Xref: 127.0.0.1 uk.rec.gardening:157927

"al" wrote in newsl4Ya.697$t9.595@news-
binary.blueyonder.co.uk:

Any ideas
for cheering up the empty flowerbeds?

Depends how much watering you want to do!

for this year, you could rummage round the local market or a garden
centre sale, and see if anyone has any cheapo annuals left over to cheer
the beds for a couple of months till you are ready to start planting the
permanent stuff (late October onwards probably).

Impatiens might be good for your shady bed - I like the white-flowered
New Guinea hybrids. They are perennials really, but you can often get
them very cheaply at this time of year, so just yank them out when the
frosts arrive.

Red flowering pelargoniums are another good 'last minute' buy, and if
you get some you really like, they can be over-wintered indoors: if not,
compost 'em.

If you fancy them, look out for 'naked ladies' - colchicums with a
crocus-like flower that flower in autumn and are very tolerant of drying
out - they will even flower without soil, hence the name. The leaves,
which will appear next year, are a bit huge and ugly, but you can always
move them once the flowers are over.

You can start thinking about spring bulbs soon: I got my first bulb
catalogue in the post this morning!

Speaking of watering: I bet you lot are all sweltering in the heat.
Here, there is thick fog, and I may not bother with watering today...

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--