The temperatures may have plummeted over the last few days, but our garden is still an explosion of colour, thanks to some savvy planting by Ade earlier in the year. Here are our favourite five flowers which keep our back garden blooming, despite the chill!
In no particular order…
- Cyclamen
I was first introduced to this hardy perennial at my parents’ house in Suffolk a few years ago. It was the middle of winter, and freezing, yet a pot of the prettiest pink flowers brazenly bloomed when everything else had died back for the season.
Ade potted-up these cyclamen a few weeks ago and they’re sitting happily in window boxes, providing a splash of colour in our otherwise bare front garden.
2. Cosmos
It’s easy to grow, very popular with the pollinators, and keeps flowering until the first frosts, cosmos is always a favourite in our garden.
The flowers still look fresh even though they’ve been blooming for weeks, and they still give the few remaining bees something to buzz about!
3. Dahlias
Ade’s a big dahlia fan and our back garden is crammed with a variety of them.
Native to Mexico and once grown as a food crop by the Aztecs (who knew?), Dahlias provide lasting colour in the garden, well into Autumn.
4. Michaelmas Daisies
We inherited our Michaelmas daisies from the old lady (and keen gardener apparently) who lived in our house before we moved here six years ago.
During our first autumn here, great swathes of purple seemed to appear overnight, I had to ask my neighbour what they were as I’d never seen them before. Our Michaelmas daisies reliably bloom each and every year and I love them.
5. Chrysanthemums
Another favourite of Ade’s, our chrysanthemums are still looking wonderful.
And they make excellent cut flowers too, which is great at this time of year when you may not be inclined to spend as long outdoors, yet don’t want to miss the final, colourful displays of the season.
What floral delights are blooming in your gardens right now? What are your autumn favourites?
AGENTS OF FIELD 
Cosmos, calendula, nasturtiums and dahlias on the allotment. Incidentally do you save the seeds from your squash and pumpkins to sow next year?
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Ade does save the seeds from the squash. This year, our crown prince pumpkins were grown from seed he’d saved from last year’s crop, and they look pretty good! 🙂
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Sweet peas, violas, nasturtiums, lavender, roses
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Your sweet peas are still hanging in there? Impressive!
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so far – they are clinging to the runner bean poles – a few small beans still there too. Usually leave them till the frosts kill them off – could be any day soon
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Lovely post Sophie, makes me wonder if I shouldn’t give cyclamens a try in my little garden too… Thanks for sharing the beauties of your garden!!! I still have some roses alive in front of my house. Am quite surprised, must say haha
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Thank you! Yes, do give cyclamens a go. How lucky that you still have roses!
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Perfect selection. We have them all
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I am only inside because it is raining! So I am sorry for missing your posts…but the weather! Hasn’t it been amazing?! I agree with all your flower choices. I still have most of the flowers you mention still in bloom, but for me it is the Rudbeckia which light up the garden with sunny golden colour. Oh, and annual Coreopsis ‘Unbelievable’. I have just loved all the Nasturtiums and Calendula too, flowering their little hearts out!
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Hi Karen, nice to hear from you! The weather was lovely and sunny for a while here in Hertordshire, but it’s very gloomy and rainy this week! Rudbeckia – yes, we’ve still got some lingering in our garden as well – gorgeous! 🙂
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