experiment.
